Manny And His Plants

This is a story about putting love into everything you do.

Manny likes plants very much. He spends all his evenings under the two trees in the yard. One is a pine tree, and the other is an apple tree. Manny can spend hours sitting under them just looking at the beauty of the branches and how the clouds appear through the leaves of the trees. Before entering the main school building every day, he always visits the school garden first. There are many flowers of all colours in the garden. As they all smell very good, Manny always stops to smell them. Manny always thinks about growing his own flowers at home.

As you can see, he really likes plants. On weekends, his father will usually take him to visit places around the city. When his father asks where his son wants to go, Manny always says, “I would like to visit a park where we can see beautiful plants or a forest where the trees are so tall that they touch the clouds! Or maybe a field of flowers. It would be nice to visit a field of flowers, dad!”

Outside the city, there is a large field full of sunflowers. They are big, yellow and pretty. Sunflowers are like the sun, and that is why they are called sunflowers. Manny loves that field very much. However, he would prefer to have his own flowers at home.

Unfortunately, Manny does not have any plants in his house other than the two trees in the yard. His parents work all day, and therefore, they do not have time to take care of plants. Plants are like pets, as they must be taken care of, and they must receive a lot of love. If a plant does not receive love, then it withers. That is why Manny’s parents do not keep plants. In case you were wondering, the trees in the yard were already quite old when they moved into the house.

As Manny’s parents know that their child likes plants a lot, one fine day they decided to buy a few for him. They go out and buy some small plants that come in small pots for Manny to take care of. They explain to him that plants must be watered every day. They also explain that he must take them out to receive sunlight and that he must protect them from the rain. They remind him that he has to protect them from insects as well. They teach him these things, but above all, they teach him that the most important thing a plant needs in order to grow is to give it love. Manny’s parents believe that if you show a plant a lot of love, it will grow big and strong. “Well, if you give a lot of love to anything, it will grow big and strong, be it a pet, a person or a plant!” his mother says. “That is why we give you a lot of love because we want you to grow big and strong. Now you must give a lot of love to your plants so that they grow big and strong.” his dad tells him.

Manny pays close attention to what his parents tell him. He takes care of his plants with love. He waters them every morning when he gets up and before going to bed. When the sun shines in the sky, he places the pots in the yard. When it rains, he keeps the plants indoors because they are very small and the rain can easily drown them. He gives them a lot of love; he even sings to them and talks to them. He tells them how he is doing at school. He also tells them about his friends. His parents also talk to his plants, and that makes them grow even faster! So Manny’s plants grow and become beautiful flowers. After some time, the plants grow big enough that they can be planted in the yard. The child begins to collect and grow more and more plants. His parents buy him different plants as saplings, and Manny takes care of them until they grow up. When they are large enough, Manny and his parents plant them in the yard. They do this until the yard becomes a garden full of flowers so beautiful that everyone who passes the house stops to look at them.

So beautiful are the flowers that everyone says, “What a beautiful garden Manny has grown!” From a very young age, Manny learned that everything you do with love and perseverance always gives a good result.