Things I learned from my kids

Horse - photo

I am a big supporter of the 4H program. It is a youth organization that focus' on young people and leadership as well as learning. I have been a leader of light horse, photography, poultry and turkey projects and it gives me a great deal of pleasure to watch the young people I deal with mature.

Quite often I am the one who gets to learn a lesson as opposed to giving it.

Recently our local club had its achievement day. A day that allows the members a chance to show off their skills and complete their projects. The night before the leaders gathered to have a meeting and choose worthy members for awards. This can be a very difficult thing to do as not all members are known to all the leaders.

A request was made to offer names for awards. I made a few suggestions and watched as one leader in particular proceeded to promote their own children for awards. I was more than a little irritated as I felt this was a tactless thing to do especially when this individual proceeded to degrade other young members. I left the meeting extremely disgusted by the evenings outcome.

The interesting thing that happened was the response the children had the next day. When the child of the aforementioned leader won, many other members shrugged their shoulders and said,

"Of course he won. His mother runs the club."

The award meant nothing to the members. They seemed to already know what had occurred without being told and as a result dismissed it as an unreliable measure of ones achievement. I was surprised at their willingness to accept the result and decided if it did not bother them why should I be concerned.

At the end of the evening my daughter who had placed 1st in all her livestock classes but one (where she received a 2nd) decided not to proceed into the Grand champion showman class. As a former showman myself I thought she would relish being able to show off her skills. Once again I was pleasantly surprised when she told me of her reason for not competing.

"I already won everything. There was no point."

I learned there was no need to decimate the competition. My eleven year old daughter handled her self with more skill and class than some parents I know.

It was a lesson well worth learning.