Thursday, March 04, 2004
life to a 7 year old
Are you Shannon’s dad?
Yes.
Would you speak to her school class [of 7 year old’s]? Would you tell them what you do for a job?
Uh …. sure.
Sitting in car 5 minutes later.
Next Friday. Hmmmm.
How on earth do I explain my pastoring, my teaching, my writing, my wwwing, to a group of 7 year olds?
Suggestions welcomed.
Posted by steve at 10:52 AM
)
how do you explain it to shannon? or do you use a cover story like “secret agent?”
Comment by Bald Man — March 4, 2004 @ 11:22 am
Steve, I did this last year for my own 7 year old son’s class. I took in my dusty, well-used old toolbox and asked them what they thought the tools were that I needed to do my job. I had filled it with bible, pen, tissues, music etc and got them to tell me why they thought I might need that stuff. I think I even got into a 7-year-old’s version of how the canon was formed! It was such fun I can’t wait to do it again.
Comment by finker — March 4, 2004 @ 12:13 pm
Steve, ask Shannon how she would do it – then work on the letters phD – “pretty hot Dad” and then go to www and tell the kids that you communicate with people all over the world every day and watch the kids go “WOW REALLY!!! and then move on from there and tell them you are just a teacher who has a sortofa hotline to God.
does that help? maybe not… they`ll probably say “who’s God”?
Comment by dave — March 4, 2004 @ 7:05 pm
Sounds hard – I had trouble explaining what I do to my hairdresser the other day let alone 7 year olds. However having said that 7 year olds still have that sense of wonder and imagination that we lose sometimes along the way. Maybe some sort of (role) play or imaginative activity that has them describe what it is you do. (I spend part of a morning each week helping in son’s year 3 & 4 class with reading groups and it’s the plays that they get enthused about).
Comment by Stephen — March 4, 2004 @ 9:09 pm
something constructive now: tell stories. that’s what you do, right? you tell god’s story. you help people tell their stories. you help people see how the their stories intersect with god’s story, how god can re-direct and re-write their stories. you might even try some godly play with them to really get them into the stories. kids get stories… especially if they are about other kids. (or secret agents)
Comment by Bald Man — March 5, 2004 @ 2:38 am
I did the same thing last year – I really loved it, and got in to some great theologicl conversations on the nature of God – first one being how does God create rain, second one came from a kid made a satement and said God is like Dumbeldor from Harry Potter. Hmm I thought, I aksed him what he meant and he said that when Dumbeldor was around everyone was safe but when he isn’t around people get into trouble – very profound inight I thought forma kid who has never set foot in a church…
Comment by michael — March 5, 2004 @ 9:00 am
Hey Steve,
I am a Primary School Teacher to 6 and 7 year olds. I have the opportunity to share about God by sharing that they are really special and precious to someone that some of them may have never heard of. I got them into pairs and asked them to count the amount of hair on their partners head and then asked them if they knew what their partner was thinking. Once they realised that it was impossible thats when I introduced to them that God created them all and that only He knew how many strands of hair each of them had and what everyone was thinking all at once. They were in such awe and I had questions fired at me all over the show. Perhaps you could introduce yourself with something similar. They will not forget who your Boss is either.
Comment by kymmy — May 7, 2004 @ 3:58 pm