How I'm Raising a Responsible Human Being with Our Choice of Foods

We live in challenging times, where Climate change is a reality. Recently, my child told me that his favorite activity at his preschool is gardening. He has learnt about compost, that it produces organic manure for the garden, free from any chemicals, from waste collected at his preschool.

The Preschool practices the 3 R’s - Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. There are three big bins in the school in all classrooms, the play area and the garden. Each bin is meant for a type of waste, one for recyclable, one for biodegradable and one for non-recyclable waste respectively. The children have to put the waste in the right bin.

The preschool has implemented a “no plastics” policy on the premises and everyone is encouraged to reduce the use of plastics. It is also up to each of us parents to take steps to raise our child as a responsible adult who cares about Nature. Another extremely important way to build these qualities right from an early age could be through the choice of food and how it is produced. Want to know how? Here’s how I did it.

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Our visit to an Organic Farm

I got out of the car and looked around the fields. I breathed in the fresh air and I glanced back at my son who had a curious look on his face as he took in his surroundings. Having visited a farm for the first time, he was over awed by it. On one side, stretching for miles were the fields of ripening crops and on the other side was a massive barn and a hen-coop. The sweet cacophony of the farm animals filled the air.

He said, “Where are we, Mama?”

“This, my dear, is an organic farm.”

He wrinkled his nose at the unfamiliar term, “What’s that?”

I explained to him, “Like you do gardening at the preschool, farmers grow food without any artificial substances and harmful preservatives and that is called Organic Farming and the food they grow is called Organic food.”

He was curious, he continued looking at the organic farms and asked, “Are these veggies any different from the other veggies?”

“Yes, these are organic, which means that they have been grown by these friendly farmers completely naturally, without any chemicals with lots of love and care for Mother Nature. So these farmers are like superheroes, as they are saving nature by doing organic farming. Right?”  

He was listening and absorbing, almost about to ask his next question.

“Growing organic vegetables also helps the soil beta!” I told him

 He looked surprised, “What? How?”

“You remember the compost at your preschool? It’s made organically too and when we put it in the soil, it makes many of the nutrients reach the soil naturally. Right? So, the soil retains their fertility/goodness over time and helps plants to grow better. Organic farming also helps the soil to hold more water. It also helps the soil store healthy gases, which are good for the plant’s growth.”

 My son was excited by now, “What else does it do?”

 “It makes the water around the fields and under the ground less polluted. This ensures that animals and plants are healthy because they get to drink clean water.”

 My little boy gave a dazzling smile, “I’m hungry. Mama”

I smiled back, “We have asked the Farmer Uncle if we can have some organic food and he will be calling us soon. Just a few minutes. Remember, You had asked me, what is “organic” in your Organic Ceregrow ?  I told you that I will explain to you, how it is made?”

“Yes, I remember,” He said in a gushing manner.

“Ceregrow Organic is made from foods produced at organic farms like this farm in a natural way with patience and care. It has fruits, wheat, rice, and ragi from Organic farms.”

There is no age limit as such to inculcate good values in your child, but it helps if you start early. Your choice of food itself embeds the value of maintaining the harmony of nature.

We could see someone waving a hand at us calling us for food.

My son asked, “Is he the superhero Farmer Uncle?”

By the time, I could say yes, My son was running towards him shouting, “Thank You Farmer Uncle!”