Youth Clubs for Boys and Girls
4H, Scouts, Camp Fire, Civil Air Patrol Provide Community and Fun
Youth development clubs and programs are many and varied these days, and can provide immense enrichment opportunities for all children.
For public schooled children, youth clubs provide a way to fulfill current volunteering requirements and to have fun outside of school. For home and private schooled children, they offer a great way to be involved in the community and to supplement academic learning with practical skills applications.
Today, there’s something for everyone, from 4H to tried and true scouting programs, to Camp Fire and to the new up and coming Earth Scouts program. Youth programs like these offer a wealth of emotional, social, and educational benefits that often go far beyond meetings and activities, and carry over into children’s home lives as well.
4H – It Ain’t All Cows and Cookin’
4H is an old and venerable youth program, available all over the country and yet, depending upon where you live, a resource of which you may not be aware, or at the very least, have outdated views about its mission and purpose.
The Hs stand for head, heart, hands and health, as in “I pledge my head to clear thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, my health to better living -- For my club, my community, my country, and my world.”
Children can employ all four Hs in activities as diverse as electronics, gardening, model rocketry and small animal projects, all of which they can also enjoy competing for ribbons and monetary premiums at various levels.
The National 4H Council lists a huge variety of programs ranging from the traditional agricultural and home economics offerings to environmental sciences, health and wellness, to workforce preparedness.
Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts
Two other big community involvement groups that most folks are familiar with are Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They both offer terrific opportunities to be with other children in a social and service oriented environments. You can find your local clubs by asking at your children’s school, looking in the phone book, or going online.
Camp Fire USA
Camp Fire USA, which you may remember as “Camp Fire Girls,” before it went co-ed many years ago, might be a little harder to find, but worth the search. A national, co-educational organization partly supported by the United Way, Camp Fire USA is an inclusive youth development group with a community service focus. It strives to build self-esteem, character development, leadership skills, and social responsibility in children of all ages.
Earth Scouts
Another great up and coming youth program with a greater global focus is Earth Scouts, a product of the Earth Charter Summit. Earth Scouts earn badges for activities promoting respect for nature, economic justice, universal human rights and a culture of peace.
Civil Air Patrol
For a slightly different focus, there’s the Civil Air Patrol . CAP is the civilian Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and organized along somewhat paramilitary lines, with an emphasis on aviation history, flight instruction and search and rescue service. There are more than 1,700 units; half of which have both senior members and cadets attached. .
So check out the offerings in your area, and join your children in some great programs from which you can both grow and learn.
