Youth Development Insight

By Sarah Odendahl I sometimes find myself talking with other parents about the desire to help our children thrive as they grow - but what does thriving really mean? How do we define it? The  4-H Thriving Model describes youth thriving as "social, emotional, and cognitive learning." It also describes seven indicators of thriving, including "hopeful purpose." The model describes a hopeful purpose this way: "Thriving youth have a sense of hope and purpose, and see themselves on the way to a happy and successful future." How common is it for young people to feel this way?  We know that the  American Academy of Pediatrics declared a youth mental health crisis in 2021 , and that Gen Z experiences higher rates of anxiety about extreme weather and climate change and  perceive more dangers in life than previous generations . Two surveys from the end of 2023 asked youth about hope and purpose more directly. Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation report only 64-6...

By Savannah Aanerud What does it mean to thrive? The  4-H Thriving Model  is the root system for how 4-H programs successfully grow and cultivate positive experiences into the lives of our young people. It helps youth develop a growth mindset where key developmental outcomes are achieved. Karen Beranek explores this in  her blog  about how one must move beyond resilience to thrive. However, in order to truly help youth, volunteers and families thrive, we need to first consider how we as program staff are thriving. I want to encourage you to sit back in your chair and ask yourself, "Am I thriving?". Many of us are in "survival" mode while trying to encourage our youth to "thrive". How does that work? We see ourselves taking on a plethora of tasks, adding to our already long to-do lists. Our work can then seem like a checklist that we have to do each day instead of something that we enjoy "getting" to do. We are constantly pouring into our programs...

By Karen Beranek As youth development professionals, building relationships with youth, their families and our co-workers is such an obvious part of our work, we may not put much thought into it. We know asking youth about their day or something big happening in their lives is a great conversation starter or check-in question. We have all likely heard the quote, "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care",   most often attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt. As a 4-H Youth Development professional, the 4-H Thriving Model was the focus of my most recent blog post . At the very foundation of this model is research led by the Search Institute , grounded in the concept that relationships matter. The Five Elements of Developmental Relationships show us how we can focus our conversations while building relationships with young people.  Express care -  Show me that I matter to you. Challenge growth -  Push me to keep getting better. Provide supp...