This summer for one of his projects, my three year old has been diligently caring for a strawberry plant. He waters it, keeps it clear of weeds, and on three separate occasions has had the supreme delight of picking a strawberry off of it.
That’s right. Spoiled as it is, the plant has only yielded three berries all summer. I get that plants need time to establish themselves before you can expect much of a harvest, but still I’m not too proud to admit I’ve been a bit disappointed.
Then a few weeks ago, a deer wandered through our yard and ate the dang thing anyway.
Pitiful. I considered writing a blog post about how not every project is a success and kids can still learn from trying, but I was pretty frustrated (more upset than my son, for sure), so I put it off.
Here we are a few weeks later, and not only has the strawberry plant fully recovered, I counted nineteen berries starting on it. It has never been so happy.
I guess it just needed a little pruning.
How has life surprised you today?