How to build relationships in your 4-H club
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EmailBuilding relationships within your club is essential to building a welcoming 4-H environment.
Building strong relationships within your 4-H club is essential to creating a fun, welcoming and productive environment. As adults who support 4-H members, our job is to be a champion for youth, provide positive energy, and build associated skills. Through 4-H, we watch sparks grow, create joy and lead to a purpose and direction in life.
Relationships have the power to be life-changing, and yet not every relationship reaches this level. We call these transformational relationships “developmental relationships.” The science behind developmental relationships tells us that different relationships provide different assets to us as we grow and develop, discover who we are, cultivate our abilities, and learn how to meaningfully contribute to the world around us.
Developmental relationships between youth and adults are an important aspect of the 4-H program. These relationships begin by creating a secure attachment between the 4-H member and a safe adult volunteer, reflected in mutual warmth, respect and trust. Developmental relationships also increase in complexity over time. As youth develop, their needs within the relationship will likewise change to reflect their increasing maturity and abilities. As such, healthy developmental relationships shift power over time. Developmental relationships with younger youth are typically highly adult driven and determined. Youth-adult relationships across adolescent years, however, reflect the young person’s increasing competence, personal autonomy, decision-making and identity formation. As youth grow, an effective 4-H program reflects these developmental changes through developmentally appropriate activities and relationships with adults.
Building youth voice into your 4-H program not only builds trust and supports positive developmental relationships that lead to thriving, but it also helps youth foster their sparks. It builds new ideas and new leadership in young people, which means the program looks different and exciting for all. The following practices will help create committed 4-H members who want to be active in their community and make a difference in their world:
- Have your 4-H experiences be about the members. Design it with them, not for them.
- Have youth be responsible for the club through officer positions and parliamentary procedure.
- Help teens develop important leadership and decision-making skills by letting them plan and implement the club program.
- Encourage community involvement by having members decide and design service projects.
- Model your commitment to the 4-H program by being present and consistent.
- Celebrate members’ successes, big or small.
The connections you foster with club members help create a sense of belonging and purpose. Building strong relationships takes time and effort, but it makes the 4-H experience more rewarding and fun for both the volunteers and members.
Michigan State University Extension encourages you to learn more about the 4-H Thriving Model on the 4-H PLWG Standing Committee on Positive Youth Development website. For more information about joining 4-H, visit the MSU Extension 4-H website. For additional helpful volunteer training content, check out the MSU Extension Michigan 4-H Volunteer Webinar Series webpage.
MSU Extension and Michigan 4-H Youth Development help to prepare young people for successful futures. To find out how to get involved as a youth participant or an adult volunteer, contact your county MSU Extension office.
