Kids Communities and 4H
Ryan Buford “The Next Generation” Audio player below!
A single strand of rope can be broken easily. Two strands is a little tougher to break. But weaving three or four strands together you will find how strong a tightly knit community can truly be. Just like rope that is intertwined, the people in a community serve to strengthen the whole. Mainstays of a healthy body, healthy heart, strong hands, and strong mind are deeply seated in the meaning of this show and 4H. Read more “Kids Communities and 4H”
Kid communities are a critical part of growing up and learning to survive. Having a network of friends was and still is a critical part of how you can identify with a group, what you can contribute, and where you fit in.
So here it is. What do you keep in your emergency bag? Are you carrying items that are necessary for you and your family. In our household we have a bag for each individual. Do you? Do the children and the adults know how to use whats in their bag?
Growing up, the kids we ran with set the stage for who we would grow up to be. We had our own Sandlot and Platoon and Mission Impossible teams. But even in our little groups there was a sense of understanding that one of us could do things better than another. We learned through play fighting, street games, races and the like who was the best at pinning down an opponent, outsmarting the person who was “it,” and who could sprint distances without the slightest sense of exhaustion. 
Growing up in a typical American suburb, I remember our threats outside the front door were very different compared to today. There were some outside threats that are similar today, but not nearly as many. We could do simple, everyday things to prevent wolves from crossing the threshold and causing harm. I was raised on the cusp of the latchkey generation where both parents worked and kids were expected to fend for themselves after school until either parents got home. This came with a specific set of rules to be followed and not questioned. 
A child’s first exposure to the idea of loss and suffering often comes through the death of a family member or family pet, divorce, separation. The world as they know it comes to an end. This fixture, once a permanent part of their life, is gone forever.
Technology as a tool is an amazing advantage that our kids have over our generation. They have more in the palms of their hands than we did by far, and we had more than our parents. But the ongoing trend of absolute immersion into smart devices has some serious setbacks.
