It’s Children’s Mental Health Week across the country, and at Tuckwells this is something we care an awful lot about – many of the team here are parents, grandparents, or, are young enough that their childhood years aren’t far behind them. And some (including myself) have struggled with their mental health since childhood.
The theme for this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week is Growing Together; growing emotionally and finding ways to help each other grow.
Our whole business revolves around growing whether that be wheat in a 2000 acre arable farm, grass on the pitch at Wembley, fruit at an award winning vineyard, or the rose’s in Mrs Bloggs’s garden… in fact the natural world is full of metaphors which can be used when thinking about mental health.
Like young seedlings, children need the right environment to thrive. They need shelter, they need protection, they need nutrients, water and sunshine. The more we can do to educate our children about the process that goes into growing something – whether that be cress on your windowsill, or a baby bird in a nest – the more they will learn the importance and the skills needed to help themselves and others around them to grow.
We are very excited about our inaugral schools’ day we are hosting this summer at Tuckwells Farm, where we will focus on all the elements of growing. 100 primary school children will come and learn about the whole process. From soil health to the need for machinery, and everything in between. Hopefully, just hopefully they may begin to make some connections.
So, this week is not about tractors, combines, or mowers. It’s about us all taking a moment to check in with the young people around us and invest a little bit of time showing them something that we love to see growing. And whilst we are all out on our walk, or in the greenhouse; searching for snow drops, or looking for the first tiny buds on your garden shrubs, check in with that child… and make sure they are doing ok.
For more information about children’s mental health please visit youngminds.org.uk or https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/
Hannah Tuckwell, Head of Marketing
