Vacation Bible School: Contemplation

I needed a few days after finishing Vacation Bible School at our church to fully contemplate whether or not it was successful. After watching the kids sing the songs they learned while using their rain sticks we made, I believe it most certainly was.

Day one was easy. Day two was more engaging. Day three was chaos… at least for me. To say that I don’t deal with chaos well is an understatement. The older I get, the less patience I have. While most adults would be perfectly fine with children running around farting on each other while they are supposed to be seated, I find it easier to raise my voice to get them to stop. “That’s it! Everybody go wash your hands then head to the kitchen for a snack. Now!” Yes, I really did pass them off to the next person on the list. Sorry about that. And for the record, the girls seemed to be better at farting on command then the boys.

I’m not a very good teacher. I’m unable to clearly give instruction, I don’t know how to manage a large group of kids, and I really don’t care for the lack of respect most children have these days. Naturally, they’re all drawn to me. To clarify, I enjoy genuine curiosity and question asking from kids, as it can lead to a much more engaging discussion about subjects, as long as they are respectful of each other by speaking in turn. I do not enjoy the screaming-pouting-I-don’t-have-to-do-what-you-say attitude from some kids and wish I could just make them sit in a corner and watch as I pull out something fun to do that they can’t be a part of. Yes, I’m evil like that.

However, with the exception of my one real freak out moment at the end of my final session with the kids, I’d have to say we all had a great time. And when I was able to show the kids all of the various ways they could use their rain sticks as a percussion instrument, I thought for certain we were headed for disaster; broken rain sticks and black eyes from violently flailing nail-studded mailing tubes filled with rice, beans and/or sunflower seeds which could possibly go flying everywhere after a particularly heady thrust. Okay, so my imagination likes to think up the worst possible scenarios, but still, it was there. To my surprise, the main teacher, who is the head of our church’s Christian Education, was able to get all the kids to hold their rain sticks in such a way they couldn’t hurt anyone (on purpose.) And you know what? They played them perfectly, even a couple days later in front of the whole congregation. I, on the other hand, missed a few beats.