•12:20 PM
Monday, April 26, 2010 12:27 p.m.
My children bring their friends home with them every day. Sometimes physically, but most often in their imaginations. It all began a few years ago when they would make references in their play to the friends they saw regularly at church small group, and then at AWANA, and then at Saints (PE class). This practice continued on a daily basis, and grew to become more and more elaborate over time.
Eventually, it took on some of the structure they had learned from AWANA. For instance, Chips had his group of friends, and Sweet Girl had hers; Chips became the Commander of his Group, and Sweet Girl was the Leader of her group. Both children were in charge over their respective group of friends, but the Commander, of course, was in authority over the Leader.
Soon there were lists prepared on paper of each of the Groups. Each child's group had membership of between ten and twenty children, identifiable by their real first names (although in the case where there were two children of the same first name, as in Madison, the first initial of the last name would be used).
Since then, the Groups have accompanied our children everywhere: in the car, to meals, to lessons, in the yard, and around the house, even to the bedrooms at night. I am sure it became quite crowded when Chips had to share his bed with his entire group. Good thing he has a double bed.
Then the Groups became "National Groups" because children were joining from all over the country. They began to acquire special characteristics. For instance, they travel in special vehicles called Sprint Cars, and Sprockets. Yes, several drawings have been made of Sprint Cars and Sprockets, and each type of vehicle has a description and special uses to the Groups.
The Groups are very adventurous children. They are able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...... when inside their Sprockets, of course. The groups are extremely inventive, putting their collective brains together to invent many useful things. For example, Moving Belts, which they put different things on to transport them, and Dual Rockets, motorcycles that fly with rockets. One of the boys in the Group races against the space shuttle in a Sprocket and always wins a million dollars each time he wins. He is up to seven million. They have superhuman qualities in some ways, yet they, too, are members of our fallen human race as they struggle with their own weaknesses: poor judgment in managing their money, overeating (or eating too many sweets and getting stomach aches), reckless driving of the Sprint Cars, disagreements amongst themselves, failure to heed the warnings of their Commander or Leader, failure to floss their teeth regularly, reluctance to practice their instruments every day, or whatever.
We parents continue to marvel at the level of imagination that Chips and Sweet Girl exhibit when playing with their Groups. I just when I am driving and I overhear Sweet Girl say to Chips: "Let's talk about our Groups." Self-Reliant Man and I cherish it, and we see that through the National Groups, our kids are able to safely and securely process the realities of life in the real world with the assistance of their friends ---- each other.
My children bring their friends home with them every day. Sometimes physically, but most often in their imaginations. It all began a few years ago when they would make references in their play to the friends they saw regularly at church small group, and then at AWANA, and then at Saints (PE class). This practice continued on a daily basis, and grew to become more and more elaborate over time.
Eventually, it took on some of the structure they had learned from AWANA. For instance, Chips had his group of friends, and Sweet Girl had hers; Chips became the Commander of his Group, and Sweet Girl was the Leader of her group. Both children were in charge over their respective group of friends, but the Commander, of course, was in authority over the Leader.
Soon there were lists prepared on paper of each of the Groups. Each child's group had membership of between ten and twenty children, identifiable by their real first names (although in the case where there were two children of the same first name, as in Madison, the first initial of the last name would be used).
Since then, the Groups have accompanied our children everywhere: in the car, to meals, to lessons, in the yard, and around the house, even to the bedrooms at night. I am sure it became quite crowded when Chips had to share his bed with his entire group. Good thing he has a double bed.
Then the Groups became "National Groups" because children were joining from all over the country. They began to acquire special characteristics. For instance, they travel in special vehicles called Sprint Cars, and Sprockets. Yes, several drawings have been made of Sprint Cars and Sprockets, and each type of vehicle has a description and special uses to the Groups.
The Groups are very adventurous children. They are able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...... when inside their Sprockets, of course. The groups are extremely inventive, putting their collective brains together to invent many useful things. For example, Moving Belts, which they put different things on to transport them, and Dual Rockets, motorcycles that fly with rockets. One of the boys in the Group races against the space shuttle in a Sprocket and always wins a million dollars each time he wins. He is up to seven million. They have superhuman qualities in some ways, yet they, too, are members of our fallen human race as they struggle with their own weaknesses: poor judgment in managing their money, overeating (or eating too many sweets and getting stomach aches), reckless driving of the Sprint Cars, disagreements amongst themselves, failure to heed the warnings of their Commander or Leader, failure to floss their teeth regularly, reluctance to practice their instruments every day, or whatever.
We parents continue to marvel at the level of imagination that Chips and Sweet Girl exhibit when playing with their Groups. I just when I am driving and I overhear Sweet Girl say to Chips: "Let's talk about our Groups." Self-Reliant Man and I cherish it, and we see that through the National Groups, our kids are able to safely and securely process the realities of life in the real world with the assistance of their friends ---- each other.
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