100 Best Ideas to Turbocharged your Preschool Ministry (24 page)

The investment you make in single parents and their preschoolers will make a big difference in their lives.
Be intentional about reaching out to them.

—Dale

Born between 1982 and 2000, Millennials are and will be the parents of the preschoolers you’re ministering to.
As you seek to connect with Millennials, here are important characteristics to know about their generation.

• They were brought up sheltered, coddled, and valued.
  
• They’re confident.
  
• They’re overachieving.
  
• Their parents paid a lot of attention to them, so they have a sense of entitlement.
  
• They’re team-oriented.
  
• They’re very interested in their children’s success.
  
• They’re very educated but anxious.
  
• They’re techno-savvy.
  
• They have short attention spans. They were MTV-raised.
  
• They grew up with email. They want an immediate response.
  
• They were brought up with managed schedules of soccer, school, music lessons, homework, and so on.
  
• They’re diverse and tolerant.
  
• They’re optimistic locally, but pessimistic nationally.
  
• They have high expectations of authority and institutions.
  
• They highly value community and are highly relational.
  
• They want to make a difference.
  
• They’re multi-taskers. The average mom accomplishes the equivalent of 27 hours a day through multi-tasking.
  
• They’re high consumers of media. Each day moms spend 2.6 hours with the Internet, 2.1 hours with TV, 1.2 hours with the radio, and 30 minutes with magazines, newspapers, books, and so on.
  
• They value having a family. There were more babies born in 2007 than at the height of the baby boom.
  
• They put their kids ahead of their careers.
  
• They’re interested in healthy, locally grown organic foods.
  
• They emphasize family experiences over material things. They seek travel and learning experiences.
  
• They use technology and media to help focus their lives as parents. They reach out to their online families for parenting tips and information.
  
• They’re raising their children with more of a relational approach than an authoritarian approach.
  

An effective preschool ministry is one that connects and partners with Millennial parents.
Here are tips for your preschool ministry drawn from the above characteristics.

• They grew up with email. These parents are used to getting an immediate response through texting and cell phones. Return phone calls and emails within 24 hours.
  
• They’re interested in their preschoolers’ success. Programs such as “Your Baby Can Read” abound. Parents want their children to grow spiritually. Have a clear, focused curriculum pathway and communicate it to parents. Partner with parents and give them tools to extend the weekend lesson into their homes during the week.
  
• They want to make a difference. Get parents involved in their children’s experience at church. Give them opportunities to serve in preschool ministry.
  
• They use technology and media to help focus their lives as parents. Create a website and online community for preschool parents in your ministry, or point them to websites that offer parenting tips.
  
• They’re team-oriented. Ask for parents’ advice and input. Have parent focus groups.
  
• They have short attention spans. They were raised on MTV, so design communication tools that are precise and quick.
  
• They’re diverse and tolerant. Create a welcoming environment for everyone in your church. Reflect this throughout your advertising and communication materials.
  
• They have high expectations of authority and institutions. Do things with excellence. Remember they’re comparing you to Disneyland and McDonald’s.
  
• They value community and are highly relational. They’re constantly connected through Facebook, Twitter, email, and cell phones. Create a Facebook page for preschool parents in your ministry. Spend time building relationships with them online and face-to-face.
  
• They emphasize family experiences over material things. Create shared events for preschool families, such as family worship experiences, summer picnics, fall festivals, and “Happy Birthday, Jesus” parties at Christmas.
  

We have a great opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the Millennial generation and the lives of their preschool children.
Take time to study these characteristics with your team.
Formulate an effective ministry strategy that will enable you to connect with this new generation of preschool parents.

—Dale

The number of children in the United States allergic to foods such as peanuts, milk, wheat, and fish is rising rapidly.
An estimated 3 million children under the age of 18 had some sort of food allergy in 2007, an 18 percent increase since 1997, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There’s been an increase in severe rashes, anaphylaxis (obstruction of the airway), and intestinal problems.
Most children react only after eating the foods they’re allergic to, but some children will go anaphylactic just by touching the food.
These problems are creating a tremendous amount of stress in the homes of those children who are affected by allergies.

As a preschool ministry leader, you need to research childhood allergies so you can provide care for families who have preschoolers suffering from them.
Take time to discuss these issues with your preschool staff.
It’s important that everyone has a full understanding of the problem.
Here are suggestions to consider that offer varying degrees of care—from minimum to maximum.

Post snack alerts.
Always
post snack alerts on the doors to your preschool ministry classrooms.
It’s vitally important that parents know what their children will be snacking on that day.

Use allergy stickers.
We place bright red stickers on preschoolers who have mild allergies but still need special care.
Each sticker includes the child’s name and his or her specific allergy or allergies.
This helps volunteers and gives parents peace of mind.

Make your preschool facility a peanut-free zone.
We don’t allow the children to bring any peanut butter or peanut-related products.
We also make sure to serve only peanut-free snacks, which means snacks weren’t processed in a facility that uses peanuts.
(We also ask parents not to bring milk after their preschoolers reach a certain age.
We simply ask parents to bring juice or water.)

Open an allergy room.
If you’re fortunate enough to have extra space, this might be just the right thing for your preschool ministry.
In an allergy room, the teacher is fully aware of each child’s needs and can deliver care accordingly.
Most children who’d be in the allergy room probably have EpiPens, so an adult in the room needs to be familiar with how to use one.
This room should be peanut-free, milk-free, and wheat-free.
The only snacks allowed are those that parents bring.

When caring for families whose children have allergies, remember that this is a very stressful time in their lives.
They need our patience, love, and understanding.
Go the extra mile.
Do everything possible to ensure they’re getting the best care.

—Gina

Your ministry to preschoolers’ parents is vitally important because when you influence parents, you influence the primary source of spiritual formation in preschoolers.

A partnership with the adult ministries in your church is one of the most strategic moves you can make to leverage the impact of your preschool ministry.

For too long, ministries inside churches have been silos...operating independently of each other.
Competing for resources, volunteers, finances, and recognition.
It’s time to break down those silos and work together as a team to influence families for Christ.
Each ministry must see the big picture and realize that it’s about reaching the entire family.
Take the lead by initiating a partnership with the adult ministries in your church.

• Set up a meeting with the adult team. Share a vision of partnering to reach the entire family. Strategize how you can work together to accomplish this.
  
• Be aware of parenting and marriage classes that’ll help your preschool parents. Find out when these classes are offered and promote them to parents through your take-home papers, emails, posters, and so on.
  
• Survey your preschool parents. Find out their biggest needs and struggles. Work with adult ministries to offer classes or small groups targeting these issues.
  
• Be involved with MOPS and women’s ministries. Take part in these ministries. Offer to help serve or teach occasionally to build bridges.
  
• Partner with adult ministries to provide marriage and parenting mentors for young parents of preschoolers. If you’re building relationships with the parents of preschoolers, they’ll come to you when they’re struggling or want to grow in their marriages. Young mothers will come seeking advice on how to navigate the preschool parenting years. Work closely with adult ministries to provide mentors for preschool parents in these areas. Have seasoned married couples who can offer practical advice and counseling. Have experienced parents who’ve successfully navigated the preschool years ready to come alongside young parents.
  
• Partner with adult ministries to teach parenting and marriage series for preschool parents. In a few weeks I’ll partner with our senior pastor and one of our campus pastors to teach about parenting at our weekend services. The three of us will teach as a team. I’m excited to see what God does with this in our preschool parents’ lives.
  

Make adult ministries your preschool ministry’s best friend.
You’ll see entire families benefit as a result.

—Dale

Family devotion times are wonderful and much needed, but they could be a thing of the past.
We’ve found that it’s even better when parents talk about God’s Word and the things of God as they go about everyday activities with their children.
Then and only then do children see God’s Word in action.

A modern-day version of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 might go like this: Teach your children about God while you’re driving to school, as you’re playing ball, while you’re waiting at the drive thru, and as you put your children to bed at night.