Growing Our Kids & Our Faith Together
Hey! How’s it going?
Hope you are doing alright during this messy December 2020.
It’s Advent! The time in the year when we get ready and wait for baby Jesus. And especially this advent, we are getting A LOT of practice focusing on being hopeful, patient, and waiting. It is not always easy!
Looking for some countdown and crafty ideas to use at home? Check out our Pinterest board of Advent family favorites!
Access all our resources on the Full Heart Full Belly page! Click on the Full Heart Full Belly tab above or https://westwoodparents.community/walk/
Ready for something new to talk about? Looking for dinner conversation? Want a God-focused conversation related to the elections? Up for an end of day coloring page meditation time?
Try out these brief family guides, from Illustrated Ministry, to discuss what God wants for our world! 12 guides with great meditative coloring pages are located under the DIY Family Faith Talk page on this blog! It will remain available all school year for all families.
Password: DIY
Pastor Miriam shared a new Anti-Racism parenting resource with us! It’s from USA Today, ‘Everything starts at home’: Kids’ TV shows that teach anti-racism, celebrate diversity https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/08/26/kids-tv-shows-teach-anti-racism-celebrate-diversity/5606178002/
There are so many influences in our kids lives without even leaving the house! The books they read, songs they hear, the shows they watch, etc. – it can be super overwhelming! This article offers great options for screen time!
For younger kids- Sesame Street created a Racism Town Hall with CNN. It’s not just great for kids, parents get a lesson on age-appropriate conversations about race! https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/06/app-news-section/cnn-sesame-street-race-town-hall-app-june-6-2020-app/index.html?_ga=2.161739578.74954184.1598888086-1761221464.1598888085
It also links to Common Sense Media’s site with a collection of ‘TV Shows with Diverse Characters’ https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/tv-shows-with-diverse-characters?_ga=2.66262952.74954184.1598888086-1761221464.1598888085
Children’s Ministry Programming 2020
Ages baby thru Grade 5
To support your family’s health & faith journey, all children’s ministry programs will remain online thru 2020.
Sign-up for all the program options that work for your family!
(And don’t stress! Perfect attendance and/or 100% follow thru is NOT required!)
https://westwood.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/144/responses/new
Rally Week CYF Celebration!
Tuesday Sept 15th | Wednesday Sept 16th | Thursday Sept 17th
Kick-off fall with us at one of our socially distanced, outside pick-up nights! Make tie-dye shirts with your kid(s) and pick up your ‘Dios está contigo’ bracelets! This is the week to pick up any bibles, anti-racism books, & kid activity kits that you ordered on your Children’s Ministry registration (link above). Please bring school supplies to donate to STEP!
Families choose a one-hour time slot between 3-7pm to allow for space and disinfected materials. Masks are required. Pick one of the 3 provided dates- time slots are limited to 5 families.
Just swinging by to grab books & supplies? Sign up for ‘CURBSIDE PICK-UP’ and stop by anytime between 3-7pm on a Celebration night.
DIY Family Faith Talk: The Beatitudes
Looking for new conversations at the dinner table, before bedtime, or on the weekend? A ready-made guide for responsible citizenship discussions to have with your kid(s)? This fall we look at the Beatitudes with an awesome curriculum created by Illustrated Ministry. This option is 100% online and family-led. All materials are available on our blog to print and use anytime! Password access will be sent out in mid-September.
Messy Worship on Zoom!
6pm Thursdays | Starting October 1st
Life is Messy, God is in the Mess! Join Jen and friends for our fun family worship, zoom style! Messy Worship Zoom includes elements from our new Beatitudes curriculum & anti-racism book club, music, storytelling, & interactive prayers.
Sunday Worship Online: Kids Activity Kits
Sign up to receive an activity kit filled with coloring pages, activities, and crafts for your kid(s) to work on while you watch online worship from home. Preschool and Elementary kits are available. (curbside pick-up monthly)
Anti-Racism Family Resources: Family Book Club
This is a new program to support your work raising anti-racist, equity-focused kid(s). Sign-up to receive an age-appropriate anti-racism book for any kid(s) in your family- and an anti-racism parenting book for you!
Order books thru the Children’s Ministry registration (link above). $10 donation per book.
Throughout the year additional resources, parent zoom conversations, and family discussion activities will be offered to support our anti-racism work as a community. Follow on our Westwood Parent Connect blog: https://westwoodparents.community/anti-racism-resources/
Anti-Racism Family Book Club Books:
Orders for T-Shirts, books, and fall supply kits need to be in by Friday September 4th to make sure they are ready for tie-dye and pick-up at our Celebration nights.
Questions? Let me know!
Be safe, be well, and be real- God is with us!
Best,
Jen Mohr
Director of Children’s Ministry
Get out a shareable snack and dig into the story about a big picnic Jesus hosted on the fly! As Jesus fed 5,000 people, he didn’t question that there was going to be enough. Instead, Jesus focused on making sure that every person that was there got what they needed.
This is a great story to bridge into an anti-racism equity conversation with your family. Check out this great equity resource to support your conversations: https://www.storybasedstrategy.org/the4thbox
The series, ‘A Kids Book About’, is a personal favorite. The series dives deep into many important and somewhat difficult topics.
Malia Jones, an epidemiologist, wrote a new book about COVID-19. (We read another ‘A Kids Book About’ book at Westwood- A Kid’s Book About Racism, by Jelani Memory)
The extra cool part- it’s a free download!
Ran across this article today. Chalk drawing protests that were power washed or street swept away, over and over. City officials called it ‘graffiti’ and it can now be grounds for a citation. It doesn’t really matter where it happened in the US, we know things like this happen all the time in every state.
Use this article to open up age-appropriate anti-racism conversations with your kids. Read the article (or parts of it) together. Ask what surprised them. Where did they see racism at work in what happened? What would be an anti-racist ally response to what happened?
Then get out the chalk. Give your kid(s) a place to protest by creating a Black Lives Matter chalk drawing on the driveway, sidewalk, or road. And keep talking. The action of drawing Black Lives Matter is great, but it’s the conversation and questions about racism and activism that help give our kids language to be anti-racist allies.
As you draw, consider listening to a podcast to learn more about racism in the US, or hear what protestors are doing to keep Black Lives Matter growing in the US, or listen to music that talks about change.
And after it rains, write it again. And again. And again.
Have you run into this? It’s Awesome.
A full episode about racism, current events, and anti-racism activism with elementary kids and youth, hosted by Alicia Keys. Meet the women who started Black Lives Matter, hear from kids that experience racism at their school and are activists in their communities, and listen to families of color talk about living in a white supremacy society and working for change.
Looking for more resources? Check out https://www.nickhelps.com/
Join us for our Flat Jesus summer challenge! All summer long, find times to take a picture with Flat Jesus and send them to Jen Mohr (j.mohr@westwood.church) to share with our Westwood community.
“The Flat Jesus Project is simple: each kid gets their own paper cutout of Jesus to take with them on their summer adventures. You’ll encourage them to take photos of their Jesus as he walks with them—helping them keep Jesus at the forefront of their minds. As natural questions and discussions come up, you will have new conversations to help facilitate summer faith development.”
Westwood Parent Connect 