They should keep a garden.

The problem with getting your kids a dog to teach them responsibility is not just that you end up having to live with this dog.

The problem is also for the dog who has to live with you and your kids.

The point is, if you want to teach your kids wonderful life lessons, there is another really way, there is another really good way to do that that doesn't involve expensive trips to the vet

or picking up dog poop.

Planting a garden, learning to plan and prep to grow and to wait.

These are key life lessons.

In his wonderful book, Outdoor Kids in an Inside World, Stephen Ronella has a fantastic

chapter on the lessons families can learn from gardening together. But the wisdom of it is best

expressed in a short two-bullet list. One, he writes, through our actions, we have the power to make

things thrive. And two, neglect is deadly.

This applies to a fruitful, verdant garden, yes,

but it also applies to relationships to our physical and mental health,

to our physical and mental health,

and most importantly of all,

to our children's potential.