Contents Winning VS. Belonging Team Spirit In the Spotlight Campus Connection Teaming Up Feeling Overwhelmed? Adults Out of Place Planning To Go Places? Hints to Success

Winning VS. Belonging

In a desire to see children succeed, parents often provide opportunities for competition, believing that winning will build self-esteem and confidence. However, research has shown that competitive situations where rewards are based on performance are less successful at building confidence and self-worth than activities that reward cooperative performance.

The need to belong and to be accepted for one's individual talents and skills is essential to the growth of self esteem, especially for children learning socialization skills.

In a competitive performance, one wins or loses. In a group where cooperation is rewarded, the magic of putting individual skills together can create results greater than what each individual could do alone. The need to belong to something larger than oneself is satisfied, creating an enthusiasm to support each other.

The group is energized, not by outside motivation, but by the intrinsic satisfaction based on cooperation. Making opportunities for children to cooperate, rather than win or lose, can provide a safe environment where a child feels encouraged and nurtured and more willing to take risks.

Source: WSU Cooperative Extension CONNECTIONS, Vol. Number 4. Page 1
Louise B. Turner Source: Alfie Kohn. Published by Rewards. Houghron Mifflin. Boston

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Team Spirit

A famous football coach's cure for a spiritless team is:

C is for cooperation. Create an environment where cooperation is rewarded. Everyone, working together, must keep the overall goal uppermost in mind.

U is for understanding. Make room for differences, strengths, and weaknesses and accept each person's individual way of working.

R is for responsibility. Be responsible to others, including teammates and authority.

E is for excelleace. Expect to do your best every time you try. You may sometimes fail, but should always give your best effort.

Any group that can work the "CURE" will ultimately be a successful team, filled with spirit.

Source: WSU Cooperative Extension.
CONNECTIONS, Vol. 4, No. 4, Page 1 Don Turner, professional football coach and owner/manager of FreeAgent Scouting Combine

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In the Spotlight

Are you planning an end of the season outing? They can be fun, are easily planned, and are bound to produce interesting results. Keep these pointers in mind. When taking 5-8 year-olds on trips it is good to keep the adult to child ratio low. One Cloverbud member per each adult hand is ideal. It's also wise to adopt a dress code for the outing. For example, everyone wears white shirts and red caps. Dressing alike makes it easy to locate group members.

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Campus Connection

Hello again! I hope your summer has been rewarding and fun! As discussed earlier, the key objectives of Cloverbuds is to increase self-understanding and social-interaction skills. One avenue for achieving these skills is to help children cope with problems and conflict.

Children at one time or another will have conflict with each other (sharing materials or play space) or with themselves (understanding material or have difficulties participating) when involved in Cloverbud activities. Conflictual experiences hinder the development of self-understandings and social-interaction skills. We as adults, working with Cloverbud youth, can intervene using the following conflict resolution techniques:

1. Approach children calmly - a peaceful, calm adult demeanor will help them sort through the problem to reach a solution.
2. Acknowledge their feelings - simply state the feelings you observe Such a statement helps children identify and understand why they are having feelings of frustration or anger.
3. Gather information about the problem - listen to each child's point of view. This will help you understand the situation as the children see it and to discover with them about what to do next.
4. Restate problem - repeat what the children have said to convey that their point of view has been heard; it also allows more time for emotions to settle.
5. Ask for feedback and ideas to solve problem - open a dialogue with the children to consider various solutions to the problem; help them consider the consequences of their suggestions.
6. Give (RIPPOrf - be there to help children carry out the solution. (Graves, 19%)

Children who learn how to problem solve and deal with conflict are self-confident. They also expand their self-understanding and social-interaction skills.

Scott D Scheer State Extension Specialist 4-H Youth Development Preadolescent Education Ohio State University Extension

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Teaming Up

A key element in building a team is clear communication and keeping everyone involved. Each team member needs to feel that his or her contribution is important. A team can be a committee, a sports team, or a club. Teams of all sizes may encounter challenges that lessen the sense of belonging. The challenge of domineering members requires special attention by the team leader.

Challenge: When one person monopolizes the discussion or forces a viewpoint on the group, the participation of others is limited.

Solutions: Compliment the verbal person on work well done and ask for a more equal level of participation from all team members. Ask the verbal person to present additional ideas in writing. Rather than squelching the enthusiasm, find another outlet for the over-enthusiastic person. Set time limits for discussion. Have people take turns answering questions. Let all members know that their contributions are valued by the group.

Source: WSU Cooperative Extension CONNECTIONS, Vol. 4, No. 4, Page 1 -M. Christine Price Resource: Leadership series, Team Building, "How to Build a Winning Team," Charles Mallory, National Press Publications.

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Feeling Overwhelmed?

Do you make lists to keep from forgetting everything that you need to get accomplished before the end of the summer? You're not alone. Studies of the amount of information people are able to keep immediately in mind suggests that the average adult can hold seven "chunks" of information at one time. According to research by Kail & Bisanz, "A chunk can be defined as a portion of a person's knowledge base that is always activated and deactivated as a unit." While adults can immediately recall seven chunks of information, the amount that they consciously use in a given instant is more likely to be a single unit or chunk.

Source: Thomas, R. M. (1996) Comparing Theories of Child Development. Thomas Publishing Company. Santa Barbara, California. p. 318.

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Adults Out of Place

If you've ever nun into one of your Cloverbud members while shopping and was surprised by the strange way the child reacted to you don't be. Children at this age are self centered and are often quite shocked to discover that other adults have lives outside of the surroundings in which the child knows them. It is quite common for a child to hide behind a parent or to pretend to be very shy when he/she meets his/her school teacher or club advisor in the store. The child expects that teacher/advisor to spend his/her entire life at school and is shocked to realize that the teacher has a life similar to his/her own.

Joyce A. Shriner

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Planning To Go Places? Hints to Success

Plan Well
Know exactly where you're going, how to get there, costs involved, and how long it will take. Ifpossible, make the trip in advance without the children. Check the best days and times to plan a visit - inquire about the least busy times. Locate food and bathroom facilities in advance.

Explain your Plans to Children
Keep it simple. Tell them where you are going, how you'll get there, and what you might see. Make no promises in advance. Say instead, "We think we can," "We hope to," or "We expect to."

Be Prepared, Friendly, and Flexible
Plan to have fun with the children. The safety of the children should be the overriding concern. Have everyone dress in comfortable clothes and shoes. Lfyou plan to include a picnic lunch, use a large shoulder bag, durable shopping bag, knapsack, or picnic basket.

Expect Good Behavior
Explain in advance what is expected and praise good behavior. Be positive.

Give Individual Attention
If the club is large, divide it into small groups. Give each adult the responsibility for a group. A buddy system, with children in pairs, is helpful. Buddies must stick together and you can easily spot-check for pairs ofyoungsters. Plan to check with the children and encourage questions.

Stop While It's Fun
Generally, 4-H K-2 members don't have long attention spans. If a long trip is involved, bring along a simple snack and possibly a few small toys or play a travel game.

Follow-Through with Talks About the Trip
Have members draw pictures about their experience to put in their scrapbooks. Encourage them to express their feelings about the trip - "What I liked…., "What I disliked…," "What I learned….".

Important!
Prior to undertaking the actual group outing, be sure that each child's parents are fully informed of all details for the trip and that they have given written consent for the child to go. This is very important should an accident occur. Discuss insurance with your county 4-H Agent.

Source: Supporting Youth in Grades K-2. Page 27.

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Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ad. Admin. and Director, OSU Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868