Limiting kids’ screen time was hard enough before the pandemic, and it has only gotten more difficult in the months since social distancing and e-learning became the norm.
The uptick in blue-filtered light has caused more than a precipitous drop in vitamin D among youngsters — they’re missing out on valuable social, physical and emotional development opportunities, too. Parents, meanwhile, say policing the polygon intake has been a major source of anxiety.
Sometimes, high-tech problems call for low-tech solutions.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and national nonprofit KidsGardening say encouraging kids to get their hands dirty working in a garden — whether at a school, neighborhood greenspace or even the backyard — has some powerful benefits, from increased access to fresh food to the therapeutic nature of digging in the soil.
Stories of their sanative effects abound, according to Foundation president Jim King, who announced this week that Scotts Miracle-Gro has opened applications for this year’s edition of the GroMoreGood Grassroots Grants program, in partnership with KidsGardening.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the stories of resiliency and perseverance from our GroMoreGood garden grantees,” he said. “People have turned to gardening to support their communities in unique and