Tradescantia and Lessons in Caring

Trying to teach a child lessons about responsibility and caring? Don’t get a goldfish. Opt for a plant.

Young children love to have a job, a mission. And caretaking is perhaps the most important mission—far better than cleaning up a room or setting a table for a meal, even though those are aspects of "taking care", as well.

Taking care of a pet can be dicey. A house pet—even the most gentle-natured cat or dog—may tire of the attention offered by a child, protesting with a sharp claw or a growl. A different sort of pet, a pet fish, can be the recipient of child caretaking. But we know how that story ends in so many cases.

So, to set up a young one for success in remembering to carefully tend to something else—a living thing that requires some water, a measured amount of food, and a loving eye—I would advocate for choosing a plant as the subject of caretaking. And choosing the right plant is important. For me, the choice seems to always come back to Tradescantia, as it is both beautiful and easy to care for.

Tradescantia is the Inch Plant. Its succulent leaves are fleshy and somewhat iridescent. New leaves unfurl from within more mature sets of leaves, emerging from succulent stems. This foliage forms an attractive rounded look to the plant or gracefully cascades over a hanging container.

Knowing the fascination with the color purple in the elementary school-aged world, Tradescantia plants with attractive variegation in purples, pinks, creams, and greens are always a hit. But a simpler white and green Tradescantia variety, such as ‘Pistachio White’, is perhaps an even fresher sight for the eyes… bright and pretty for caretaking indoors through winter and the earliest days of spring, and perfect for relocating to outdoors when the weather warms up.

Tradescantia requires moderate watering. But when the plant is watered, its caretaker must avoid watering into the crown or into the places where stem and leaf join together. Allowing water to sit in such areas can cause some rot—rot that is easily avoidable if a gooseneck watering can helps the plant-caretaker apply the water directly to the soil. This is a good way of watering most houseplants, so this method can have broad and positive ramifications on plants that will be tended in the future. 

Tradescantia must not be bumped and bruised with rough hands, for its succulent leaves and stems snap quite readily. This is another good lesson for little hands that tend to move quickly but can be taught to slow down. Still, if breaking a stem of Tradescantia is unavoidable, Nature will repair the damage. And the young caretaker can even try his or her hand at propagating a new plant by placing the broken-off stem in water for rooting and eventual transplanting into a new container. But the first lessons—lessons taught far earlier than lessons about propagation—should be about touching plants gently and trying not to disturb their leaves or stems too much.

Tradescantia ‘Pistachio White’ maintains its simple colors well, and it likes rather typical in-home conditions. Moderation will be one watchword for the care it needs, and lessons in moderation are valuable to both young and old alike. So, in general, it seems to be the perfect plant for teaching those valuable lessons about caring and responsibility.

Sure, learning those same lessons with a goldfish might seem a little more satisfying at first. But setting young children up for success is key to any sort of teaching, and achieving success with Tradescantia is very doable.