Parent unhappy with 4-H (8/6/04)

For the past four years summer in my house has meant that my children get a bad case of 4-H fever. For those of you unfamiliar with this ailment it is the excitement 4-Hers get from coming up with project ideas, reading, studying and planning your posters and projects and working with your animals trying to get their coats in good condition and their muscle tone and weight just right.

All in the hopes of getting a ribbon, a trophy or some other recognition for all your hard work. A tiring but rewarding time we where we all grow and learned much. And finally the fever gives way to a week of fun, and finding out if they were able to impress the judges with all their hard work, and learning what they should do differently next year. Sometimes they won top honors and sometimes they didn’t, but they always learned something by the end of the week. This year instead of 4-H fever, my children got a case of the 4-H flu.

First, in rabbit club we lost one of the best 4-H leaders I have ever dealt with in Carla Wilson. What made her good? Her enthusiasm for the rabbits, the kids and the club in general. You can’t help but get hooked on rabbits when you are around Carla.

Her meetings were both fun and informative and she always went the extra mile. Carla gave an opportunity to everyone in the club to be part of its leadership. From the club president to the song leader everyone was important, had an important job, and was encouraged to help lead.

She even held special classes in “Rabbit Royalty” so that our kids could compete on a state level with other counties. She challenged the parents, offering them the test and challenging them to test skills and knowledge against kids.

Well for whatever their reasons the council removed Carla from the rabbit club. “That’s all right,” I told my daughter, “sometimes things happen we don’t understand and can’t control. Make the best of the situation and give the new club a chance. Help keep it going. Don’t quit.”

Then came the fiasco about the Pennville Fair and again I told my child, “Sometimes adults make bad decisions and don’t think their actions out. Let it be. Let’s stay out of this mess and continue to work.”

So with all the hard work behind us it’s off to the Jay County Fair. Barns with less goats, less poultry and less rabbits were just the beginning. When it came to check in our rabbit we noticed that the tattoo put in only a month before by the rabbit leader had faded and was very hard to read. We brought this to the attention of the rabbit leader. At the time of check-in both the club leader and rabbit superintendent approved the tattoo and accepted the rabbit. Check-in is more than 24 hours before the show so if need be we could have had him re-tattooed.

As to why rabbit tattoos are so scrutinized in this county and why pedigrees are required, only the “powers that be” can answer that questioned and they are not readily sharing that information.

I have been to ARBA-sanctioned shows throughout the state and have never seen tattoos questioned. If they are hard to read they simply ask the owner what the tattoo says. “Just another rule we follow because we are told to. Another life lesson.”

Back to the rabbit show. The judge announced that my daughter’s rabbit had a blue ribbon. When the rabbit leader asked for the tattoo number of the blue ribbon rabbit the judge stumbled, having trouble reading the tattoo. The rabbit leader then proceeded to stop the judge and tell her that if the tattoo could not be read the rabbit was to receive a red ribbon. The county is allowed to set these rules and so the rabbit received a red ribbon. This is the same leader that did the tattoo and approved it 24 hours earlier.

Needless to say again my daughter was extremely upset and this time I found it harder than ever to come up with a good life lesson. “Keep your head up. Stay up for the showmanship competition and show them what you are made of.”

Well, we did stay around for showmanship along with four other dedicated and talented 4-Hers and their parents. It was after midnight before showmanship got over. And as if to make this whole event more frustrating the rabbit leader did not write down the judge’s comments on the show cards. This means that the 4-Hers don’t even have a reason as to why their rabbits placed as they did. Nothing to refer to as to how or what to improve with their rabbit. I am left searching with no real good answers to give my child, except maybe “life is not always fair.”

There are some terrific adults, club leaders and judges working with our 4-Hers. Adults that set good examples for our youth, try their best to make each child feel special and help them to learn and grow into great adults. But it does seem they are getting fewer and harder to find. They are leaving or getting forced out. It is almost a given that we will change counties for our rabbit club next year.

As for other problems within our county’s 4-H organization, I will wait to see what happens, hoping that the powers that be work out their differences, put the kids first and be true to the 4-H credos. Unfortunately this year instead of 4-H fever there seemed to be a 4-H flu going around.

André Whetstone

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