Confidence in the Classroom
Safety is the number one concern for most parents when they bring their child to church. They want to make sure that the environment, the activities, the other children, and most importantly the teachers are safe to stay with their kids. How can we make these elements all come together? We have to remind ourselves of the basic POINTS of children's ministry. While all of these POINTS do not necessarily directly contribute to the safety of our children's ministry, they do all add to the level of confidence that parents and children will feel about the ministry as a whole.
Imagine yourself as a first time visitor to your children's ministry. What would you want to experience as you enter the children's area? How would you want to be greeted? What would you want to see? How would you know that there were safety procedures in place?
Below are some POINTS for how we can convey the level importance that we place on our children's ministry to our parents and to the kids in our ministry.
BE PREPARED - as a teacher myself, nothing makes you feel more confident than knowing that you are prepared for your class. If you wait until the last minute, you will be rushing around and trying to get our materials out and ready to go when you should be greeting and meeting your class and parents. Make sure you know your materials and know where your supplies are. We work diligently to make sure that everything you need in your classroom is prepared and ready to go, so that you can concentrate on being prepared to teach.
BE ORGANIZED - always stay on task in the classroom. Stick to the schedule. Of course there are going to be times that you will need to shuffle activities, or change gears if things are not working, but the more structure that you can maintain in the flow of the class, the easier it will be for you and for the students to understand the material and in turn make a deeper impact on the lives of the children that we are teaching. Plus, organization in preparing your lessons will free up time for you to really be able to focus the lesson, and more importantly it will free up more stress free time for you in your week.
BE INTENTIONAL - Being intentional means, "Understanding that our attitudes, feelings, thoughts, and actions directly impact every single one of our experiences. It means taking responsibility on how we 'show up' in all situations, and for how we want to contribute." When we are intentional we are able to respond to situations rather than react to them, and we are then free to consciously focus on the experience we choose to create. This one has a huge impact on our kids and our parents, but it is also probably the hardest of our POINTS to put into practice.
NOTIFY PARENTS - going out of order in our Sunday morning routine, we are going to skip to the goodbye section of the class time. Nothing makes a parent feel better about leaving their child in your care than knowing that you care. One of the easiest ways to do this is to tell the parents what their child learned, and something about what their own specific child did in class (both positive and areas for improvement). Of course this can't happen every week, for every child, but when a child is leaving, make sure they have their materials and point out to the parents what the lesson was about. Saying goodbye to the parents and the children creates a lasting impression that is very powerful, especially for new families.
BE ON TIME - This one goes without saying. We need to be present when the kids begin arriving. This is one of the POINTS that connects to almost all of the others. Being on time connects us to being better prepared, aids in our organization, and helps to demonstrate our intentionality, Being on time shows the kids that you care and lets the parents feel at ease. When a parent has to wait for a teacher to arrive, it causes anxiety for them and usually causes a domino effect in their day. First they wait for the teacher, second they are now late for their own small group, or worship, next they are in no hurry to pick up their child, since you were late to teach, and then our whole morning is off kilter! Be On Time!
SAY IT WITH A SMILE - Smiling makes you more approachable, especially when you are meeting someone for the first time. A smile makes it so much easier for a parent or a visiting child to feel that you are approachable. From the moment that someone enters the children's wing until they leave the building, they should be greeted with smiles!When a ministry partner understands the importance and the impact that a smile can make on visiting families, then they hold the keys to building the children's ministry as a whole.
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