I want to share with you something the co-coordinator of a kid’s holiday club said to me today.

As we discussed the plan for the day and the timing of different elements, including the length of my show, she said something I thought was pretty important, ‘we don’t want to be rushing from one thing to another, we want to make sure we are relational with the kids’, or words to that effect.

Kid’s holiday clubs can be both taxing and heaps of fun for the leaders. There are presentations to pull off, activities to supervise, and games to run, food that must be served safely and on and on it goes. But in doing all these things, we can easily make the mistake of being busy running a program and not being relational.

When we are more program focused than people focused, we stress about completing every activity. We stress when we see kids not doing the activity. We get annoyed when leaders are chatting away to a child but not assisting with the task at hand. Ok, someone has to ‘carry the can’ and make things happen.  Sometimes leaders behave immaturely, forgetting that they are there for the kids not themselves. But we do need to encourage a culture that is people focused and seeks relationships not the completion of tasks. Easier said than done, right? Yep, it's hard to avoid being program focussed.

So the first thing I would suggest is to encourage the team to know each child’s name.  That way when the next day of the club arrives, we can start welcoming some of the kids, by name. Which also means we need to be there early and organised enough to relax and be available to welcome them when they walk in.

Another worthwhile suggestion might be to start each day or even each activity with short games or things (incorporate them into what you are doing), that help the kids and leaders learn each other’s names or a little more about each other.  It's important that we care about each person as individuals.  We also want to help them make friends. Yes, kids often need help, especially in a new environment, to make friends.  Otherwise they won’t feel connected and are less likely to have fun or even listen. We all know what it’s like to walk into a room of strangers and have no-one say hello. Ugggh! (adults find it hard too).

The best times we have are usually with people. We sometimes remember what we did, but most of all we remember who we did them with.  Who we made friends with.  And we often listened best when we had kind teachers and caring leaders.

It’s important to keep a tight reign on the time so things don’t waffle and sag.  I love doing a tight show and I make sure each element in a show has merit and is well executed. But it’s even more important to keep enough time for relationships.