Back-to-School is coming soon.  Wal-Mart already has their school supplies stocked in the front of the store.  It’s almost frustrating when you feel the summer has just begun!

This fall, Back-to-School means “Promotion Weekend” at FPC.  The first weekend of August, our kids will move up a grade.  These transitions are easy for some kids.  Tougher for others.  Either way it’s a great opportunity to help kids make stronger connections w/in fpKIDS & for us to capitalize on the attention we have from mom & dad.

Several weeks ago, I posted about a summer multi-week event for our Rising 6th Graders called Merge.  That event’s been a success so far.  (Personally, my son loves it!)  So our Rising 6th Graders have a smoother transition into our Student Ministry in the fall.

We’ve got two other transitions we’re paying attention to simply because of the nature of the transition.

• PreK to Kindergarten
• 3rd to 4th grade

Here’s the low-down on the PreK to Kindergarten:

This transition is significant in fpKIDS because kids move from Preschool into Elementary.  These are two distinctly different environments.  So we’ll spend two weekends in a row just giving PreK kids a ‘taste’ of the elementary experience in 30-minute doses.  We’re also hosting a “Kindergarten kNEXTion” the first week of August.  We’re holding it in the evening, offering pizza for dinner and promising a night of fun for parents and kids.  The first 30 minutes we’ll spend giving parents and kids a ‘taste’ of the Large Group experience (i.e. skits/messy game/worship).  The last 30 minutes we’ll send the kids off with volunteers to do some different activities much like they will experience in Small Group on the weekends.  We’ll pull parents aside during that time and talk to them as a group.

There are 3 specific areas I want to focus on with parents.

1. Who we are – this never gets old and should be shared every time we have an audience with parents.  We will always, always, always review our mission and vision with parents so they know why we’re here.
2. What they can expect – I want to give parents a glimpse down the road.  Their child is currently 5 or 6 years old.  In the next few years, they will begin digesting and internalizing the gospel message.  The Truth will become personal to them, and they’re likely to respond to that Truth.
3. What they can do – I want to give parents practical tools that will help them prepare for those conversations.  If I can help parents to be in a proactive posture rather than a reactive posture, then I think they feel more successful.  The more ‘wins’ I can help them gain in this season in life, the more they’ll lean into the tougher conversations down the road.

 visit Gina at www.ginamcclain.com