MSU Extension 4-H Volunteering & Mentoring

So I would like to welcome everyone to today's Michigan 4-H volunteer webinar on Friendly But Firm, Boundaries That Make Volunteer Better. We're going to talk about how to set friendly boundaries with youth, families, and fellow volunteers. Learn how to say yes, yes, with intention and no without guilt, and keep your 4-H experience fun, respectful, and drama-free. I'm Christine Heverly. I'm an extension educator in our Children and Youth Institute, focusing on volunteer Relationships and Development and one of our co-leads for Extension Volunteer Management and I am based in our Clinton County Extension Office and I'll let my co-presenter Christy give a quick introduction also. Yeah hi everybody I'm Christy Osterhaus I am the 4-H Supervising and Staff Development Educator for the Manistee, Benzie, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Antrim area, and my home county is in Antrim, and I also help do training on our volunteer management team. So we are excited for you all to spend potentially part of your lunch hour with us, learning about how to think about those boundaries you need in your volunteering roles. So MSU Extension believes fully in creating walking environments in our programs where everyone feels like they belong, feel safe, and have a voice. We know that human differences enrich our lives, work, and community. We embrace our responsibility to be a resource for all and are committed to writing programs in all segments of our community. It's also important to understand the long -standing history and legacy of colonialism that has brought us all to reside in the land and seek to understand our place within that history. And the land acknowledgement on the screen is one step in the process. Christy has dropped into a chat a quick demographics form. If you are comfortable, we would ask that you please complete that. It helps us to showcase how we're meeting the needs of people across the state of Michigan and out of state, because I know we have an out -of-state person. If you are attending this as an MSU Extension staff member in your role as a staff member, we would ask that you do not complete the survey. So as we get started today, we're going to to talk about boundaries and how you can explore your own boundaries, work with others' boundaries, and consider your 4-H group's boundaries. As we get started in this conversation, please share in the chat what is a boundary that your group has or you may have in your 4-H volunteer experience. This could be something like meeting expectations, how the group communicates what you do in a 4-H meeting. So I will provide one example to get your brain started thinking, but then I want you to drop them in the chat in the 4-H club that I am part of we have two methods of communication we communicate through a club email we have and through our closed group Facebook page those are how we communicate reminders and share information on the club and those are the only two methods we are now using in our club so in the chat drop some things that you already have as a boundary your group has as a boundary in your 4-H volunteer experience or one that you have on your general as a volunteer i'm going to pause to what people think and drop those in the chat all right so we have someone that used the band app for club communication communication for members and parents we have someone who has we've created a club agreement that lists behaviors that are okay and not okay during meetings yeah so laying out those expectations that is really key um mostly email for us and during fair week text for immediate information yes so we know that in your club, you know that email is what is used throughout the year. But during a fair, you have a text play for that immediate information. That's awesome. So in 4-H, we talk a lot about helping you thrive, not just to succeed today, but to grow into confident, capable adults. That's where the vital elements come in. These are four key areas of fostering sparks, promoting belonging, supporting development relationships, and encouraging engagement. And this is what truly elevates the 4-H experience. When we help young people discover their sparks, that thing that lights them up inside, we're giving them a reason to grow. When we create a sense of promoting belonging, they feel safe and valued, like they have a place in 4-H. And supporting developmental relations provides that trusted guidance that they need to take healthy risks and build life skills. And when youth are engaged and when they have a youth voice, ownership and experience, they're not just showing up, they're developing skills for a lifetime. These elements are what help young people become beyond ready, not just for college or jobs, but the entire future. So let's take a moment to, we want to think about these elements and we do our 4 -H experience. And they play a really key role in boundaries also, because by modeling boundaries, we help you thrive. So they seize how to set limits on relations, seize what's appropriate or inappropriate behaviors when they're in the belonging setting. It helps them understand. It helps create some additional engagement for them because they know why maybe there is nothing something, or they know why you might not be responding, or they know how to communicate. Those boundaries do set youth on a thriving pathway because it helps them see what the expectations are. And ultimately, we want to have youth be beyond ready. We want to have positive youth development experiences that play a predictive role and a youth overall development and according to the and we do that and we have to have boundaries on our volunteer pieces to be able to do that successfully if we over give ourselves and get ourselves stretched too thin we don't lead as well positive development experiences because we don't have the time to process we don't have the time to plan we might become resentful because we're wanting other people to set up so boundaries help us really prepare youth to be beyond ready by giving them those confidence. And we want to have these things because these are what lead to four-inch success and prepare youth to be ready for their future. As we talk about boundaries, boundaries are the guidelines, rules, or limits that a person has to create and identify reasonable, safe, and permissible ways for individuals to interact and respond to them. So everybody has boundaries. They're necessary and healthy, especially when we're working with young people. So they help youth volunteers and parents understand expectations that each person brings to a relationship. So we're going to talk about some examples of how you can use boundaries. And so based on the images here on the screen, we know we have rocks here, pipe cleaners, and taffy. So I want you to think about each of those items and which item would you choose to describe your boundaries in your volunteer role? Whether you think of your boundaries like a rock or a pipe cleaner or taffy. So everybody so far said pipe cleaner. So if you could maybe type into the chat why you picked pipe cleaner, what were you envisioning when you picked that or how are your boundaries like a pipe cleaner? Yeah, solid but flexible when needed bend so pipe cleaners are bendy and flexible yep so bending to meet the meet the needs of the youth flexibility is a must but also stand firm on other matters yeah yeah open and flexible yeah so some so um with the point about um standing firm on our boundaries so sometimes sometimes we do have circumstances where boundaries need to be firm that might that the boundary might be more like a rock. So that could be like the example in the chat with animal care during fair, that could be policies or procedures or bylaws that might be a little bit more of a firm rock type boundary. Then there are times where boundaries might be flexible and need to bend a little bit, but they still have that firm, firm backing in, in, um, a pipe cleaner with a metal that goes through the pipe cleaner. Um, and you can adapt them and, and then there are also sometimes where, um, boundaries might be like taffy where, um, particularly if boundaries are soft over time, um, it could, um, depend on the relationship or how you know somebody where boundaries are a little bit more softer and flexible, like a taffy potentially. And then I do see in the chat the life circumstances out of our control and how to help communicate. And yes, communication is key, and we will talk about that a lot. So boundaries play an important role in all of the relationships, and they set the standard for what's expected. So well-established boundaries will help people to understand those expectations and their relationship with you. So for example, if you think about your relationship with your boss, can you speak to him or her in the same way that you would speak to your best friend, for example? Chances are high that there's certain topics or words that you're not going to use with your boss or in your professional life that you might in your personal life and with your best friend. It's not that the conversations that you have with your friends or your boss are bad. They're just not appropriate in the different types of settings. So some boundaries are easy to decipher because we learn them through those rules, policies, and other guidelines, some of those rock-type boundaries. And then other boundaries are not communicated as clearly, and those have to be navigated with care. So it's important to remember that boundaries also might depend on the nature of that relationship. So young people, when you're working with youth in your clubs and groups, they need consistent boundaries and realistic expectations to feel safe physically and emotionally. So as a volunteer that works with youth, one of your roles should involve setting and modeling appropriate boundaries with the youth and their parents and guardians. And it's also critical that you honor both the boundaries of the youth and their parents as well. So before we get even deeper into boundaries, it's important to understand why those are important. When you're working with your parents or guardians, it's wise to establish a set of boundaries and think about what are the limits that you have in your relationship that you would build with other adults and youth. When you have inappropriate or non-existent boundaries, that can be harmful to everybody. It can be harmful to avoid, if you have healthy boundaries, and by setting and maintaining those, you would avoid things like burning out *********, feeling more responsible for things that more so than what is actually the case in reality. If you don't have those healthy set boundaries, you might feel used, disrespected, or taken advantage of. You could feel like you can't say no to any requests. Youth and parents might become ovary dependent on you. There could be a lot of blaming going on, developing one-sided relationships with no give and take. Those are all things that possibly could happen without well-established boundaries and are critical to showcase why boundaries are important. If you have healthy boundaries and are setting those healthy boundaries, that creates a level of protection for you. It clarifies the responsibility and who's responsible for doing what in a club. It preserves your physical and emotional energy. It helps us focus on ourselves, our values, and our standards. And it helps you to identify your limits and what you are doing. So when we create and set boundaries, it's important to establish clear messages when you're setting a boundary. When we're clear about our expectations, people will often rise to meet them. So make them known. Politely and firmly state your boundaries so that they can be respected and understood. Your boundaries don't have to be debated. They're your boundaries. So you get to decide what works for you. You should also understand your own boundaries. So do that internal reflection. When you're setting a boundary, you should be able to describe what behavior you find acceptable and or unacceptable with that boundary and what will happen if the unacceptable end of that occurs and what steps you're going to take to protect that boundary. You should recognize your own feelings, getting in touch with your feelings, knowing what is bothering you. So if something is bothering you, that's likely a sense that a boundary has been crossed. You could think through like what are specific items in your day that have caused you stress or frustration. So recognizing what those things are and then when you recognize what those are, you can work to resolve them and be specific on what those things are. So you can identify specific things to work on and get specific results. When you've, so for example, if responding to emails after six o'clock in the evening is affecting your family time, you, and that is causing you to feel frustrated, overwhelmed, or stressed, you may decide to set a boundary around that and let others know that you're only going to respond to emails during your lunch hour when you have time or, you know, after nine o'clock when maybe if you have children and your children are to bed and you've got more time after that, things like that of deciding where you want to set that boundary when something is causing you frustration. And it's important to take care of yourself as well when you're understanding your own boundaries. When others don't agree with you, or if you say no to something, you can feel guilty. Dealing, or others may try to make you feel guilty for that. So deal with any feelings of guilt you may have by any outlets that you might have, like exercising, meditating, being relaxing. Um, you may need to escape drama that others might cause, um, um, related to the boundary and let it go. Um, it's important to understand you don't need to attend every argument to which you're invited. Um, so learning, learning to, um, understand when you, when you might need to let that go. Um, it's also important to understand your boundaries early. It's easier to set your own boundaries when you're prepared and you've thought through and you know ahead of time, rather than to set them later, because that can cause more conflict later as well. It's also important to understand others' boundaries, like your club members and the families that you're working with. So talk to your youth and your families in your groups about boundaries. Share your boundaries with them. Have them share their boundaries with you so that you can be respectful of each other and where you're at. It's also important for you to model healthy boundaries within your club. So people learn how to set boundaries by watching each other. Let your other fellow volunteers and your youth and families see you firmly and kindly set boundaries. So, you know, for example, you might say, I work during the day, so I'm not going to respond to volunteer related items until I am off work. That would be a nice, firm, kind way to set a boundary. You should also be consistent with club members. So people, especially youth with the boundaries to feel safe and understand social expectations, consistency will help share that message so that people know what's expected of them. And also when you're working with your families and your youth um don't try not to judge others for what boundaries they have because they may be different than yours um so it's important especially for example for younger youth youth might have their for example they might have their own language and ways that they're talking about things and you as a volunteer potentially could find that language offensive um so working together to understand how are you talking through language and, you know, maybe you have a boundary that that that makes that language makes you uncomfortable. And then you could choose to have a conversation that, you know, hey, I'm uncomfortable with that language. How do we want to interact together in the time that we're together regarding that language use? And then when you have a boundary that's been crossed, it's important to think and identify how you want to handle that when that's been crossed? What are you doing? So recognizing when it's been crossed, again, that feeling, feeling stressed, frustrated, how do you respond to that? Boundaries are personal and they can vary widely so that can cause conflict. And so recognizing that, you know, you've got to have some conversations and talk through things and work through all of those elements. It's important for your 4-H club. This is a great time of year where we're starting a new 4-H program year in Michigan 4 -H to talk about the boundaries early in the year that you want to set as a club and so that you can communicate clearly with the club what those boundaries are, understand everybody's boundaries, and communicate clear messages. So, for example, you know, one of our program boundaries might be to that parents who aren't screened as a goal level volunteer should work with their own children and not other children in the group. So knowing that as a program boundary, you can set up your club meeting and set up the expectations and discuss how can parents still contribute to your group and like bring snacks to a meeting. And then you set up those expectations on how people should, how the adults should interact with each other in the group. So we're going to to do a little activity and so what we're going to do is I am going to read a variety of different statements of some potential things that might happen during in your role as a 4-H volunteer and you're going to decide if that's something you're comfortable with or uncomfortable. A youth participant and his or her parent or guardian call you at work. You receive frequent phone calls from parents who want to talk about one of the youth participants in your club or group. You offer advice to a youth participant's parent. A parent sends you a friend request on a social media platform. Someone in your club calls you at midnight about an issue that's not an emergency. A fellow volunteer calls you on your cell phone during work hours with a question about a deadline for paperwork due the following week. A fellow volunteer calls you on your cell phone to complain about another volunteer. A youth member adds you as a friend on a social media platform. a group parents contacts you on a Friday night about rumors they've heard and want you to address the rumors right now a parent contacts you on Saturday about a safety concern with a youth at a 4-H event that's taking place a fellow volunteer contacts you wants information about a confidential situation with another volunteer that they heard about you're at an overnight event and you're not on duty. A club member approaches you and wants to chat about things. A club member you've known for one year hugs you. A parent texts you over the weekend about an issue that they're having with their child. You're with a group of fellow volunteers and one of them shares a joke that can be considered disrespectful to certain groups of people. After a meeting, a group of parents ask you to go get ice cream with them. You're at a graduation party for a 4-H youth and you're offered an alcoholic beverage. You're invited to contribute to a birthday gift for a parent in your 4-H club. We can be different places with our boundaries and we're not all the same and what it's important to do is to take some time to think through these situations and which ones made you feel uncomfortable and what types of situations left you that might like leave you feel frustrated or resentful, the times when you're feeling taken granted. You want to capture these so you understand the patterns of where you might need to establish some boundaries as you're working with the different parents, the other volunteers, or the youth in the club. When you take these positive actions on situations, you can eliminate these challenges. So it's important to really start to think about the areas that you should consider when you're creating setting and modifying your boundaries first you have to consider your communication how am I going to communicate with this people what works best for you and the people involved so consider what is the best methods of communications who's involved what's going to work it may look different how you communicate your boundaries with parents in your club how you communicate them with youth and how you communicate them with other volunteers um what is something that can break that trust because there's times you might set them and then people are going and how do you break that trust strong um a program and a club is stronger when there is trust between the volunteers the youth and the families in the club then we also have to think about we have to think about what kind of things are we going to consider with social media and texting that is a huge communication tool for some people and we have to consider how does that work we need to encourage those pieces but what are we going to be appropriate with and what are we not going to do So I will give a pretty good example. In my 4 -H club, we were using an app-based communication tool, email, text, and social media. We determined it was too many things to manage as 4-H leaders. So we have moved to two different methods to try and meet the needs of people, but also meet our needs better as leaders so we don't feel like we have to cross -post things on three different places to ensure people get the information. So that is a general boundary and expectation that's being made around that, how we're going to handle those social media and texting pieces within our 4-H club. We have to think about how and when we respond. So while we realized during last year's 4-H year that it was a challenge to have four different methods of communication in our club, we knew that during mid-year wasn't the appropriate time to reset that boundary. So instead, we moved to respond to it and reset it in the new program year. So we've reset the pieces of the new program year and really looking at how those pieces. And we want to be we're being transparent about it as like why we're doing this. You have to be clear and we're being consistent. We also want to be thinking about when there might be some pushback on that as we have to respond with some empathy and understanding and kind of say this is one of our this is an expectation. Think about how you break those downs. You also have to think about the time frame of when you're going to respond to things. Not everything requires an instant response, and you do not have to be available 24-7. But you need to think of some basic guidelines. We live in a society of instantaneous response. We have our watches on our wrist. We have our emails digging in, text messages, social media. But that doesn't mean we have to respond right then and there. Because if we take the time to respond all the time to everything as it comes in, it's that instantaneous response. Instead, we need to set some communication tools about how and when we're going to respond. That maybe you, if people have questions about things, you need at least 24 hours in advance to get back to them so that you have the time to respond to it. You might set, you know, I don't respond to any questions between 6 p.m. and 9 p .m. every night because that's my family time. and I take some time after my kids are in bed to respond to 4-H questions. So you have to just think about that and be consistent with it and set that up. So maybe you think about, okay, I know in a year I spent a lot of time responding to questions when it's close to registration for a certain amount. So ahead of time, set out the expectation. If you have a question, you need to send me a note at least 24 hours in advance and know that I can only respond during these time frames. And then thinking about how you respond is really important. Think about your tone, pieces, or if they reach out to you in a way that you don't utilize for response, how you're going to revert them back to the ways that you want to be responded. So you could redirect them and say, I appreciate your message through Facebook Messenger, but we want all of our messages to come to our club email so that it doesn't matter which leader can respond to it. And then it's really important to consider your feelings and all. and going back to that previous slide of the crop that line of where do I stand on different things because you don't want to be in those situations where you're feeling like your boundaries are being crossed because then you're more likely to want to get burned out and feel resented and not enjoy your role as a volunteer when you think of um back to the beginning activity with the rock the pipe cleaner and the taffy, we briefly mentioned that sometimes our boundaries can change depending on the relationship and how you know people. So I'd like you to take a moment if you have pen and paper handy and you want to draw these in circles and write some names down, feel free as we walk through the activity. Otherwise, just think through mentally where you might place people in each of these circles. So the middle circle is going to represent yourself. And then each circle as we go out is going to be a different level of relationship that you have to other people. So the next level circle out is going to be the next, the closest people that are closest to you in your life. So if you think of who, who is closest to you, who do you let into your inner circle. Think through either naming people or types of people, people like your significant others, your children, parents, siblings, best friends, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, your clergy members, your teachers, other community leaders, coaches, your supervisor, your boss, even your grocery store clerks, your librarians, your postal service person, you know, taxi drivers, consider like all the variety of people that you might interact with. So that first circle, again, is going to be your closest inner circle of people. And then the next level out, as you hopefully you've identified a few people to put in the inner circle as I've been talking, the next level out is going to be those that are just a little bit further out from your circle. So that one next level outside of who you put in your inner circle. And then think through the outer circle. So you've got your close inner circle, then a next level out. And then who would you put slightly farther out from that emotionally to you? How close are they emotionally? And what are those rules or those people? And then also you can think about, is there anybody that would be outside the circles in the white space on the screen? Would you put any individuals there? And then as you think through those different levels of roles, where would you put people in your club? Where would you put other volunteers that you work with? Where would you put all of the youth that you work with? Do you have them in different levels? Where would you put your county staff person? Those different relations within the 4-H program and where would you put them? With this, you know, we think of the boundaries that we might have with different levels of people. So the boundaries that you might have with somebody that is in your inner circle might be different than people that you have, than the boundaries that you have with people in your next outer circle or the next one after that. so um be mindful that people have different um boundaries and preferences in their different social and professional situations so um for example um you know christine used the example earlier of hugging um and i'll use that example too like i am i am comfortable with hugging with people that are in my inner circle but if we get to that outer circle don't i'm i am not uncomfortable with hugging um you know so it depends on on that social circle and and how I know people that also affects that boundary um yeah and in the chat um depends on what may be going on in someone's life um yeah um some more needed than others ebb and flow where someone might might flow in a circle for club members yeah yeah it can ebb and flow as your relationship changes with people, it can change what circle they're in and it can change what boundaries you have with people. And so it's important to understand that as well and understand where you're at with that. Boundaries can become more distant. Boundaries can become more deeper with people depending on how they flow. It's also important to understand with this that with social media, um, social media, um, and being online can blur our boundaries because it blurs the relationships that we have with others. Um, so if you think of like sharing something on social media, you're sharing that to everybody that has followed you or is friends with you on that social media platform. Um, and so you might have people that are in anywhere ranging from your inner circle to outside the circle on your social media platform, depending on how you're, who you're allowing access to your social media. And so that, and so all of those different types of people will see what you're posting, or you might be seeing what other people are posting with having a varied, varied relationship with people. And so that's important to keep in mind that that That will sometimes blur our relationships, causing us to either think that they are a closer relationship than they are in blurring boundaries or farther away than they actually are potentially. And that doesn't can it doesn't change the context in which you know that person in real life. You still have them in one of those circles, even if you see stuff on social media. As you explore your own boundaries, as a volunteer within the 4-H program, you also need to understand staff and organizational boundaries and be respectful of our staff and organizational boundaries as well. So you could encounter times where your boundaries might be in conflict with the staff persons or the program boundaries, or even the boundaries of other volunteers or other groups in your county. And so it's best to approach our boundary conflicts from a place of curiosity and to be non-confrontational, explore how to best work together and move forward. So for example, if one of your boundaries could be that you expect your phone call to be answered during business hours or office hours, you might encounter conflict and feel frustrated when staff don't answer their phone. And so it's important to approach the frustration and conflict that you might be feeling over this to ask the staff person about what the best time to call is or set up an appointment time so that you know that you have dedicated time available to you. And as Christine mentioned earlier about tone and approach in our communication, that can make a big difference in moving forward positively or increasing the frustration. So, for example, if you are contacting the staff person over your frustration over them not answering the phone, you could say something like, I'm really frustrated. You are never there and never pick up the phone. How can I reach you? Or you could say, hey, I wasn't able to get a hold of you today. and I really need an answer to this question, so I'd like to learn what works best for you to set up a time to call so I can get this question answered. The tone in those two things are very different and can make a difference in how that relationship proceeds and in a positive manner. It's also important to understand and be flexible with the boundaries and understand the flexibility and staff boundaries. So, for example, with work time and non-work time and office hours and if staff have flexible office hours, you know, they might work from, staff might work from eight to five, but could also flex their time and have night meetings or weekend programs. You know, you might see the staff person out shopping in the middle of the day. They could be shopping for programming, but on work time, they could also be off of work time, just as you as a volunteer could also be doing things on your off time during the middle of the day and not necessarily at work or you might be um focused on um something on a weekend and be working on it and sending sending something to a staff person on the weekend as you're working on it um but you might not get any answer until the weekday when the staff person is back working on time so understanding that that things are all flexible, and we all have to balance and do what we can when we can with our boundaries. So when thinking about how to communicate with staff, it's also important to consider that during work time or during your volunteer time doesn't mean that a person is necessarily 100% available all the time to answer questions. We all have things that are going on in our lives. So that could be, you know, programming, you could be meeting with other people or program participants, staff could be preparing for programming, you could be having other things going on where you're doing a clinic and you're teaching and you're not available at that moment. And so that communication balance is really important in our boundaries. So making sure to keep open and honest communication and approach it from that positive tone and a place of curiosity to move things forward positively. Also, if you have concerns or questions when you're working with staff or in a county, oftentimes we may only have one for each staff person in a county, but we work as a team across the state. And so depending on what your questions and concerns are, what boundaries you have, concerns over with staff, it's important to know that, you know, they may be answered by any one of the team members that we have, and that there are a lot of people that you can go to for support. As staff, we work together to try to support each other, and you'll always have someone that you can talk to. It's important that you are, again, clear on what your boundaries are, that if people don't know your boundaries, they don't know, they might not know when they've crossed them, and then, and they might not know why they are in conflict with you. Be firm with your boundaries and consistent with them, with people. Make sure that you're having communication about your boundaries, making sure that you're flexible where need be so that you can understand other people's boundaries as well and also respect their boundaries and where they're coming from. And also understand your volunteer time versus your personal time and when you're completing tasks. So again, we want to be clear about when you're working on stuff as a volunteer understand that um and set that up for program success both with staff and with your club members and families to avoid you feeling burnout um so um you're going to likely have time that's set as time off for your volunteer contributions and so um that is okay it's okay to have boundaries and not be available 24 7 as christine talked about and so make sure that you are clear on those. You have a parent that's asking a lot of questions in a meeting and you always get bombarded with questions during the public club meeting and you're like I never feel prepared to answer those questions and so I get really frustrated when I get questions in the middle of the meeting that I can't answer. You could set up to say you know hey can you email or text me your questions that you have before the meeting so that I can be prepared to answer them during the meeting. That could be a boundary that you set up to help set yourself up for success moving forward. So as you consider your boundaries, it's important to know that there are a few program boundaries that we have as an organization and that these are only the common ones that we have and they are important for you to understand. So some of these can be found in our club management link that Christy's going to put in the chat for you. And then some of them are, but we have several types of volunteers. We have gold level volunteers and silver level volunteers, and we have parents. So it's important to know what gold level and silver level volunteers can do. So gold level volunteers are our standard volunteer. They're the ones who can work with you in one-on-one settings. They can build those relationships and do those pieces. We have those silver level volunteers, and these are those people that are event-based they can't be alone with youth and and they can be interacting together at an event think about food booths or one -time activities or in a corner in your club and you're doing an activity and you want one silver volatility to activity while you're in the middle of circulate you can utilize that too this can um then we have parents and we all we want our parents involved but it's important to know that parents can only work with their own kids when they're 4-H club So if you have parents who are not volunteers, you need to help them understand that. To understand what level people are, you can always ask your 4 -H program coordinator if they give you a list of who the volunteers are in your club so you know what they are. In our programs, we think youth and adult partnerships is a key best practice. You need to be given an active voice in rural and programming. At times, that means as volunteers, we have to take a back seat and let them run their ideas and see how they need to feel, how they support them to be executed. 4-H programs should be a safe place for members to try something out and learn from failure. However, there are times when their ideas and execution will work out better than how adults would have planned it. So sometimes we might think, oh, that idea is not going to work. But I've seen so many times when I thought an idea might not work well, but I let youth run with it, and it worked out better than my plan. So we have to let them do that. 4-H clubs, including our projects, should have a minimum of five youth members enrolled from at least two different families. Clubs should be meeting at least six times during the 4-H program year, and then those meetings can vary based on the club structure. For example, a spin club may meet once a week over six weeks, and the project club may meet from April to September for writing meetings, or a community club may hold monthly meetings, or a project club may meet November November to March, because we try to finish this project before busy season. Volunteers should also be communicating regularly with staff on certain things. If you have financial changes, like you change who is your bank signatories or change banks or opening or closing accounts, you need to let your 48 staff member know those right away. If you're conducting a fundraiser. If you have a club leader change, so if someone changes who's in charge of the club, you need to let your local staff member know that. If there's ever injuries or property damage at a 4-inch club activity or a vet, letting them know. If there's any support of suspected, disclosed, or witnessed child ***** or neglect, you need to be sharing those and bringing those forward to your staff member. And there's, on all of these, there's different steps and processes. And you don't have to always remember the exact steps and processes. What we want you to remember is to reach out to your local staff member because they will get you to get through the exact steps and processes there are. um and then christy will add the injury report form but if you don't remember don't keep it it's okay and if you have conflicts or concerns or some discipline challenges in your club or need some help with that you want to contact your 4-H staff member so that they can help you out one of our non -negotiable one of the big non-negotiables is we are all about youth voice we need to have youth have a voice so we have to give them those opportunities and those pieces and And so that has to be a boundary in our programs that we are giving youth those opportunities to do those pieces and get a say in the planning. And while it might be hard for us to step back sometimes, it is their opportunity to learn in a safe place. So we do want to take a moment to thank everyone who's been part of this.