Handling Others in Youth

There are rules in place for the youth. I may not agree with them, but I expect that if they are going to be put into place, they ought to be upheld. By ARBA rules, a child between the ages of 5 and 18 only may enter rabbits they own in youth. They must carry the rabbit to the table on their own and put it into the coop and remove it from the coop after judging. Children and young adults outside of this range can and should be encouraged to enter in the open classes. One of the reasons I'm sure it to ensure that the children exhibiting rabbits are the actual primary caretakers of those animals. I am a big supporter of self evaluation of individual children to determine their maturity and ability to care for and show a rabbit.

However, when it becomes plainly clear and obvious to the other youth that a child is too young, then it becomes the parent's responsibility. Perhaps in this case, the parent didn't know, didn't realize, but if so, why didn't anyone enlighten her? My child had to learn an important lesson: that it is not worth the energy expenditure it takes to be upset over someone else breaking the rules. A 4 year old girl who was not even interested in any way in the goings-on of the show won BOB. The girls did not groom her rabbit, was not required to listen or even observe the judging, and didn't seem to care either way that her rabbit won such a great honor. The rabbit was nice, and sadly it would only make my child appear to be petty if she said anything about what happened. As such I instructed her to simply, "let it go." With luck, sometime between now and the next show, someone, perhaps a person that has no personal stake, will inform that other mother of the rules and expectations of the fellow youth competitors.

I personally welcome the mother and the daughter with open arms, in the open class until the little girl becomes old enough to show in youth per ARBA regulations. If they are going to create a rule, it ought to be enforced.