I accompanied a friend and her DD to a food show. A function like that is a lot of work for the host. The crowd, too. A crowd for a regional food show can exceed 200 people, and could use a posted timetable. (Just saying.) Because I was there from 8:30 to 2:30. Trapped. In a high school cafeteria. With dozens of other parents, and herds of families. It qualified for a double H rating-I can only be so charming for so long.
It was interesting. My friend didn't have a lot of guidance, and it was Little B's first trip to a show. I brought gummies, granola bars and knitting. I got plenty done, and taught my friend. She made fussy "I can't noises" which I immediately quashed. "What, you think you are gonna be an expert in one row?" She shut that sniveling right up, laughed, and her knitting improved.
I don't know how useful 'judging' a kid's food entry is. They don't taste the entry (probably a good idea because of the likelihood of food poisoning). But if 4-H is an offshoot of the USDA (who knew?) and the purpose is to strengthen today's kids with old fashioned skills and knowledge that the schools can't teach because they have to give the annual literacy exam .... meh. One of the tenets of feedback is that it has to be useful. Little B had no idea how her entry actually scored-where was she strong, and what were her weak points?
The awards ceremony was interesting. The participants all got red ribbons. There was an alternate blue ribbon winner, and a blue ribbon winner for each category. I know I am an old bitch, and I am sure alternate blue ribbon used to be called second. (Blah!)
Little B was not fooled by a shiny red ribbon. She knew she didn't win, and snuffled in the back seat, exhausted, most of the 50 miles home. With real tears.
3 comments:
I don't think we have 4-H over here. You make it sound more like 6-H.
Poor Little B. It sounds like they rolled a 20 sided dice to decide who wins?
No, I don't think it's that arbitrary, but it would be useful for her to know what she needed to work on. We were on the road before 7, and she had to sit and wait half the day to know that she didn't win, and she doesn't know why. It's just bad when kids go to all that effort and don't know if they scored 55% or 97%.
Ooooo 4-H. Yup I was in 4-H sewing which was mother's idea during her love of polyester pantsuit sewing at the time. The first project was a gingham apron and a tea towel. I can only remember that even though this was like modern day times, we could not use the backstitch feature on a sewing machine. We had to do a neatly tied knot instead and it was graded. They had to be modeled at the style show. I didn't win either. At 11 I had neither poise nor style. But we had to memorize the pledge (small drum roll gasp inserted)
4-H Pledge
I pledge
My Head to clearer thinking,
My Heart to greater loyalty,
My Hands to larger service, and
My Health to better living
For my club, my community, my country, and my world.
They now even have 4-H shooting sports and I haven't a clue how that fits in.
And I just had a flash -- I also made a dress out of ghastly beige and flower twill at a time when you could still buy fabric at a grocery store. It still resides in mother's closet. Note to self - burn baby burn.
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