http://panehpraise.com/2010/01/reader-question-children-ministry-protocols/ Ministering through dance & mime in HIS presence Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:46:30 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://panehpraise.com/2010/01/reader-question-children-ministry-protocols/comment-page-1/#comment-3873 James D. Douglas Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:39:11 +0000 http://panehpraise.com/?p=903#comment-3873 V, I feel you!!  My first thought is "Hold on Old Solider" LOL! One of the things we have done with our children's mime team is simply require parental participation in order for the child to be involved.  In fact, a parent or guardian must be in the building while rehearsal is taking place.  They don't have to sit in the room but the must be reachable in case they need to provide their own special brand of "TLC" when necessary. (i.e behavior challenges)  For some children, the parent needs to be in the room.  For some the parent didn't need to be in the room at first but we later determined that they did need to be there.  All evaluations are done on a case by case basis because no mater the age, children are at different development levels and the home environments are different so it is hard to make blanket rules because the "blanket" doesn't fit every situation. The parents understand they are not leading and directing but observing so they can help their children rehearse at home in-between our set days.  This process helped reveal that one small child really didn't have the aptitude to be a part of the team yet (4 years old) even though their brother (6 years old) is involved.  Mommy saw the attention span was too short and she pulled the child herself and we'll re-evaluate later. We have not done an extensive manual for the children yet but we typically have meetings and/or keep the parents connected through email.  (for thise not physically in the room during rehearsal.  If something is not working, we pull the parents back in and have a meeting with them and their child to see if we can find suitable solutions. I think being firm and making sure the parents understand that at the end of the day we want to glorify God with our service and we have a standard to uphold has helpped minimize some of the challeges. V, I feel you!!  My first thought is "Hold on Old Solider" LOL!
One of the things we have done with our children's mime team is simply require parental participation in order for the child to be involved.  In fact, a parent or guardian must be in the building while rehearsal is taking place.  They don't have to sit in the room but the must be reachable in case they need to provide their own special brand of "TLC" when necessary. (i.e behavior challenges)  For some children, the parent needs to be in the room.  For some the parent didn't need to be in the room at first but we later determined that they did need to be there.  All evaluations are done on a case by case basis because no mater the age, children are at different development levels and the home environments are different so it is hard to make blanket rules because the "blanket" doesn't fit every situation.
The parents understand they are not leading and directing but observing so they can help their children rehearse at home in-between our set days.  This process helped reveal that one small child really didn't have the aptitude to be a part of the team yet (4 years old) even though their brother (6 years old) is involved.  Mommy saw the attention span was too short and she pulled the child herself and we'll re-evaluate later.
We have not done an extensive manual for the children yet but we typically have meetings and/or keep the parents connected through email.  (for thise not physically in the room during rehearsal.  If something is not working, we pull the parents back in and have a meeting with them and their child to see if we can find suitable solutions.
I think being firm and making sure the parents understand that at the end of the day we want to glorify God with our service and we have a standard to uphold has helpped minimize some of the challeges.

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