I just finished “teaching” stint at Church for the smallest kids in our Religious Education program. We call the classroom the Flower Garden and we welcome kids ranging in age from 18 months trough 3 years old. It has been an exhausting, but highly rewarding experience. A couple of weeks I had 12 kids (there is always at least one other adult in the classroom) and one week I had 6 and most weeks it was somewhere in the middle. This classroom is for most of these kids there first organized RE class. The real goal is just to get the use to participating in a group setting. This really is there first experience in church community. We keep things pretty simple and straight forward. We do circle time, an activity and then they get to play. Circle time consist of singing a hello song, a simple UU covenant, a felt chalice “lighting”, and reading an on-theme book or two. The activity is usually a craft project related to the theme or dancing to musis related to the theme. We close with some parachute activities and bubbles. Then the kids can play until parents arrive to pick them up. All of this is less than an hour.
What I loved most was getting to know these little people. Several had serious separation issues, but within few weeks where ready to go. Several of the kids have very strong personalities and know exactly what they want out of any situation. A few of the kids are keen observers and would rather watch from the outside for a few minutes or even several weeks before they will try to do something new. Some needed a personal invitiation to engage in any activity. All had there own sweetness to offer. I feel very lucky to have had this time with them and I am so excited to be able to watch them grow. Hopefully many of these children will be good friends with my son they grow together.
Another observation from my time teaching is how important it is to prepare RE teachers, especially the ones teaching younger children how to welcome visitors and potential new members. In my 7 weeks I would say that at least 1-2 new families could arrive at the door any week. I did not spend enough time thinking ahead of time of what information would be helpful to communicate to new families. Mostly I just tried to help them get their kids in the right classroom and offered a quick overview of what we planned to do that day. I wish I had more time to have a conversation with them and connect with them as a fellow parent, but when you have a classroom of kids conversations are about 2 seconds long.
Another thing I did not expect was how badly my son was going to behave in the classroom with his mom teaching. He was uber-clingy and would not follow instruction. My last week I kicked him out of the class and sent him to his Dad. In hindsight, it probably is a lot to ask of him. I was encouraging other children in the same way I encourage him. I forced him to share his books, toys, stickers and music with the other children. Early on he did just fine and was good about trying to help mom, but the last two weeks he just melted down and could not control himself. Hopefully with Mom out of the classroom for awhile he can redeem himself and the other kids will be able to get to know him on his own.
I probably won’t be back in the classroom until the late Spring or Summer given the baby we are expecting in late December. Hopefully by then Aidan will have worked out his behavior issues. I think rather than following him through the RE program by teaching other “grades” as he advances, I’m going to stay with the Flower Garden where I can enjoy the newness of creating a church community.
