[Photo] My 14 year old son shows off 6 big ripe tomatoes he and his 12 year old brother harvested yesterday (1st October 2015) from our small home garden. Another result of the real-world relevant confidence/competence building Personal Achievement Coaching (PAC) program he and his siblings are SIMULTANEOUSLY undergoing, in conjunction with controlled exposure to academics.

As parents, our primary role is to COACH (and not just verbally lecture) our kids, to prepare them to be competent, financially independent adults in life. To succeed in playing that role, we must do what a professional coach in any other area of life would do.

Simply put, we must create an environment, physically, emotionally and intellectually that enables them learn all they need to succeed in adulthood.

The above implies the need for BALANCE in the education we give them.

Sadly, too many parents leave their kids to get a one-sided preparation for life…

This happens because they focus their efforts on giving them mainly – or ONLY – formal schooling.

Very little in terms of character forming and vocational skills building education is provided. The result is what we see a lot in today’s society.

Young products from schools across the three tiers of education unable to demonstrate real-world relevant awareness, and competence outside what their certificates say they studied.

In fact, today some young people even go around with certificates they cannot demonstrate academic competence to defend.

The way I see it, parents who want their kids to fare better than that CANNOT just throw money at their kids’ education. Formal schooling, no matter how advanced or expensive, is simply NOT enough to give children what is needed to succeed as adults in today’s fast changing world.

You must be in the driving seat of your child’s education as the NUMBER ONE COACH – and NOT his/her teacher(s)!

The mental attitude you adopt must be that of a professional coach who has a sound understanding of what his/her coachee (your child) is going to face in the real world.

You must be a coach who uses his/her insights about life to create learning experiences that prepare YOUR CHILD for life away from YOU!

That’s what I’m doing for my kids…

Incidentally, I’ve done it for other people’s kids BEFORE I had mine – so I’m really PUMPED up about THIS run!!

As part of their homeschooling, they watch specially selected educational videos on various subjects they need to master academically, as well as vocationally.

Then they are challenged to go out into the real world to put as much as possible of what they learn to use, as the opportunities present themselves.

To stimulate their minds, I subtly “put ideas into their heads”, about how they can make use of what they learn.

Then I wait to see what happens…and they rarely disappoint.

Kids are amazing: Once you succeed in winning their interest, getting them to learn becomes so easy.

Basically, what excites them is when you teach them something they can immediately try their hands on in real life.

They love DOING – especially where they are allowed to apply their creativity without restriction. That’s the environment I have created for my kids and it’s yielding fruits (no pun intended).

What you see in photos below are other trial crops the boys planted…

A. More tomatoes

 

B: Pineapple head cut from a Cotonou variety planted by the kids has taken root (not sure if the soil will let it do well though…!)

C. Beans pod maturing

It all began when I told them the garden space in the compound could be used to raise vegetables we could eat (i.e. putting ideas in their heads)

One day they got some bad tomato fruits their mother disposed, and asked me if the seeds would sprout. I told them it was likely, so they planted and began watering and tending them with great seriousness.

Later on they got seeds and stems from other crops and planted them.

Over time I noticed a dense layer of Water Leaf vegetables and told them to pluck some for making vegetable stew. I pointed out the fact that the quantities we harvested were equivalent to those sold for N50 in the market: which meant we were saving money.

I noted in passing that they could plough back into the soil, stems left behind after the leaves were plucked, to replenish the nutrients to helping the plant grow new leaves.

They began doing that immediately: Like I said, kids are eager learners, and doers, once their interest is triggered!

It might interest you to know that they actually planted and harvested a yam tuber (small though – but they cooked and ate  it) in that narrow stretch of soil in our compound.

One day I came home and the 12 year old showed me a maize cob, he’d harvested. It was not well developed, but the boy was still excited that he’d grown maize and gotten the cob without spending money.

Later on they told me the tomatoes were producing fruits. I was surprised, not having been aware they’d planted tomatoes.

Seeing signs suggestive of the presence of disease causing microbes on some leaf edges, I told them to get charcoal ash and spread generously over the leaves of the plants. They asked me why, and I explained that ash has anti-microbial characteristics which help to stop onset of common diseases on the plant.

As the weeks passed we watched the fruits grow bigger. Just a few days ago, we were discussing how they were gradually turning red.

Yesterday I came home and saw that they’d plucked some ripe, fully red tomatoes, which their mum was planning to use for a meal. The other plants – as shown in the photos on this page – still have a decent number of fruits yet to ripen.

I asked the kids if they knew how much those plucked tomatoes would go for in the market. Not surprisingly (because I’d asked then similar question in the past), they’d already asked around, and had been told they would cost about N200 ($1 USD) or more.

The looks on their faces told me they knew what I was thinking.

Having a backyard garden can help many homes cut down costs on purchase of certain items used regularly. The small amounts spent to buy them really adds up over one week to a month.

Yet it just takes making a little effort to setup the needed space and taking a little time, every now and then to nurture the plants/crops.

If one wants, even mini-livestock like poultry, rabbits, fish could also be kept in a small backyard area.

Sadly, many homes today spend too much on simple food items they can easily grow themselves – especially in Nigeria, where most foods are so expensive!

Many such homes have kids who do not have a clue how foods they eat come about e.g How they are grown, processed, stored or even cooked.

Long ago, I resolved that my male and female kids would be coached to know, and be able to do all that.

The 2 oldest go to the market to buy foodstuff and prepare meals for their siblings(thanks to their mother’s coaching).

We as parents don’t need to be there to make this happen.

They’ve also learnt to plant crops and make their own drinks/cake products using fruit peels – which they’ve been able to package, sell, and also give out as gifts. We’ll be doing a lot more of this when we get to Benin Republic.

This varied mix of real-world relevant experiences, combined with formal schooling, gives kids a truly balanced education.

In essence, I’m saying it’s great that your kids already attend school. But that’s not all they need.

Coaching them to plant some of their own food, or even run their own micro-farm business (e.g rearing/breeding rabbits for sale, along with growing useful crops like Tomatoes etc), can equip them to live and eat well, at a lower cost – by making the best use of space in their homes.

They would thus spend less to buy food (and possibly sell some of what they grow) – boosting their chances of KEEPING more of the money they earn, to build real, lasting wealth: unlike others who, not knowing how(despite attending school), will have to ALWAYS buy all they eat!