One of the things I will miss this morning is the unique ways kids will sing and dance with worship music. I’ve seen kids do The Worm. Others are experts at The Floss. The creativity flows when the music plays. I’ve heard some adults complain that it could become less of the worship experience and more of aerobic activity. That’s fine with me. Keep the kids engaged.
When I drew this, I thought of the many times adults try to make kids behave like little adults. Sure, Amazing Grace is a wonderful hymn and is rich in its meaning. But it is difficult to get a seven-year-old to sit still and sing all six verses slowly and solemnly. Sooner or later, one of the kids will break out into dancing.
It can be tough finding the perfect volunteer for a classroom. It needs to be someone who loves to be with children, but works well with the adults too. They need to have childlike qualities without be childish. They need to have fun with the kids without losing focus of the lesson. It can be too easy to veer off course.
When I drew this cartoon, I thought of the adult coloring book craze that began around 2015. Grown-ups were buying and using coloring books with intricate designs as a form of relaxation and meditation. I looked at some of the books and thought this would be too complex for the average child to color.
I could imagine a child going off to do their own thing while a parent stayed mesmerized for hours, working on their coloring page. When they came to, they would wonder where their little one went off to and why was the front door wide open. It could become a dangerous activity indeed!
Before you know it, there would be public service announcements imploring parents and teachers to practice safe coloring book hygiene. Maybe that’s why the adult coloring book craze died off after a couple of years.
If you are a parent, teacher or children’s worker, be aware and don’t let the coloring book trap get you. When the kids stop coloring, you do the same. It will be a much safer world if we follow that simple rule.
Of course, who am I to talk? I’ve been having fun coloring my own artwork for years! My kids survived, but it’s probably caused a few of the classrooms I’ve led to run amuck.
Cartoon of a boy with an industrial-looking cap on his head. He says to a a woman, “Thanks to my thinking cap, I’m going to win this year’s memory verse challenge!”
We are always looking for an easy way to do something. It’s usually the way innovation happens. We are always looking for ways to make something easier. We want to buy the latest gadget to make something in our lives easier.
Do your kids struggle with memorizing something like a Bible verse, the presidents of the United States or prepositions? Instead of finding a steampunk-inspired thinking cap, have your kids try these tips.
Get some index cards and have kids make their own flash cards. The very act to making the cards will help with memory. You can get creative and use images as well as words. This works with visual as well as kinetic learners. If a child speaks it while he or she writes it, it also helps auditory learners.
Kids can walk or use hand motions to help them memorize. It helps kids who learn kinetically to move as they learn. It also helps emphasize important passages.
Make a song out of it. Auditory learners may grasp something when it it put to music or a rap.
Be an example. Find something you want to memorize and try these techniques. You may find something that works for you also works with your child.
Even though we live in an age where we can search the Internet for a fact, memorization is still an important skill. Encourage kids to memorize facts and passages.
Cartoon of a boy and a bully. The boy says, “You want to bully me too? Get in line! I have three other bullies before you.”
As a child, I learned bullies aren’t creative. If one discovers you’re ripe for being picked on, others will catch on. Even in a small town with a small school, this became obvious.
My coping skill was to draw a cartoon that would amuse a bully. It usually worked, and sometimes made a friend. Unfortunately, I also learned you should never draw an unflattering cartoon of the bully you’re drawing a cartoon for. That was my first lesson in marketing.
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