{Thank you to Judy M. for this guest post!}
“Mommy, can we join Brownies?” This is the question that began a journey for our family to create spiritual alternative activities for our children. For those of you who may not know what “Brownies” are, it is a branch of the Girl Guides for girls aged 7-8 years of age. Our eldest daughter came home from grade 3 one day and asked this question, after hearing about it from her peers at public school. Understanding the principle behind the apostle Paul’s expression, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child…” (I Cor.13:11), we felt we couldn’t keep saying “no” without offering some other alternative to keep the children busy in their spare time. Christadelphian children need to understand that the Truth is a wonderful way of life with many exciting and fun activities to be involved in.
Thus began our “Tabitha Class”: Since we had some free Fridays in our ecclesial calendar for children aged 8-12, we decided to start a class for these girls once a month on a Friday, beginning with a short study of a woman of the Bible, followed by teaching the young ladies a skill, task, or hobby that could be of some benefit in their lives growing up. Where possible, we invited older sisters from the ecclesia to come and teach some of the activities. They included: how to set a table, do laundry, can pickles, flower arranging, basket making, decorate a photo album, sewing, cooking, baking, etc. Some activities extended into baking goodies, plating them and delivering them to older members of the ecclesia. The evenings ended with snacks… of course! Once in a while we even extended the night into a sleepover.
This activity proved quite successful, so much so that the boys became a bit jealous and a family who had boys of the same age started a “Samson Class” held on the same evening. Great alternatives to Girl Guides and Boy Scouts.