Well, I'm quite relieved. Yesterday went much better than the previous session. One of my helpers from last time wasn't put off by hamburger chaos (thankfully) and came and helped again. I was also more careful to explain what specific help I needed from her and she was brilliant. She's willing to help at all sessions which is fantastic.
After last time, I kept recipe/ingredients really simple and the barbeque chicken was pretty much just mixing up the sauce that they then poured over the cooked chicken (and then popped back in the oven for a bit more cooking time).
The up side of keeping the recipe simple is that clearing up was minimal (after the children left at 5.00, we were all cleared up by 5.10). The down side is that we'd all finished cooking at 4.10 with 50 minutes still to fill!? However, they enjoyed the Ready Steady Cook game (they had to design a recipe from a bag of random ingregients and the winner got to take ingredients home) and they LOVED the sweety bracelet making which took about 25 minutes of quiet concentration. The quiz was less of a success as it was hard for all of the kids to stay engaged. I also got them all to lie down on the carpet, relax and listen to Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. It took about 10 minutes plus a stern talking to to get them all to listen, lie down and be quiet. Honestly, it's like herding cats...
It is really hard to know how hard to come down on them. With the extra kids that have joined, the group is noticeably louder and more unwieldy. If any of you have any tips on quietening/calming methods, do add your comments.
Yesterday was interesting in that it was parents evening across at the school at the same time (I went over for my daughter after cooking was over.) So more parents popped in and out during the session. One mum and three teenage sisters stayed for pretty much the whole time (although there was a fair amount of to-ing and fro-ing in and out of the front door for cigarettes and mobile phone chat) And the mum and baby brother of my 16 year old helper stayed too. At the time, I couldn't help but wonder if all these other people present just made it all more stressful i.e. having to watch the door for security, small children around, increased noice level etc but on reflection, I realise how lovely it is too. To have family members come and hang out with us and help/do crafts is what it's all about, isn't it? I feel abashed at not having realised it at the time and reminds me over unhelpful leadership tendencies that want to control outcomes rather than see what delightfully unpredictable elements emerge.
So i think I'll go for a slightly longer recipe next time, that increases time they are cooking but doesn't increase set up/clearing up too much. I'm thinking baked salmon (they can have a happy time with lemon, butter or maybe maple syrup?? and foil wrapping) and then they can tackle some sort of simple sauce.
My thoughts are also wandering to the future. We finish sessions at Easter so what next? We have a new incumbent coming in April and it might be interesting to chat with her about what next/else may be possible. I'll keep you posted.
Friday, 12 February 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Food for thought
I blog with a heavy heart. Last session felt like hard work. It was an important learning curve and I take heart that the best way you can learn is by having a go.
Things got complicated a couple of days before when I discovered two of my regular helpers couldn't make it. After a very restless Tuesday night, thankfully, two new people were able to help (one a parent) but neither of them knew how to work the oven (the oven has amind of its own – something to do with the way the timer works or doesn't work!?) and neither were the sort of people to take charge if the kids are getting giddy and I can't be in two places at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY grateful for their help – it couldn't have happened without them – but I think I am just reflecting back the pressure of me as the overall leader when there are new volunteers who have never been before.
I was also too ambitious in what I asked the kids to make. Hamburgers and salad. And of course I realise in hindsight, the more complicated the recipes, the longer and louder everything takes and the more paraphernalia that needs clearing/washing up after. My 3 new kids seemed to really enjoy it but that of course added to the complexity of the session. In hindsight, it all seems so obvious that I planned too much but I think my stress about volunteers made me partially blind to this.
I also learnt from this session that making napkin swans doesn't really work with paper napkins (cloth napkins with an iron works best) and that children find it hard to remember dates in their heads if they aren't next week. Fair enough. I've had a few confused parents ask about the end of term meal assuming that is was this week from what their kids told them rather than the date I announced of march 25th.
I'm very glad of the regular contact I have with the kids and their parents at the school gate. It takes the pressure off the sessions themselves to get to know people as well as the cooking. I've had lots of short but good conversations with parents about how well their kids are doing. They tell me their kids absolutely love it which is so good to hear – it makes it all worthwhile!
I do think the team/volunteers thing is an interesting issue. I've heard it said that when something is your idea, it's always difficult to get help from others. It all makes me wonder if I missed a trick at the beginning of the process by not embarking on a more consultative process that other people would feel was their idea as well. As it was, Abi the curate and I dreamt it up together. I wonder if anyone would have wanted to get involved in the dreaming stage, even if I had asked them?!?
An older lady at the church made comment that those members of the congregation who are older have served the church faithfully for many years making tea, doing flowers, washing linen, children's work etc. A lot of them feel its time for the younger ones now. Problem is there are precious few younger ones and many of them work as well as raise families.
Suddenly it all seems very bleak for small churches if they want to start something new. I realise that my club is just one stage of a much-needed longer process of engagement. If I read Singlehurst (SRK) or Lings (arches) right, ideally any further stage (or stages) has to happen while the first stage continues too (running concurrently). Suddenly, that feels like a massive amount to sustain for a small church.
Things got complicated a couple of days before when I discovered two of my regular helpers couldn't make it. After a very restless Tuesday night, thankfully, two new people were able to help (one a parent) but neither of them knew how to work the oven (the oven has amind of its own – something to do with the way the timer works or doesn't work!?) and neither were the sort of people to take charge if the kids are getting giddy and I can't be in two places at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY grateful for their help – it couldn't have happened without them – but I think I am just reflecting back the pressure of me as the overall leader when there are new volunteers who have never been before.
I was also too ambitious in what I asked the kids to make. Hamburgers and salad. And of course I realise in hindsight, the more complicated the recipes, the longer and louder everything takes and the more paraphernalia that needs clearing/washing up after. My 3 new kids seemed to really enjoy it but that of course added to the complexity of the session. In hindsight, it all seems so obvious that I planned too much but I think my stress about volunteers made me partially blind to this.
I also learnt from this session that making napkin swans doesn't really work with paper napkins (cloth napkins with an iron works best) and that children find it hard to remember dates in their heads if they aren't next week. Fair enough. I've had a few confused parents ask about the end of term meal assuming that is was this week from what their kids told them rather than the date I announced of march 25th.
I'm very glad of the regular contact I have with the kids and their parents at the school gate. It takes the pressure off the sessions themselves to get to know people as well as the cooking. I've had lots of short but good conversations with parents about how well their kids are doing. They tell me their kids absolutely love it which is so good to hear – it makes it all worthwhile!
I do think the team/volunteers thing is an interesting issue. I've heard it said that when something is your idea, it's always difficult to get help from others. It all makes me wonder if I missed a trick at the beginning of the process by not embarking on a more consultative process that other people would feel was their idea as well. As it was, Abi the curate and I dreamt it up together. I wonder if anyone would have wanted to get involved in the dreaming stage, even if I had asked them?!?
An older lady at the church made comment that those members of the congregation who are older have served the church faithfully for many years making tea, doing flowers, washing linen, children's work etc. A lot of them feel its time for the younger ones now. Problem is there are precious few younger ones and many of them work as well as raise families.
Suddenly it all seems very bleak for small churches if they want to start something new. I realise that my club is just one stage of a much-needed longer process of engagement. If I read Singlehurst (SRK) or Lings (arches) right, ideally any further stage (or stages) has to happen while the first stage continues too (running concurrently). Suddenly, that feels like a massive amount to sustain for a small church.
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