Talking to Children in Times of Trajedy

"Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will ever take from you." 

John 16:22

The recent tragedies in Connecticut are unimaginable and heart wrenching. Our thoughts and prayers go out to every single person, and their families, who are affected by this tragedy. 

We are so thankful for the wonderful children of RPC and thank God for each and every one of them.

It is incredibly vital at a time like this that you remind your child of God's love for everyone, especially them. Children are at a critical time in their faith development and when tragedies such as these are left unaddressed, we risk children coming to their own conclusions about God's will and abilities. Please contact the church if you need help with how to talk to your child about this topic, or would like Sarah Kate or any pastor to work with your child. I strongly encourage you to look at the resources below for excellent information and tips.

We are quickly putting together resources for dealing with tragedies involving children as well as resources for talking to your children in situations such as these. Lane is posting several resources and reflections on his blog so we want to direct you to that:

Dr. Alderman's Blog

Here are additional resources:

Helping Children Deal with Death

HELPING CHILDREN COPE WITH TRAGEDY RELATED ANXIETY

Dealing With Grief: Five Things NOT To Say And Five Things To Say In A Trauma Involving Children
***This is one of the most important resources I can offer to you. It emphasizes the importance of how to portray God in a time like this. We have to prevent children from thinking God played any role in this tragedy.

Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers

Helping your children manage distress in the aftermath of a shooting

Resources to Help Parents, Children and Others Cope in the Aftermath of School Shootings

A National Tragedy: Helping Children Cope

Children and Grief

Talking to Kids After National Tragedy

Caring for Kids After a School Shooting

Talking To Your Children About Violence Against Kids

Some books that offer excellent sections on how to help children understand crisis and distress, while maintaining a centering on God's love.

 

When Children Suffer - section 14, 15
Pastoral Care - section 4 (and several resources of creative ways to help children talk to you and express their feelings and emotions)



If you need more information on talking to your children about grief, tragedy, death, etc. please contact any of our pastors or Sarah Kate DeWyngaert, Director of Children's Ministry.

Family Sunday School

Children's Advent Lesson

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we always combine the elementary Sunday school classes for a special Advent lesson that we call, Family Sunday school. Parents and children come to Sunday school together to learn more about Advent, in preparation of the coming season.

This year we talked about each different candle within the Advent Wreath and what each of them means. Here are some questions about the Advent candles that you can discuss with your children.

1^st candle: Hope - This candle represents the promise of our savior coming to earth. What are you hopeful for this Advent season?

2^nd candle: Peace - Jesus came to earth to bring peace to everyone! He creates calmness in our hearts because he loves us and saved us!

3^rd candle: Joy - We have so much happiness in our hearts because Jesus came to love us and save us. How will you celebrate your joy for Jesus on Christmas day?

4^th candle: Love - God loves us unconditionally. God loves us so much that God gave us Jesus. How will you show people that you love them?

5^th candle: Christ – We light this candle on Christmas Eve. We will celebrate the birth of Christ with presents, our friends and family and yummy food, just like how you celebrate your birthday! What birthday present do you want to give to Jesus?

Together, each family made an Advent calendar to use throughout the season. Advent calendars help us count the days until the celebration of Christ’s birth as well as prepare ourselves by challenging us to act Christ like. Each day of Advent was assigned a special task that the children choose. Below are the tasks they used.

The end product!

If you were unable to attend Family Sunday school on November 25 and want more Advent education ideas for your children or would like this Advent calendar craft kit, please contact Sarah Kate.

Important, but mostly fun, event reminders!

Today is the last day to sign-up for the American Girl Fashion Show in March! There is still time! Get in touch with Sarah Kate (sarahkate@roswellpres.org  770-649-4507) ASAP!

***Because we have had such a great response for adult chaperones we can now offer this event to our preschool and kindergarten children as well.

Available to Prek-5th grade!

Make sure to stay after the 3pm Christmas Eve Service to join us in the narthex for Jesus' birthday party!



Children's Choir Information

Please take note of the different choir rehearsals for the Children's Christmas Concert and the Christmas Eve service.

Last onCore this week!

This Wednesday evening, November 14, will be our last onCore for the term. We'll have a Thanksgiving Feast to finish out the fall!

 

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!**

Children's choirs will still have rehearsals on November 28 and December 5.

The WEF dinner lines will open at 5pm for families with children so that your child can eat before their rehearsal and performance. You must make a reservation with the church office if your child will be eating a WEF meal.

Being registered for onCore dinner does not count.

A child's meal is:

$4 for 3-10yrs old

$7 for 11+ years old

Family maximum is $28

 

Don't forget to fill out your registration cards for the winter term!

And bring back your Thornwell turkeys this week

Click to view the Thornwell Turkey story

onCore

RPC's Wednesday night program, onCore, is coming to a close for the Fall 2012 term.

November 7 is onCore Spirit Night with pizza for dinner

November 14 is Thanksgiving Feast night with exactly that for dinner

We will take a break for the holidays and be back starting January 9 for Winter onCore. Register now through the church office or on Wednesday night at onCore.

Prices are the same as the Fall term.

See the brochure below for more information about onCore.

Kindergarten Worship Education

October is Kindergarten Worship Education month at RPC!

*Kindergarten Parents! Don't forget to complete this survey about the Worship Education series. We need your feedback!!!
Kindergarten Worship Education Survey

Each Sunday in October both of our kindergarten classes are engaging in special lessons that have been written specifically for them. This past Sunday the children learned why we worship. They were read the story of Palm Sunday about Jesus triumpantly riding into Jerusalem on a donkey to prepare for Passover with the Disciples.

The children then formed two lines facing each other and took turns coming through the middle while their classmates cheered for them.

We then discussed their feelings during this activity and related them to how Jesus felt doing the same thing and how God feels when we praise God in worship.

They were asked the question, how did you feel when you were coming through the middle and everyone was watching you and cheering for you?

Some of their responses were:

"I felt shy"

"I was so excited I did this [shook head and arms and jumped up and down]"

"I was bashful"

"I was excited"

I encourage every kindergarten parent to make sure to get a parent handout from their child's Sunday school teacher. This handout will help you talk to your child at home about what they are learning on Sundays.

And don't forget about the parent class that Lyndsay is teaching at 9:45 in the Fellowship Hall on Sundays!

Some of the resources that I used to compile these lesson plans for the series are:

Get Ready, Get Set, Worship! by Jean Floyd Love

Including Children in Worship by Elizabeth J. Sandell

Gateways to Worship by Carolyn C. Brown

Presbyterian Questions, Presbyterian Answers by Donald K. McKim

Parenting in the Pew by Robbie Castleman

The Humongous book of Games for Children's Ministry published by Group

Experiencing the Bible With Children by Dorothy Jean Furnish

F2 Event

Attention Parents of 4th and 5th graders!

Fall 2012

Now that fall in Roswell, GA is fully underway we have so many new and fun things happening here at RPC! 

Last week we had our community Fall Fest which was a huge success. Church members and tons of people from the community came out to have their hair dyed crazy colors, climb the rock wall, eat hot dogs, and try their hand at the dunk tank. 

 

This past Sunday, October 7th, was World Communion Sunday. Each of our 1st-5th grade Sunday school classes did a special lesson on the meaning of the sacrament of communion and practiced communion etiquette for worship. In Kidz Prayz the children were read the story, Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge. 

This story presented the idea that sometimes our memories can fade so we use items to help us remember those special things. This is why we use the bread and juice every month in worship for communion, so we can remember Christ's love for us and how he gave his body and blood so that we may live eternally with God.

 

The 4th and 5th grade classes got to do a special activity in which they made dough in their classes and molded their dough into shapes that they felt represented the love of Christ in having given his life for all of us. They each took a piece of dough home to bake. 

Questions to ask your children at home to help them understand communion:

What do the bread and juice in communion represent?
What happened at the last supper?
What does it mean when we take communion by intinction?
As Presbyterians, who do we believe is allowed to take communion?

Communion isn't meant to satisfy our hunger, it is meant to satisfy our spiritual need for Christ in our lives.

If your child(ren) participated in the communion class on World Communion Sunday, how have you see their understanding of communion or appreciation of Christ shine through since then? 

Comment to let us all know!

Summer 2012

The Children’s Ministry at RPC partners with families so that every child and family will:♦ claim an identity in Christ who loves them unconditionally - growing in knowledge and relationship with him;
♦ worship God in a way that is real and awe-filled;
♦ minister to and serve the world- family, church, peers, community; and
♦ know that they are a valuable part of the family of God through their connection to one another and to the entire church family.

At RPC we have a wide variety of events, groups, and programs for children. We strive to include every child who comes through our doors in order to help them find the love of Christ in their lives.

We wrapped up a busy summer this year that was full of fun, fellowship and music!

SWAM (Summer Worship Arts and Music) Camp

Kids performed the musical, Jonah's Druthers, which was the story of Jonah and the Whale with a western twist.

Basketball Camp

Nearly 50 boys and girls spent a week learning basketball drills and the ways that God expects us to be good sports while competing against one another.

Vacation Bible School

over 100 children learned that 'nothing is impossible with God' and spent a week praising God's name at Sky VBS.

 Summer Events for Prek-5th grade

Kids did various summer events including White Water Adventure Park, putt-putting, Riverside Spray ground, and bowling.

 

These are just some of the fun things we did this summer at RPC. Now that fall is underway we have a lot to look forward to in children's ministry.