Starting An After School Program

By Wanda Parker

So you would like to start an after school program – why?

What do you want to accomplish? 

What do you want the end result to be? 

Who do you want the kids to be when they are 40?

Those are questions you must wrestle with before you can even begin to take a step further.

This is my challenge to you - take a few days and lay out who you want a kid you serve today to be like when he is 40.  Brainstorm this question with others.

On Wednesday I’ll give you the description of my 40 year old and how to start a program that will bring a kid to that place.

Have fun.

 

Invisible Children of America Need Long Term Adult Nurture

By Wanda Parker

What do the Invisible Children of America need?

They need adults in their lives who will nurture them.  That doesn’t happen in an afternoon drop-in center.  It demands adults who are willing to get involved whole-istically in a kid’s life. 

It means going shopping together, traveling together, eating in a fine restaurant together, studying together, going to a basketball game together, going to church together, visiting in each others’ homes.

It demands that this Secondary Nurturer adult builds a quality friendship relationship with the child’s Primary Nurturer. 

It takes time – years.

For more information on this topic click here and here

Christian After School Programs – Training

By Wanda Parker                                                                                            KidTrek Training
                                                                                                                      February 3-11, 2009

“In mission there’s a documented correlation between preparation and longevity.  If you want a ministry that will last for the long haul, you have to invest in the training of its leaders.  That’s what KidTrek does with excellence.”  Rev. Cliff Warner, Rector, Church of the Holy Trinity, Austin, Texas

KidTrek training is eight intense days of covering every aspect of working with Families at Risk. 

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Experiencing childhood – again!

ADMINISTRATION

Everything from how to work as a team to writing goals and everything in between.

 PROGRAMMING

Recreation is fun for everyone – but there is so much more. 

SOCIAL SERVICES 

How do you work with the school, social workers, police, etc? 

EMERGENCY PREPARATION

You know what to do if a kid starts choking – do you know what to do if a kid tells you he is going to commit suicide?

 

 There is so much more to the training – but I do want you to know we do have a time to just go have fun.

The next training is February 3-11, 2009.

Another post that shares more of the direction of our training  click here 

If you want to read our White Paper on Secondary Nurturers click here  which is what we train you to become.

After School Programs – Is Yours Safe?

By Wanda Parker

It is absolutely vital that we keep the children safe.  Just because you are hiring “Christians” doesn’t mean they don’t have emotional problems and could be a danger to the children.  Every individual who interacts with the children must be vetted. 

This is just one of the check lists KidTrek goes through as we hire staff or interview volunteers.

 STAFF AND VOLUNTEER SCREENING REQUIREMENTS

 

¨     Application forms filled out and in file

¨     Reference letters in file

¨     Fingerprinting/Megan’s Law response in file

¨     Interview form in file

•     Heard personal testimony
•     Read through with applicant:

o     Purpose Statement

o     Guiding Values

o     Philosophy of Ministry

o     Program Format

o     List of opportunities for service

o     Job Descriptions

o     Purpose of all day training

o     Purpose of Quarterly Review/Training/Planning Time

Determine where the Lord is calling applicant to serve

¨     Child Abuse Reporting Acknowledgment signed and in file

¨     Child Safety Guidelines Acknowledgment signed and in file

¨     Incident Report and Activity Approval Acknowledgment signed and in file

 

 

You may be interested in seeing what our curriculum looks like – KidTrek Curriculum  click here  and then click here

 

 

Christian After School Programs and Faulty Reasoning

By Wanda Parker

This past weekend I spent a lot of time thinking about, praying about all the faulty reasoning that is in the world – I won’t bother you with why this loomed over me this weekend . 

For instance take the welfare system, though I’m sure those who began it had the best of intentions, but in the end it has done so much harm. I would say it has done more harm than good from my experience with it but I have no statistical proof of that. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m passionate about caring for the needy.  Our family has had at different times homeless people live with us until they could get back on their feet.  Since graduating from college I have served the needy. 

However, due to faulty reasoning what was meant for good ended up being bad.  It looked good on paper but it didn’t work in reality.

In our KidTrek Training we teach that children will often have faulty reasoning because they don’t have all the information they need to make the right decision.  This weekend as I pondered the faulty reasoning all around me I could easily excuse those who do not know The Triune God, because they don’t have all the information they need.  However, I can find no excuse for those who call themselves committed followers of the Triune God.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH CHRISTIAN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS?

Faulty reasoning can cause more harm than good in after school programs just as the welfare system has done.

Dr. David Dubois, professor and researcher,says that many faith based after school programs are hurting children because those running the program don’t have an understanding of child development.

There is the tendency to put quantity over quality.  They are driven to work with as many kids as they can because there are so many hurting kids.  But they don’t understand that those large numbers can do more harm to the kids than if the kids were never involved in a program.

Christians should be able to understand this.  How did Jesus, God, minister?  He did from time to time do things with the masses, then there were the disciples who followed Him around but the majority of them abandoned him (John 6:66), then there were the twelve but ultimately He spent most of His time with the three – Peter, James and John. 

Why do we think we can do things better than God?

It is our faulty reasoning.  Even though we have all the information we refuse to accept it.  We are driven by too many other forces in our lives.  When it comes down to it we we don’t trust the one we call our Savior enough to truly follow Him.  To do as He did.   Proverbs 3:5  Trust means we obey even when we don’t fully understand.  Trust means we look for what is best for those we serve – even if it isn’t what we want.

If you want to read more about Christian After School programs click below

Where is The Church Christs’ Body click here

Christian After School Programs – More than just after-school click here

Immigrant Children – Caught Between Two Cultures

By Wanda Parker

The struggles of immigrant children is not new to America.  I remember my father speaking of his own struggle being raised by Swedish immigrant parents.  It is difficult to be growing up in/living in one culture while your parents cling to another culture.

Imagine what it is like for a pre-teen going through a typical American pre-teen’s struggle – but her parents have no understanding of how to deal with this struggle.  It is totally foreign to them.  The child and parents live in two totally different paradigms.

Where does the child go for support, wisdom, direction?

I got a call from a Center Director this past week asking for advice (let’s call her Angela).  A girl, we’ll call her Johanna, told Angela something in confidence that was important for the parents to know.  She was terrified to talk to her parents because she knew they wouldn’t be able to understand and they would be angry.

Angela and I brainstormed every possible scenario; she finally decided to tell Johanna she had to talk to her parents about this.  Johanna cried and said they wouldn’t understand, they would get angry.  “Miss Angela why can’t you just take care of it?  You can do it.” she cried.  Angela told Johanna that she was going to speak to her parents alone without Johanna there. 

The purpose for speaking to the parents alone was to allow them to vent their initial emotions – which if Johanna had been there she would have totally misinterpreted.  Angela then helped them to see things from Johanna’s paradigm. 

As Angela was sharing with me what had happened she laughed and said that in the beginning she so wanted to get everything out she realized shewas speaking too fast so stopped an asked, “Am I speaking too fast?  Can you understand me.”  The mother indicated with the movement of her head they were having difficulty understanding. 

Angela slowed down and took them step by step through everything.  There were emotions adults go through when their child is struggling.  But with Angela there they were able to ask questions, to state they didn’t understand why this was so important to their child – “it wasn’t like this in our country.” 

Angela told some of her own stories growing up in America, she told stories of siblings who had experienced similar things, and she shared how her parents had responded.  Helping these immigrant parents to understand this was not foreign in America.

“Will you help us find the help we need?” the mother asked.

  It is difficult for immigrant parents to find the assistance they need as they battle the language barrier.  Both these parents speak English but feel intimidated when they have to maneuver through bureaucracies.

But what would have happened if Angela hadn’t been there to walk with Johanna and her parents through this struggle?  What kind of barrier would have grown between Johanna and her parents because they couldn’t understand each other?

This is another reason why KidTrek is passionate about placing Missionaries in churches to come alongside of Families-At-High-Risk.

KidTrek needs your help to make this possible across America.  Will you join the Walk?

Giving Warriors – click here

Prayer Warriors – click here

Volunteer – click here to find a center that may  be close to you

Is Christ calling you to become a Missionary?  click here for more information

For another post on Immigrant Childre click here 

Overprotecting Children

By Wanda Parker

If you want to be challenged to make a bigger, more lasting difference in kids lives check out KidTrekTraining

KidTrek Training
July 14-22, 2009 and October 6-14, 2009

 

THE TEMPTATION TO CREATE A PSEUDO-WORLD FOR CHILDREN 

If we create a pseudo-world for them until they are teenagers, how will they ever know how to deal with feelings; how will they know how to reason; how will they be able to survive in the real world? (A child who has grown up in a pseudo environment will have many similarities as an adult to a child who grew up in a highly dysfunctional environment.  Dysfunctional here means abusive, lack of boundaries, an environment where there is poverty of the soul.)

In a pseudo-world, children aren’t given all the information they need to be a successful adult.  The key to healthy growth is the ability to do critical thinking.  Critical thinking is a learned skill.  It allows a person to go beyond the facts and emotions perceived as reality today to look out to the future at the results if this “path” is continued to be followed.  It is impossible for a child to learn critical thinking in the pseudo-world because they don’t have all the information necessary to do so.  

A psychologist friend of mine told me the following story: 

He had a patient who was in her twenties and dealt with constant fear that she was going to hell.  We will call her Mary.  Mary had been told often by family friends, relatives and people at church that her father was a very godly man.  She idolized her father.  However, Mary had never seen her father angry.  So now in her twenties, every time she felt anger she thought she must not be a Christian. 

Her father was a godly man but he did not have the wisdom to understand that his daughter needed to see that he was human.  To become a fully developed adult, she needed more information.  Mary needed to see that her dad too got angry and that he processed his anger in an appropriate way.  He needed to be vulnerable with his daughter so that she could learn from him. 

This father so wanted to protect his child from the distress of seeing his anger that in doing so he did her much harm.   

We must continually ask ourselves, “How will this ultimately affect the child?” In asking this question, we must be honest with ourselves and make sure our emotions are not causing us to have faulty reasoning. 

From the time my own children were infants, I have prayed asking the Lord to teach me how to raise my children up to be godly adults.  I felt totally inadequate but the Lord found varying means to teach me. 

This is an excerpt from the KidTrek White Paper, “Competition – A Tool for Emotional Growth.”  Click here to read the entire paper.

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