Thank you for visiting my new Summit Journey Group blog! I look forward to sharing ideas that you may find helpful for your group as well as reading any comments or suggestions that you have.
In addition to sharing ideas, I will also be sharing spiritual thoughts that I hope you will find valuable in your daily journey.
Again, welcome to “The Journey!”
Tom
Every group that includes parents of young children experiences the pangs of childcare issues. While I haven’t found the perfect solution, here are some ideas from Discipleship Journal:
1. Hire a babysitter for the entire group. He or she can keep the children in another room or at a nearby house. The entire group chips in to pay her. She could just babysit o provide spiritually nurturing activities for children.
2. Ask group members to rotate as babysitters. This can only work if everyone commits to take a turn. The advantage is that all the adults build relationships with all the children. The disadvantage is that someone misses the meeting.
3. Couples swap children from another small group that meets on a different night. The Smiths watch the Johnson children when the Johnsons go to small group on Tuesdays. On Thursday, the Johnsons watch the Smith children so the Smiths can attend their small group.
4. Children participate for part of the meeting. They could join in for singing or ice breakers. For the rest of the time, they might watch a video in another room with an adult or teen supervising.
5. Children stay for the entire meeting. Older children can fully participate, and the younger ones can color or read picture books. This requires that your meetins offer something for all age levels.
The Journey 