Help with parental supervision?

[BBlessed]

Our Kids Church has about 80-100 kids. (small church here in comparison to the big city churches!) We have a dedicated team of enthusiastic (and exhausted!) leaders who dedicate a large portion of their time to leading, teaching and loving these kids.
OUr church service starts at 10am and goes until sometime between 11:30am and 12noon. Kids Church runs from about 10:15am til 11:30am, when we return the children to the church, unless their parents are there to collect them when we finish.

I'm pretty firm on responsibilty for these children - they are either under MY care and MY responsibilty or they are under the PARENT'S care and responsibility.
But apparently the parents don't see it the same way!
When I took on CM 12 months ago, I introduced some new ideas because the kids were wandering the car park unsupervised, playing right down in the back empty lot land, running back and forth between Kids Church and the main church etc etc.
There are some major safety issues here - but it seems the CM leaders are only one aware of them!
Even when I make it into the main church, for the worship session, I end up with a whole pile of kids wanting to sit with me, and therefore I end up supervising instead of worshipping. If I stay down in Kids Church prepping for the morning, kids wander down to "play" and I have to insist they return to their parents - who seemingly have no idea where their children are!
Morning tea after church is the same - the parents mix and sip and chat - and the children run amok on the church grounds with no supervision!

Tonight I attended a special service at another larger church, for all the churches of our denomination, in the district. This church building had a fenced playground directly off the main worship centre (something our church is also lacking - a safely fenced off area!). I spent some time out there during the service, supervising my 4 little ones playing.
Oh my goodness! After 5 minutes I had 5 other families' kids out there too - minus their parents! So I spent the only service I've been able to attend in months (always serving in Kids Church on Sunday mornings) supervising our church's kids in the playgorund area. Because there was no one else!
And I realised that none of the other church's kids were out there - and absolutely not wothout superivision!


So, my long-winded question is - how can I change this? How can I get the parents to realise that firstly it's a safety issue and with so many kids running unsupervised and unattended, it's only a matter of time before something tragic happens?
And that it annoys me because I give most of my church time to serving in this ministry I love - and yet the odd occasion I DO get to go to the main worship session, I end up inundated with kids.

And most importantly - that the spiritual upbringing and guidance of these children CANNOT be done in the hour and a half I spend with them each week! Some interest needs to be shown in what we are doing, what the kids are learning etc etc. Heck, maybe some of the parents could come meet their kids' leaders! (I arranged a church lunch today for the parents and leaders to meet - not a single person showed up besides me and the woman helping me arrange it!)

I am so frustrated! I really want to leave the church and just find somewhere that ackowledges their children and treasures them, and wants to teach and lead them. But every time I make plans, God clearly calls me back to our current church and tells me to "hang in there - I'm working on it!"

So I'm after practical advice please. How do I get through to these parents and wake them up?!!

Many thanks!

 

[mrscplus]

I hear you. It's hard to change "we've always done that".

I stay busy right up to the announcements, so it's pretty hard to have kids join me in the confusion. Also, if you were look into a "we need to register" format, the parents have to be with the kids for that process.

Do you have a newsletter, or are you able to do bulletin inserts, or at the least send a letter home. Address what's on you heart for the children's safety.
Many of the parents likely won't have even thought about it. Who knows, but that God has you placed for "such a time as this".

 

[twiggysara]

This is a really important issue, and I'm glad you have such a passion around it. We had a big problem with this at my church for a long time, and we've only recently been able to make some strides. So my first thing is, just know, it can change. You can make a difference!

The first and most important step is to get your pastor and other leadership involved. Get their advice on how to handle it. If they don't see it as important for the obvious reasons, stress the liability issue. Whether it is the parent's fault or not, if a child gets hurt at your church, the parents will probably sue your church, and by not getting involved, the church leadership is inviting that.

 

[AjayCTN]

Hi,

We experienced and still experience that Parents are totally irresponsible. Parents see the Kids/ Children Ministry as a baby sitting service, and as a result of this mindset, they leave the responsibility of caring for their kids to the KM teachers/ volumteers, while they praise and worship.

On Friday morning (Easter Friday) we had a joined worship session for the 1st time this year as part of the main church service (CM & Adult Church). Before we knew it we had to return to the Children Church, as the kids wanted to be around the volunteers.

We started with a notice on the overhead video before services, during announcements and at the end of the services informing parents of the problem, and not to allow their kids to run havoc. We address unattended kids by sending a letter to the parent indicating that kids should not be send to the Children Church on their own, but should be accompanied by a parent.

I still believe that we should change the culture of seeing CM as a baby sitting service.
If you have any practical solutions... please share.

Thanks

 

[BBlessed]

AjayCTN, I like the idea of the letter for parents, instructing them to join their child in the Kids Ministry.
I am thinking, at this stage, that I might just accept thigns where they are at. I'll request/expect the front 2 rows of seats to be "reserved" and the KM leaders and ALL the kids can sit there for worship together. If we're going to be expected to be repsonsible for them during worship time (because the kids come and find us and sit there anyway!) we might as ewll embrace the opportunity and take some steps in TEACHING these youngsters how to worship, and respect other peoples' right to worship too!

Interstingly though - when I first took on co ordinating KM at our church, I started our Kids Church at the same time the main service started, so there was no combined worship session. So many parents complained and asked that we change the structure and allow their kids to spend some time in the beginning of the service.....???!!!!
And yet now they DO - and their parents take no responsiblity for them! We can't win!

I agree wholeheartedly that it's an issue with the mentality that the kids need babysitting. KM is SO much more than that - it's akin to saying that being in church is good for having a comfy place to sit on a Sunday!!!!