OMG I hate 4-H project books!

[nikki1]

Aahh! I saw this thread title, and had to laugh. 4-H was a huge part of my sister's and my adolescence. We lived in the suburbs, and the closest thing we had to livestock was a handful of rabbits, but we were up to our ears in it anyway. I did rabbits, dogs, and gardening, and my sister did sewing, cake decorating, and food prep/pres. Somehow the livestock-related pieces of the books seemed pointless to my teenage mind, and we grumbled incessantly, but we got the *(&%% things done. I won the national award for my horticulture record book, but probably only because I was about the only gardening teenager on the planet.

Incidentally, my parents never touched our books. Mom nagged from time to time, but that was about it.

While I never look back on record books with fondness, they were good training. I've been teaching now for 22 years, and record-keeping is a big part of my job. Gotta say, I get behind in my grading just like I got behind in my record book, but at least now I know how to come from behind and still meet a deadlin!

Thanks for the flashback!

--Nikki

 

[they'reHISchickens]

My kids were 4H Dairy-- we didn't have chickens back then. Talk about $ invested-- and we didn't have a farm to recoup the income! But... these days when my kids come home from far away: it's the 4H friends they stay in touch with; The 4H families they visit; the 4H experience they wish their kids could share!
The neatest thing is watching my youngest, now the mom of 2, introducing her kids to responsibility with raising and showing cows at the fairs and sharing the experience with other former 4Hers doing the same thing with their youngsters. All-- or at least most

-- are working together towards the same goals.