Why do I have to do record books?
By Judy Parsons
How many 4-Hers have spoken these words “Why do I have to do record books?” I would guess about 99.99% (there may be one or two that really like to do them). As parents it seems like a never-ending task to get youth to fill them out. So why do we really need to do record books? I asked a few 7-9-year-olds youth why do they do record books? A few of their answers were “so we know what we have done, what awards we won and how much money we made on an animal”.
In the 4-H program, we teach our youth life skills and record books are a very important life skill. They prepare youth to be successful adults by doing adult tasks such as setting goals, documentation and budgeting.
Successful adults set goals. Goals are a road map to where we want to go and how we are going to get there. As we go through life, we set goals for our careers, where we want to live, when we get married and start families and how we are going to retire. Without goals, life can get chaotic and unmanageable. Learning to set specific goals as 4-H youth and accomplishing those goals will put them on the right track to become successful adults.
Successful adults document important events and business dealings. Documentation of important events allows adults to keep track of what they have done, when they did it and who was in attendance. It is also important to document business dealing in the same way. This allows adults to be able to have a document that they can use in the future to plan events or defend a business deal. 4-H youth learn to do this in their record books as they complete their permanent pages and stories telling about what they did in their 4-H project work.
Successful adults know how to budget and live within their means. Most adults work to earn a salary with expectations of increases. They hope to earn enough to buy a car, buy a house, go on vacations, provide for their family and save enough for retirement. These expectations can only be accomplished with sticking to a budget and not go into enormous debt. Adults also have to budget for taxes based on the salary earned. I’m sure most adults have spoken these words “Why do we have to pay taxes?” It’s all a part of the adult life. Record books teach 4-H youth the reality of what they earn when they compare their expenses to their income. They learn this by purchasing ingredients for baking, buying an animal to raise and sell and purchasing ammunition for shooting sports. Some projects can be sold to earn an income. Learning how to manage their money sets them up to be successful adults.
So, the next time you hear a 4-Her ask “Why do I have to do record books?”, you can tell them that they are being prepared to be successful adults.
