Children's Programme
"How paramount the future is to the present when one is surrounded by children."
Charles Darwin
There is a Children's Programme each Sunday morning during adult services from about 11.15 (after the minister’s story) until end of service. Activities include arts and crafts, stories, nature explorations and games.
The Goals of Our Religious Exploration for Children are:
- » to develop our children's self-awareness, self-acceptance, personal integrity and a sense of the worth and dignity of all others;
- » to engage each child in a search for truth and meaning;
- » to form our children's religious identity based in Unitarian principles and religious practices;
- » to empower our children to create a better world through social action projects;
- » to explore the sources of Unitarianism. These are: the wisdom of our Jewish and Christian heritages; the world's religions; humanist and scientific understandings; the traditions of earth-centred religion; and individual spiritual experience;
- » to challenge our young people to make responsible choices in their daily lives;
- » to acknowledge the importance of celebration and ritual in the spiritual lives of our children;
- » to nurture appreciation of the natural world and the interrelatedness of all living things;
From Peter Teets, Leader of the Children's Programme
Each month children will have the opportunity to learn about the values that are important in our religious community (tolerance, respect, kindness, generosity, openness), discover something about the practices and beliefs of one of the world's religions, and have an opportunity to reflect on how we can touch the world in positive ways through what we do and to also have fun performing some type of art project reflecting what is being taught.
What should the Sunday morning experience include for children?
The Richmond and Putney Religious Education program begins on Sundays at 11 am when children sit with their families or friends for the first part of the adult service. At about 11.15 am, the children leave the congregation. The RE program lasts until 12 pm, when the parents are asked to come and meet their children.
If you are new to our program, you will find that ours is a different form of religious education.
We seek, in the words of William Ellery Channing,
...not to stamp our minds irresistibly on others but to stir up their own;
...not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own;
...not to form outward regularity, but touch inward springs;
...not to impose religion on them in the form of arbitrary rules;
...but to awaken the conscience, the moral discernment, so that they may discern and approve for themselves what is everlasting, right and good.
What I would like to see kids get on Sunday morning:
I would like to know that every week, when a child walks out the door, they are at least a little glad they came to our church.
I would like an adult who is not a child's parent to ask them how their week has been.
I would like the child to have a little something to eat with a friend.
I would like each child who comes to walk out with one little spark of thought they didn't have when they came in.
I would like them to be called by their first`name by someone outside of their immediate family.
I would like them to hear the words "Unitarian" at least once from someone other than their minister or their children's programme leader.
I would like them to see at least one candle lit and hear at least one song sung, which is why we leave them in the service through the minister's story.
If all these things happen every week for every child, we will succeed. When we spend our time teaching, our goals should be focused on these simple things. If we plan engaging, enjoyable classes, with a lot of room for enjoying the fact we are in this community, most of these things will be accomplished.
Each month
Each month children will have the opportunity to learn about the values that are important in our religious community (tolerance, respect, kindness, generosity, openness), discover something about the practices and beliefs of one of the world's religions, and have an opportunity to reflect on how we can touch the world in positive ways through what we do.
Poems By Our Children
My Springtime Poem
Blooming yellow balls
Green leaves bigger than your hand
Cool wind blowing in the distance
My sister thumping by me on the bricks
Hard smooth table sounds like a drum when I hit it
Signs of Spring
Sharp and prickly nettles hurt if you accidently touch them
A bright orange flower stands out from the others
Climbing ivy creeps high over the fence
Shiny, sharp prickly leaves on the holly bush have rich red juicy berries
Brown picnic table stands under the tree waiting for us
In the Churchyard
Muddy puddle with freezing grubby water
Blooming blossom will turn into a juicy, crunchy apple
One bird singing, another bird answers
Swift running cat dreams of catching the birds
While noisy airplanes thunder through the sky
