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A Note from Reverend Bonnie

Toys

I know all of us Eliot folks as good, open-minded, progressive parents, are concerned about what kind and how many toys our children have. Many of us have to clean closets and toy chests out of last year's stuff in order to have room for the new crop that's coming in. We tend to moan a bit about the "good old days" when we didn't have so many things, and why are kids bored all the time anyway? And yet, we love the excitement of kids when those presents roll in. Childhood does not last so long, after all.

I was reading a psychologist who was talking about toys and their potential to stifle, rather than stimulate, imagination (A Six-Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children by John Rosen). His opinion is the more bells and whistles there are on the toys, the less imagination a kid has to use in order to play. And the more quickly they get bored. "Learning" toys are not too helpful either; since the whole idea of play is to integrate a child's experiences. They need an open field for processing and coming to understand their world and their own experiences.

What kind of toys help with this? Of course, we know the kind that takes least imagination. Videos, video games, and computer games take pretty much no imagination at all. We might appreciate someone else's imagination, but we won't use our own. He suggested books, Legos, erector sets, and Lincoln logs. I know the Montessori approach to art is to give children supplies and lots of blank paper, rather than coloring books or other pre-determined design crafts. Most kids would probably have more hours of fun with a big pile of dirt in the back yard than with practically anything you can buy in a store.

But if you can't buy your kids a big pile of dirt, maybe it will be helpful to think about what toys help with imagination. You might even exercise your own imagination in the planning! I found the perspective of this writer interesting, and share it with you in hopes it might help with some of your holiday dilemmas. Whatever is best for our children-and I think this varies from child to child-you are always the most important gift in their lives.

It is a magical time of year. Happy holidays!

Faithfully,
Bonnie

December RE Calendar

Spring Teachers Still Needed

Our Spring Semester in RE starts on January 29, which is right around the corner. We really need to get the remaining teaching slots filled right now, so that we'll have our teaching teams together for Teacher Orientation on January 16. Teaching affords you a chance to learn and grow yourself, not to mention it allows you the opportunity to meet some wonderful children and their parents. Please contact today to join the fun:

Thank you!

Holiday Giving Tree

We once again will have a Christmas tree set up in Adams Hall with "ornaments" on it beginning on November 27. Each ornament has a child's gender and age on it. Pluck an ornament off the tree and purchase a gift ($20-$30 range) for your child. Return the wrapped gift under the tree, using the ornament as the gift tag, no later than Sunday, December 18. Gifts will be distributed to needy children in the Kirkwood area.

Holiday Party Everyone's Invited!

Our Holiday Party will be on Saturday, December 10, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon in the lower level of the Religious Education wing. Children who are rehearsing for the Pageant that morning will be allotted time to participate in the Party. All families are invited for crafts, games, refreshments and just plain fun. We hope to see you there, whether you're in the Pageant or not!

Holiday Services

Our Christmas Eve services will be held at 5:00, 6:30, 8:00 and 10:00 pm on December 24. Childcare will be provided in the nursery at both the 5:00 and 6:30 pm services.

There will also be one intergenerational service at 10:00 am on Sunday, December 25. There will be no nursery or childcare available for that service.

Thanksgiving Essays

We received some lovely Thanksgiving essays from our children again this year. Here are some excerpts from a sampling of them:

"I am thankful for my little cats…My Grandma and Grandpa are coming over in a few days and I am thankful for them. I am also thankful for my other Grandma, even though I am sad that her husband died. I am thankful for the world." ~ Isabelle, 1st grade

"I am thankful for God, because just a few weeks ago lightning struck our backyard. The lightning hit a tree. I was just a few feet away….Then the tree that got hit by lightning fell down. It seemed as though God saved me." ~Giovanni, 5th grade

"I am thankful for roller coasters because they are symbolic for life. They are fast and go up and down, taking you where you didn't expect to be…just like life….I'm thankful for everything, good or bad." ~Anne, 5th grade

Music Notes

Playgroup Fun

Youth Calendar

Have a Milestone in your life to share? Have a Milestone in your life to share? Know of an Eliot student living his or her faith? Please contact Joan Casey so that we can share your family's news in REjuvenation!, our children's RE newsletter, and on our RE bulletin board leading into Adams Hall. For More News... To learn more about new families, new babies and other fun things about our families, please pick up a paper issue of REjuvenation!

This newsletter is a product of the Eliot Chapel Religious Education Department. Please direct any articles, comments, or questions to Joan Casey (Religious Education Director) at 314-821-0911 or at . An article must be submitted no later than the 20th of each month to ensure it appearing in the next issue.