Flight 3 is the name of the group of 3-year-olds I'm responsible for and there are 12 of them. There's a mom of one of the 9 boys (to 3 girls, mind you) who's partnering with me to guide these little ones to each of their stations throughout their 3-hour day packed full of activity. We sing, we dance, we make a craft, we play games, we walk in a line holding a rope (otherwise we'd be herding cats), and we sit and listen as well as 3-year-olds can. Flight 3 is boy-heavy but otherwise a typical group here at Sky VBS.
Back to the auditorium- I quickly start to notice something different about my situation. See, all of the adults and teenaged helpers are sitting with their groups too. What I notice is the amount of children actually on them. I would estimate half or more of the leaders are just sitting there alone, while the rest have a child or two in their lap. Except me. I have 3. Three boys.
There it is. Sitting right in my literal lap. Boys need fathers. Let me say that louder, in all caps: BOYS NEED FATHERS! Girls do too, and very much so, but little boys were using me like a jungle gym for two days so I took notice. Boys need affection and attention. They need time with dad to play and they yearn for physical contact, but not the kind you get in football. Yup, even boys want to cuddle. Over the course of 6 hours with these nine boys, I'm pretty sure I had at least 6 of them come sit on my lap. It's not because I'm extraordinarily cool or great with kids; it's because I was there.
So here it is, a few suggestions to get dads to be closer to the great dad we all want to be:
- Be there. Did I mention there was only 1 other dad there? I know most dads work but there were almost 200 kids there. Certainly we aren't the 1%! (I actually split the week with my wife, she did two days and I did the other two, so you don't have to go "all in", just go!)
- Get on the floor. I teach this to my basketball players because it's how you can manufacture intensity even if you don't naturally have it. Dads can manufacture effection even if you don't have it naturally if you just get down and let them crawl on you. Trust me, you'll have fun too.
- Play. One little guy cried each morning when he was dropped off and nobody could console him. My wife did on the second day, but she handed the reigns to me for the last two days. The last worship session he smiled and danced, after just standing there silently all of the other sessions. What made him come around? I played with him!
- Just do it. Some guys are scared of being in charge of kids, but here's a little teacher-secret: if you act like you know what to do they will think you do! Works every time, I swear.
Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Jesus needed time with his father, just like little boys do.
