4-H Club Memories
September 24, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Parenting
Do your children belong to a 4-H Club? Did you participate in one as a child? Were you, as a parent, ever a leader in one?
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I have fond memories of all the 4-H Club experiences when I was growing up, from 6-years old until I was out of high school. In our farming area, this was one of the main social activities for youngsters, with our leader, Mrs. Hoag (Aunt Mary) to many keeping us busy and learning new tasks.
Eventually Mrs. Thompson joined her as our cooking leader. Aunt Mary taught sewing and most everythin else.
What did we do?
- Sewing with preparations for the county fashion shows. I still have a feed sack apron and skirt I made at age 6 and 7.
- Preparing demonstrations of sewing and food skills that we participated in on a county level and at the Dutchess County (NY) Fair.
- Doing leather crafting
- Raising garden vegetables and flowers and showing them at the fair. Our parents often instructed us in this.
- Raising cattle. I never showed them at the fair, but many youngsters did.
- Learning first aid skills
- Participating in community volunteering.
Then there were the purely fun activities:
Learning to square dance, waltz and do the polka under Aunt Mary’s tutelage.
Annual picnics in the field near her home. This was a family event.
Attending monthly movies she showed at the local town hall. I still remember Hopalong Cassidy and Laurel and Hardy movies. Occasionally she’d select a mystery, but all had to be family fun and “Aunt Mary approved.”
In later years, when my daughter and her cousins were young, I conducted a 4-H Club for them and their friends for 10 years. Our range wasn’t as extensive as Aunt Mary’s, but we did cooking, arts and crafts, gardening, a babysitting class, going to 4-H summer camp and participating in the local fair. I wanted these youngsters to have the same experiences and memories as I had even though we didn’t live on a farm.
Without Aunt Mary, Mrs. Thompson, my mom and other mothers participating in various ways, we youngsters would never have learned these skills nor had such fun in our small town. As a mom, I wanted this experience for the youngsters in my life.
I am glad that you had a great experience with 4-H. I was a 10 year 4-H member and now my daugher is old enough to be a Cloverbud. This is such a great way for youth to learn life skills. I work for our local Extension unit as one of the county 4-H coordinators. It is so neat to see what 4-H has to offer our youth. It is so much more than farming. New projects added in past years include robotics, GPS, and much more! Glad to see someone else shares my passion for this group.
I’m so pleased you stopped by, Aimee, and shared your 4-H experiences. It’s wonderful that your daughter is old enough to participate. 4-H offers so many diverse opportunities for youngsters and isn’t just for those with farming interests. I began to see that when I was a 4-H leader.
I’ll have to find out more about the robotics and GPS. My grandson is interested in both these areas.