4-h revisited.

[crazychicknlady]

For the first time in my life I think I may know how the parents who live vicariously through their kids, by making them participate in activities the parent secretly wishes they could have done, feel.

After getting more information from the 4-h lamb coordinator, I get how the raising to market process is supposed to work.

For the record, I had no idea how expensive the livestock market actually is.

Her daughter started by raising and selling a pig. From the proceeds of the sale she could buy more than one animal the next year, and again each year after that. Her mother has only been out the purchase price of that first pig, and the feed each year, since.

I want my girls to want to do this. Not be so attached that the animal becomes a pet. But to buy, raise and sell livestock (be they pigs, sheep, or goats). I wish I was twelve again and could do this (though, when I was twelve, I'd probably have been too attached to the animals to want to sell them as well).

Arg.

Suppressing the desire to make my kids do this, suppressing the desire to make my kids do this, suppressing the desire to make my kids do this.

Besides. One never makes S do anything. And I really have no desire to have H sobbing with a broken heart over the loss of a goat, sheep, or pig.

Sigh.

Working on remembering to embrace my girls for who they are now.

Maybe in five years my son will want to do this.

Otherwise, I just have to admit, that we are misfits where we live, we are in the country, but we make terrible farmers.

I've never been very good at fitting in anyway.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

You are doing it right and the girls aren't ready, they aren't ready. "Fitting in" (whatever that is) is totally overrated. :-)

S--

Sometimes they don't know...

[(Anonymous)]

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that K would LOVE choir at school. She didn't want to do it. I "made her" do it. She is now two years done and very excited about being old enough to do musical theater. When invited to join the gymnastic demo team, she was hesitant. We made a deal that she only had to make it through the first demo. She's now a year+ in with 7 demos on her belt and loving it. Sometimes their uncertainty or nervousness prevents them from having wonderful experiences. I now truly believe that one gift we can give our kids is the push through the nervousness they feel with something new. Think of what they could experience, but don't due to a little uncertainty.

Love,
K

Re: Sometimes they don't know...

[crazychicknlady.livejournal.com]

Your kids are going to end up with marvelous experiences, and I understand encouraging them past the initial hesitation.

The thing is, I'm not really sure my kids would enjoy raising an animal for market. I was just suffering temporarily from wishing my kids were a different sort of kid who would enjoy the experience.

I discussed the situation with the girls, and S actually thinks doing the raise specifically for auction sounds interesting. So she may do that next year, once we've tried the non-animal aspects of 4-h and seen if she wants to stick with it. She readily agreed that there have been many things she's tried over the years that ended up being a very bad fit for her, and she didn't want to continue with. I wouldn't want to take on the commitment to raise a goat or pig this year (an animal I wouldn't have the set up to keep long term) and have her decide she thought the whole 4-h thing was boring.

We aren't scrapping the whole idea, I'm just slowing down a bit and letting things develop more gradually.