Raising a Healthy Preschooler (Stone 2)
The Objective of this Stone:
To teach parents to care for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of their preschoolers, to invite parents into a small group with other new parents, and to call parents to share highs and lows, read God’s Word, talk about God’s Word, pray for one another’s highs and lows, and bless their children and other loved ones every night in every home.
What Is It?
A three-session course for the parents of toddlers in the church and community titled “Raising a Healthy Preschooler”
What’s the Purpose?
To add prayer to the nightly bedtime ritual of blessing their little ones and putting them to sleep with music featuring God’s Word; to incubate healthy families who are aware of the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of their young children; to spawn the formation of a small group network for families with young children; and to add prayer to the nightly bedtime ritual of blessing little ones and putting them to sleep with music featuring God’s word.
Who Owns It?
A Theme Team of people who love God, like preschoolers, and are willing to set up and lead a three-week course.
How Long Does It Last?
Three 1 1/2 hour sessions.
When Does It End?
The sessions conclude in worship with a beautiful Stepping Stone Blessing Liturgy. (If you do this right, it doesn’t end there. Young parents join together to form small groups, babysitting co-ops, and teams to take the next “batch” of new parents through the next course.)
PRINTABLE FACT SHEET
Download a detailed printable PDF description of “Raising a Healthy Preschooler (Stone 2)”
Detailed Description:
When the little ones are starting to walk, you have another marvelous opportunity to reaffirm the baptismal/dedication promises, adding prayer to the nightly family ritual in each home and possibly graft parents into another small group for parents of toddlers. Prior to the start of the school year, a member of your Preschool Stepping Stone Theme Team visits each preschool family in their homes to remind parents of your partnership with them and review their baptismal promises. Invite them to become part of a second three-week course titled “Raising a Healthy Preschooler.” The Theme Team also advertises this course throughout the community with flyers, inviting people new in the area and others with little ones to this free parenting course.
To teach parents to care for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of their preschoolers, to invite parents into a small group with other new parents, and to call parents to share highs and lows, read God’s Word, talk about God’s Word, pray for one another’s highs and lows, and bless their children and other loved ones every night in every home.
The physical, emotional and spiritual development of the young child will be explored in a large group/small group setting over three sessions.
Session 1: Physical Development
Toddler to preschooler involves a great deal of physical changes in a child’s life (i.e. running, climbing, toilet training, etc.). This causes a great deal of stress on parents trying to keep up with their kids (more coming in Session 2) while asking themselves: is this normal? Am I doing this right? Session 1 helps parents better understand what healthy developments occur during this time in their child’s life. Parents will learn the importance of different kinds of play, why reading to their child will pay off down the road, and the battle of the balanced diet. As parents walk through Session 1, help them understand that there is NOT one “right way” to parent. Help the parents know that by paying attention to their child and spending time with them, they will be just fine.
Session 2: Emotional Development
Temper tantrums, emotional attachment, and positive vs. negative reinforcement are just a few of the issues parents of this age are facing. The reality is no parents should go in without backup! Kids this age have more energy than five adults. Parents need to remember to get their own oxygen so they don’t pass out. (If they pass out, they’ll be no good for their kids). Helping parents navigate the balance in attachment and understanding the necessity of positive reinforcement will help ease the stress of the “Terrible Two’s.” Help parents come up with ideas about how they will develop a zone defense in order to get their own oxygen.
Session 3: Spiritual Development
Jesus told his followers that we must have faith like a child. Children have more knowledge about their faith than we give them credit for. Parents need to take time with their child to not only nurture their child’s faith, but also to learn about their own faith from their child. At this stage in the game, we want parents and their preschoolers to begin the nightly ritual of praying together in order to open the communication between the family and God. During this session, you will offer parents some great ideas for praying with their little ones so they will feel comfortable at home praying together. The simple practice of opening your home to the Holy Spirit can yield amazing benefits! Keep up the practice of putting little ones to bed with Christian music and you’ve got a great home devotion!
Graduation Quilt
The parents’ and sponsors’ hand prints are added to the Graduation Quilt as new panels. The graduation quilt could be an excellent connection between young people and the older generations of your congregation! If parents did not get involved in a small group during the Infant Stepping Stone process, invite them to consider forming a new small group with their friends from this course to continue meeting weekly, biweekly or monthly. If Table Hosts (Sacred Agents) are willing, ask them to invite parents to their house for the first meeting to get this small group started.
Note:
Open this course to the public – to all parents of toddlers. This is a key opportunity to reach young parents and plug them into the life of the church. You may never get another opportunity like it. If you get one or two new member families from this Stone, it has just paid for itself!