Partnering With Parents (An Addendum)

I would be remiss if I did not add encouraging parents to the partnership list.  I would also suggest for parents and volunteers who might read this to encourage your ministry leader - Kidsmin are often overlooked and prais goes straight to the Senior Minister.  We need encouragement too!

But enough of my tangent!  If parents kids are still anything like I was as a child then parents definitely need more than a modicum of encouragement.  I recently found out that I was so strong willed as a very young child I brought my mother to tears, a trait that I have never outgrown.  My parents raised three boys, my two younger brothers being four and six years younger than I.  I can assure you we were are a handful to raise.  We kept Mom and Dad up late at nights, wore them out at baseball games, drove them crazy during VBS, were needy on weekends and for some reason they couldn't wait for the summers to end and school to start.

As Kidmin's we can encourage parents with a kind word on Sunday mornings, or a quick email during the week.  It doesn't take much.  I know for me, all I need is someone to shake my hand and say "you're doing a great job."  Or an email that says "Suzy really enjoys coming to church every week."  It's that easy for us to give encouragement to the parents of the kids at our churches.  I do not recommend a blanket email to all the parents on your list, it becomes less personal and it feels fake.  Just a quick "Sally is so wonderful on Sunday mornings, and she is so excited to pray with her small group every week."  That's all it takes.

This is also a great thing for volunteers to do as well - especially since we cannot do everything. 

So, who are you going to encourage this week?