Secret of a Seed

Seeds don’t sprout just like that. They need proper proportions of warmth, water and air to spring up into a new plant which will turn into a large, strong tree one day. I believe same is the case with our children.

During my almost 2 months stay at The City School PAF Chapter, I learned that young minds are like fertile soil, what ever we teachers or elders sow in the form of a thought into that, it develops into a huge plant, latter a tree. Be it a positive thought or the negative one, it always develop roots.

If it’s a negative one, it will have thorns and bushes that will destroy anything that will come near it; underneath the bushes, some snakes might find refuge, or lizards might make their hideouts in its darkness.Trunk will be hollow and some termites might spread from it.

If it’s a positive thought, it will turn into a vigorously lush plant, with strong roots and bright colors, it will bloom and spread its fragrance all around, its flowers will turn into fruits which he will enjoy, it will provide other thoughts strength and shade of knowledge, it might even attract more butterflies to flutter around and birds to make their nests on its branches.

This post is dedicated to my young gardeners of V-P and V-V. I am glad that my students loved the idea of growing plants. They started imagining and thinking over the topic. During the explanation about how fruits produce seeds and seeds make new plants and the cycle goes on, one of them asked, “where did the first plant come from?” And it ended up into a quite interactive class.

Students were very excited to sow their first seeds. We selected one day for the activity. I wanted them to sow radishes but due to the time assigned to the project, we could not do that. Instead they planted “bajra” (Pearl Millet).

Raja Rafay Nawaz from V-V was the first one to bring back the pots with a plant smiling at us. Wasta and Tahseen, twin brother and sister of V-V were the second ones to bring back their tiny pots filled with plants. From V-P Mustafa Mir khan bought a black eyed bean plant!! That was the most amazing thing to see, he did that without anyone’s help and he was absolutely successful!

It was an incredible experience to see the young minds so interested in nature. I was so happy to see my students visiting my blog, reading it and commenting on it too. It feels awesome beyond expression.

During our meeting with the parents on 18th, I loved to hear that parents wanted us to conduct gardening classes as a part of a course because their children got so enthused by the idea of planting food! I made them write that down, as these words are more than a trophy for me.

But unfortunately, Friday was my last day with them. I do get to know how the plants are growing and I am pleased to know that students are taking good care of them.

Another great thing that happened was that I asked students what kind of plants they would get attracted to if they were insects: D and they replied so correctly! They said they would like brightly colored flowers, with good smell and tasty nectar... I thought how man and insects think alike. The Bee movie was great help in explaining the pollination process and what would happen if there were no bees.

It was a fun week! I ll always cherish every day that I spent with students who were full of life. Their inspiring ideas, precious innocence, sweet smiles and that special sparkle in the eye, are the things that will always stay with me.

As a teacher, I almost felt the like a parent. I had to be so sure about what information I give them, I had to be passionate about it as well. May be that’s the only reason why my students also fell in love with gardening.

It makes a huge difference if we teach or simply do something that we are passionate about. It has magical effect on others too. Same are the teachings of our religion.

I feel I have sown a sacred seed of love for nature in the core of the young hearts. With frequent showers of knowledge, warmth of appreciation and with breeze of inspirations, this seed will soon turn into a huge, green tree with dense branches. And before we know it, this tree will be dispersing many seeds of its own. And the cycle will go on and on….

Sow a seed and become the part of this cycle!

Happy gardening!