Our community club is up and running for 2013! Over 1/3 of our 60+ members take a sewing
project. How can we manage it?!?! Maureen and I ask ourselves this every
year! No matter how many kids you work
with, there are challenges. This year we
have a new challenge that adds a new wrinkle.
The new requirement that we ”always have at least two
screened volunteers present any time a 4-H member is present” forces us to plan
a bit more. Here are some of the things
we are doing:
Maureen works with four other screened 4-H volunteers for what I call “open sewing
nights” at the Extension Office. The
kids and parents shop for their pattern and fabric with Maureen. Then, on a
series of pre-announced meeting nights, the kids show up to sew, often with a
parent or grandparent to guide them (often they are non-sewers who simply
repeat and/or interpret what the leader has instructed when the child gets back
to his/her sewing machine). Maureen and
her volunteers roam the room and sometimes become attached to a child or two
who are working on a difficult task. A
variety of projects are going on, all at the same time, in the same large room.
In this situation, Maureen’s
biggest new concern is the beginning and the end of the meetings. She must be sure that there is always another
screened adult there with her before any of the kids arrive because sometimes a
child comes without their parent/grandparent.
She is working to schedule her volunteers to cover this before and after
time.
I work with three advanced seamstresses, whose
projects require hours and hours. They
are doing tailoring and other complicated projects with fairly expensive
fabrics. My personal temperament doesn’t
fit with Maureen’s style of meeting. I
have gone to her meetings several times to help out. I may have undiagnosed Attention Deficit
Disorder, but there is just way too much going on for me to keep track of what
needs to be done on these advanced projects.
I prefer to work with one or two kids at a time at my home. It’s more time consuming, but I feel more
comfortable.
Because of the new regulations, I
must always have a child’s parent in the sewing room when I am helping with the
project. This has added many
hours to the parents’ commitment to the project. I worry that this will keep kids from tackling
difficult projects in the future.
To add more drama to the situation,
because I sew with children from two different families, I may sew with Child
Smith only under these circumstances:
a. Child
Smith is present and her screened or unscreened Parent Smith is present
OR
b. Child
Smith is present and Parent McGillicuddy is present and a screened volunteer.
Child Smith and Child McGillicuddy
may both sew at my house at the same time if:
a. Both of
their parents are there
OR
b. The individual parent who stays is a
screened volunteer
My method is working with my three 4-H’ers. My only concern is that I find that I tend to
talk to the parent as well as the 4-H’er during the sewing time. This is conversation time that I would have
had with the 4-H’er only, in the past. I
feel that the bonding, group dynamic is different. It’s not necessarily bad, but it is different. I have encouraged the moms to bring a book or
handwork to do while Child Smith and Child McGillicuddy sew with me. That helps the parent to stay out of the
teacher/student conversation, unless invited in.
One benefit to having the mom in the room is
that she is there to hear about “homework” assignments, ways to improve,
praise, etc. Again, it has affected the
teacher/student dynamic, but not necessarily in a bad or good way. Another benefit is that the parent is there
when there are fit or length decisions to be made.
I like working with 4-H’ers in my home. I can run downstairs to get something out of
the dryer while the 4-H’er pins a long seam.
I can answer the phone to tend to elderly parents’ health issues. I can pull out a sewing tool that I didn’t
expect that we would need or share a small piece of interfacing rather than
sending them to the store.
Maureen likes working with the larger group at
the Extension Office. It allows a lot of
children to be introduced to sewing.
They get basic skills and more.
They create wearable garments that they are proud of. Her loyal volunteers make the large group possible,
spreading the trained seamstresses around the room to help wherever needed.
We 4-H Sewing Leaders must embrace the Screened
Volunteer mandate. With thoughtful
planning, it is possible to continue the 4-H tradition of adults sharing their
skills and talents with the next generation, continuing to Make the Best
Better, while the kids Learn by Doing!
Maureen and I would love to hear of your ideas about how to
implement the Screened Volunteer mandate in your 4-H sewing group. Use the Comments section below to share with
us and the other readers!
~Linda
If you have questions
about how to implement the Screened Volunteer mandate in your club, you may
note your question in the Comments section below. If we can’t help you, we’ll see that you get
an answer from an Extension staff member.
NOTE: Here is a suggestion
from our Community Club to yours--We are encouraging at least one adult per
family to sign up to be a 4-H screened volunteer. We offer over 20 different projects in our
club and we don’t want our club to suffer because of the new regulations! Example:
The foods leader who has been opening her home to aspiring bread bakers
for the past 20 years should continue!
Therefore, we are going to supply a list of screened “Project Assistants”
to each project leader. When the project
meetings are scheduled, they will have a large pool of parents who can share
the load to be the second adult in the room.
The Project Assistants will not have the responsibility of leading the
project; their job is to ensure that the meeting may take place by being the
second adult. If they learn a little or
become more comfortable and someday become a Project Leader, that will be a
happy bonus!
