What is 4-H?
It is a youth development organization! It teaches kids about responsibility, leadership as well as other life skills that they will need and use for the rest of their life!
I wasn’t a 4-her as a kiddo. I lived in the suburbs and want to say that I didn’t really know anything about it. Don’t worry I was involved..I played sports and was in Girl Scouts! Sadly, I thought that 4-H was a thing for the rural kids. I was so wrong! It is for anyone! If you check out 4-H.org, you can get in touch with the groups in your state and counties.
How did we get involved?
We contacted our local county extension office and found a club. That is how simple it is! 4-H is available to all kids aged 8-18, with a Cloverbud program for kids aged 5-8. I love the fact that the kids will all be in the meetings together unlike other organizations that have different ages at different times! It is very family friendly! The kids get to choose what projects they want to work on and how many. So there is something for every interest and budget!
So, Why do 4-H? As I said previously, it is a youth development program. What does the really mean? It means that the kids will learn valuable skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives! I have listed ONLY a FEW of the valuable things that 4-H has to offer:
Interview skills! How many time have you been hired for job an didn’t have an interview? I am guessing none! With EACH non-animal project that the kids participate in there is an interview for judging. So if you decided to take a cooking, a sewing and a photography project guess what? There will be 3 separate interviews! Each year you can see the kids confidence grow as they learn about their projects and get more comfortable with the whole interview process. My kiddos take between 3 and 7 projects each year(yes we do over a dozen projects a year between them all) so they have multiple interviews each year.
Leadership skills! As a 4-H member there are several ways that you can learn great leadership skills. Within each club there sits a kid run executive team including a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. There are also many other offices that are available like a news reporter, historian, inspiration and so on. Each office has its own list of obligations and responsibilities that range from running the club to bringing an inspirational thought. You can be as involved or not involved as you like. Of course, for each office there is an election as well so you will also gain the experience of running for office and voting for your fellow club members!
Along with the club leadership opportunities, there are others like a Camp Counselor, a Junior Leader, a Shooting sports junior Leader and Junior Fair Board member. There are many other opportunities for the youth as well. I am just naming a few. Check with your local extension office for all that your county offers.
Project learning! Going back to the projects for a minute. There are so many to choose from, really. I have yet to meet a child who said that there wasn’t anything for them as far as projects. There is also a self determined project for if you are interested in something that isn’t in the book! See they have everyone in mind! For example last year one of my boys restored an old tiller and another one wanted to learn about the Reel Mower. So they signed up for undetermined projects. There is a general guideline book for this one, however there are very few limitations.
Through the 4-H program my kids have gained many skills as well as self confidence and pride. They are excited to work on the projects THEY have chosen, not designated by a teacher or parent. They are exited to take their projects to judging and explain what they did and learned. They are excited to see their hard work on display for all the fair goers to see for the entire week during our fair! They are so proud to show off their accomplishments to their family and friends during the week of the fair.
I hope that I have intrigued your mind to look into this wonderful organization for your kiddos! There is so much more to it than written within these paragraphs you really need to go check it out. In our county we are gearing up for our kick off in Feb. There they will have different clubs there displaying different things and you can go check out many clubs to find the one that works for you. There will also be available each project book so you can come take a look and see what each project entails!
Check with your extension office to see what is available in your area! The website to search is HERE!
Have a great year in 4-H!
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