Please welcome to the blog my friend Shannon, author of the sweet blog, Shannon On The Prairie! If you enjoy her guest post as much as I do, please be sure to leave her some comment love *smiles*...
Gimme Shelter
by Shannon Godby
To bring up the subject of sheltering our children, and the extent to
which we should, would incite lively debate. There are extremes at both
ends, from extreme religious fundamentalists to those who think nothing
should be withheld from our children. I believe it is safe to say that
most of us fall somewhere in the middle, even though the middle is a
very big ocean in which to swim! As for me, I frequently turn to things
in my life that are easy to understand in order to clarify the
weightier issues.
“Uhhh…yeaaahh…” you might be thinking, and rightly so. I assure you,
however, that there is a lot of enlightenment to be had among
plants….please bear with me…
A greenhouse is a shelter made of
materials through which light can penetrate. Commonly they are used to
start and grow plants for personal satisfaction or commercial gain. A
greenhouse environment is tightly controlled, from light and water needs
to air circulation and nutrient uptake. These conditions allow a
grower of plants to grow them when the weather conditions would not
otherwise allow it. Like our human children, these plants are utterly
dependent on their human caretakers to provide for their needs.
Most plants are not meant to live their lives in tightly controlled
environments. The hope is that one day the plants will find a forever
home or be sent out into the wide world to make their way to retail
centers and gardens everywhere. The problem is this: if you take a
plant out of a greenhouse right into harsh, natural conditions, that
plant will likely perish. It does not know how to regulate its own
water intake, it is not used to gleaning and storing nutrients when they
have always been readily available, and wind, sun, cold and rain will
beat it down because it has not learned to be strong. It has never had
to be.
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| {source} |
Good growers know that plants must be hardened off after living in
sheltered conditions, and we have just seen why one cannot just stick a
greenhouse-grown plant out to fend for itself. It’s a harsh world out
there! So the grower will gradually expose plants to natural
conditions. Artificial lighting will slowly be reduced, watering rates
will be slowed, and fertilization will be tapered off. Plants will
begin to harden and toughen in exposure to regular, gradual episodes of
stress. Plant stems thicken and toughen, root systems stretch out and
increase in number in their search for water, and leaves develop deep,
green pigments to absorb and convert what they need from the sun and
soil.
So it is with our children. It is our job to nurture,
protect, feed and teach them. Our goal as parents, though, is to
produce good citizens capable of living in a harsh world, being able to
seek and meet their own needs. We do our children no favors by
sheltering them their whole lives them shoving them out the door “Buh
bye! Have a nice life! Live long and prosper!” As is appropriate for
their ages, LET them feel some stress. LET them figure out how to solve
basic life problems. As they get older LET them feel the sting of
defeat so that they can learn, adapt and grow strong. It is a harsh
world out there and their very survival depends on it.
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| {photo by Leif Brandt} |
very nice! I think it sums it up well. Good thing I can raise children, because I certainly can't raise plants. Inspiring for those of us who are soon to be empty-nesters!
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing!
Thank you, Cindy!
ReplyDelete