When it comes to rural areas, many in the community become further and further removed from the farm.
One hundred years ago when families were raised on the home place, children were taught common practices such as growing and canning vegetables, raising siblings, and tending to any animals around the ‘house.
This era moved at a much slower pace not only due to lack of modernization but all entertainment for children and adults was primarily found around the home.
Flash forward to today where not only can anyone replace a hand written letter with a phone call from a mobile device, they can also search for information on any topic on that same device. Youth have plenty of activities to keep them engaged throughout the year. As competitive creatures, time rarely stands still as we bounce from one event to the other.
This past weekend I was able to share a handful of stories with others at the local livestock show.
During this time it made me realize that some of the simplest tasks of caring for animals have taught us so much. Generations ago responsibility, organizational skills, timeliness, communication and others were lessons that were learned from being tasked with chores.
Even the ones that rarely have any time off from school, sports, and other extracurricular activities have learned the same lessons through livestock.
Sitting back and looking at all the children that learned sportsmanship through winning and losing, communication from having to give a set of judging reasons, leadership from having all the younger 4-Hers looking up to you, and most importantly responsibility from having to care for the animal as the animal can’t care for itself.
The ending of the story is how many doctors, lawyers, politicians, bankers, farmers, and overall leaders got their start from something so simple.
