Today I was reminded once again why I enjoy so much working with kids. I served in the kindergarden room at Promiseland (our churches name for sunday school). These little 5 and 6 year olds are a pure joy to hang out with. I spent my time before the large group portion of the service started introducing every body Tristan and Tristan, who just so happened to be the first two boys to take a seat next to me at the chalk drawing station. When another kid would arrive I would say, "Bella, have you meet Tristan and Tristan." "No," they would politely respond in a bashful tone or just say nothing at all and proceed on their way. By the time clean up had rolled around, I had chalk on my face, a couple pictures of who knows what that kids had left behind, my fair share of laugh and giggles, and half the kindergardeners in the room introduced to Tristan and Tristan. Larger group time proved to be much more difficult than drawing pictures and telling stories to kids. I think a large part of that was because it involved them sitting still. And of course my group was placed in the back of the large group setting. This was both a blessing and a curse for me.
Blessing: because it gives me room to stretch out, and not block every 3 ft. nothing 5 year old with my 6 ft. 2 in. frame. Plus, after being gone for 7 years they change the songs up a bit and had no clue what hand motions to do. So it saved me from that humiliation. They didn't sing any Brother Friend either, sad, I know.
Curse: because the back of the room to a kindergardener is like offering a unlimited supply of Pixi Sticks and Mountain Dew at a jr. higher slumber party they asking them to be in bed with the lights out and a sleep by 7:00 o'clock when the sun's still out. The back of the room is open pasture with rolling hills, wild flower, giant oak trees, and flowing streams all beckoning, "come play." Thus, focusing these little tykes attention on the speaker up front makes putting a man on the moon a seem like 1st grade math.
Unfourtantly the small group time following the large group time was not any easier. Like I said, it's been 7 years since I have dealt with kids this young. And where a good number of principles apply to both older and younger children, there are some that don't. One such example, if you have more then 2 seconds where your not talking or asking them to do something, you will lose them. Such was the case today. I learned you really have to be on your game, ready to do the next, next thing if you want to keep their attention. And for every one kid that is an acceptation to this rule there seems to be three who just flat out don't care. One thing I use to hate to do when I was younger and serving in Promiseland was talking to the parents. As you grow up things change and so do your likes and dislikes. I would love the opportunity to sit with each parent and ask them about their kids, what they like to eat, a funny story about them, where they feel they need the most help, a way we can be praying for their family. I would also like to learn about the parents themselves, what makes them tick, what are their passions, how was their childhood. All that to say, I really did enjoy getting to tell these kindergardeners about Job and how God is faithful even when bad things happen in our lives. One quick side note. If your a parent, make sure you take time to really listen to your kids. I wish I could have given my full attention to each child as they were sharing what their 'Really Very Bad Day' was. However, I was distracted with having 12 different eyes in 12 different places, which ment my mind was in 12 different stages. So, use your time wisely and listen when they tell you something. It's a gift they would share with you. And if you have young kid all the better. I feel the older you get the less likely kids are to share how they feel with their parents.
