Comments on: Tuesday Tip for Parenting — Tomato Staking

By: Mrs. Brownstone @ XBOX Wife

Mrs. Brownstone @ XBOX Wife — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:53:28 +0000

This definitely looks like a project for the Brownstone family! We spend a small fortune on tomatoes each year!

By: Monica

Monica — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:43:18 +0000

Thanks for this post- very inspiring and a reminder that my children are constantly learning and watching.

I’ll be looking at our tomato plants a little differently this year:)

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:38:30 +0000

Great thoughts.

I suppose these concepts will also help in preventing our children from being eaten by the neighborhood deer?

By: Lisa in ME

Lisa in ME — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:08:47 +0000

Excellent post. I stumbled on The Woodshed site a few years ago & loved the “idea” of tomato staking but haven’t put it in to practice as much as I would have liked too - such is parenting I suppose.

As a complete aside but to go along with the tomato growing you are doing, I thought this website might prove of some interest to you…
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/tomato2.html
in case you’d rather skip the whole cage/staking thing.

By: Ronnica

Ronnica — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:34:07 +0000

We grew our own tomatoes growing up, and I never really thought about why our plants were in cages. I just thought it was there so that it would hurt whoever had the chore of picking tomatoes. Interestingly enough, I get a mild allergic reaction from touching a tomato plant, but I can eat tomatoes just fine (not that I want to).

I know this wasn’t the point of the blog post, but I can’t say too much about parenting!

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:52:02 +0000

That’s a great analogy; thank you for sharing it. I ‘m in need of affirmation these days that in our homeschooling, we’re doing a little bit of that keeping our children close to us in loving and training them. I’m sometimes tempted to wonder if we’re still doing the right thing, and this encourages me to keep the stakes and the “cage” firm and in place!

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:14:42 +0000

Hi guys!

I read about the ‘tomato staking’ technique a few years ago and realised that it’s just an extension of what we were doing anyway, sometimes called ‘attachment parenting’. {vbg} But AP normally applies to early childhood.

The thing I’ve begun to understand lately is that my teenagers need just as much attachment/staking NOW as they did when they were toddlers. There are no quick fixes when it comes to developing children’s characters. It’s a time consuming, hands-on job! I just wish that was recognised by government policy which seems (here at least) to be all about separating parents and children at an earlier and earlier age for supposed economic benefits.

Oh and Tim, WHY on earth didn’t you change the oil in the car yourself? THAT’S such an easy job that even I can do it.{g}

By: Aunt Kate

Aunt Kate — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:53:41 +0000

Hi, Tim. This is a lovely, thoughtful and thought-provoking blog. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I like the idea of keeping our kids close to teach/train/stake them. Not always easy- when we’d like some space ourselves.

Keep up the good work. I’ll keep praying! Love you Edgrens, Aunt Kate