Awana

[notdrinkingthekoolaid]

My daughter went to Awana the other night with a friend. She wants to go back and I'm mostly ok with that. I grew up in Awana--kindergarten thru 8th grade. I know the value of Scripture memorization and I owe a lot of that to the Awana program.

Here's my problem (sort of)...

She received a starter unit. Basically introductory stuff to do to make sure she's serious about this. Lesson one is introductory stuff about her. Lesson two a little stuff about her and a memory verse. Lesson three...we go full on into the plan of salvation. By Lesson seven she has to explain the plan of salvation. I'm having a problem with how fast they jump on that bus. I'm trying hard not to project my own fundy twiggers on my kids, but that one is bugging me.

Any thoughts?

[laurat99]

Is your concern that she will be rushed into a decision she might not be ready for just to complete the section/sections? That's really valid. My son enjoyed AWANA until it got to be too much work memorizing verses. I would make him memorize at least 1 verse per week, so he couldn't just skate through it.

Talk with the person in charge and see who they treat your concern. If they just want to bump up the numbers at AWANA and other areas, then run like crazy in the opposite direction. If they think it's too fast a leap, maybe work with them on just allowing her to attend as a "frequent visitor" until she has things straight in her head.

Your instincts are kicking in for a reason, so don't discount them.

[notdrinkingthekoolaid]

That is my concern--that they will jam a decision down her throat. I want her to come to salvation herself, without pressure, but with as much understanding as she can have for whatever age she is if/when she gets there. I will definitely talk to leaders and get a better feel for it and perhaps observe a night or 2. I will also talk to the mom of the kids she went with. I'm sure she will have insight on how they run their program and I highly doubt she'd send her kids into a high pressure situation either.

I think my daughter can handle the memorization as long as she stays motivated. As we are talking about it, I told her if she does this, she has to go until the end of the school year and not drop out after a month. Awana plays to her social, competitive, overachiever nature, so I think this could be a good thing for her if other things don't get in the way.