Is Your Club "Out of Contral"?
Are you leaders glad and relieved when the weekly club meeting is
over? Do they express frustration to you as the commoner or to their
director over what has been happening in club? Did some leaders or
clubbers, or both, lose their cool and express anger during the club
meeting time? Was the night one long period of whistle blowing,
five-counts, three-counts and shouting? if you answered yes to the
above, then your Awana club has gotten out of control. You
could try to fix your out of control club by exerting a high degree
of control, scaring or badgering clubbers until they behave. Forget
it. Instead, examine the root causes of your discipline
problems and take reasonable steps to address each one. You may
not be aware of some of the factors contributing to your discipline
problems. Use the following checklist to identify the root
causes of your discipline problems and identify solutions.
- Problem: Club starts late every week. Leaders and
clubbers straggle in, throwing off the schedule for the whole
club night.
Solution: maintain standards which require leadership to
be ready to go 15 minutes prior to the start of club time. See
if transportation or other issues make early arrival difficult.
- Problem: Clubbers arrive early and are unsupervised.
When clubbers arrive early and are not supervised, they tend to
run wild. This make it difficult to settle everyone down and
makes everything in club take more time.
Solution: offer supervised games or activities (such as
Bible word search papers) for early clubbers.
- Problem: The opening ceremony appears sloppy and
unorganized.
Solution: Make sure all leaders know what to do during
the opening ceremony. Their good example will help
clubbers line up, pay attention and participate properly.
Conduct a practice session or "walk-through" early in
the year so everyone knows the opening ceremony routing.
An orderly opening ceremony brings the club under control. It
also sets the tone for the entire club meeting.
- Problem: Clubbers and leaders are negligent in wearing
their uniforms.
Solution: Require leaders to wear proper uniforms (with
awards) every week. The entire achievement and ward system
in Awana is designed around the uniform. If clubbers don't
understand the importance of the uniform, a central feature of
the club program is missing. Always award point to
clubbers who wear their uniforms. Award extra points to the team
with the most clubbers in uniform.
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- Problem: The club meeting is not planned ahead of time.
The game director doesn't have the right equipment, the song
leader forgets to bring the song sheets and the leaders seem
unsure of their duties.
Solution: Control a Prayer and Planning Meeting at lest
once a month. Use these meetings to make sure leaders know
what's happening in club and what their responsibilities
are. Encourage each leader to have a training role book
and to read it thoroughly. Organization and planning keep clubbers/
behavioral problems to a minimum.
- Problem: Transitions between the segments of club are rowdy
and take too much time.
Solution: Establish simple rules for moving from
Handbook Time to Large Group Time, Large Group Time t Game Time,
etc. Don't dismiss clubbers without clear instructions for
orderly movement . Keep the clubbers organized, in teams
and under a leader's direction.
- Problem: The same team wins every week.
Unbalanced teams contribute to poor motivation among clubbers of
opposing teams. One "dream team" could make the
club experience nightmarish for clubbers on other teams.
Solution: Spread out the best athletes and handbook
achievers among the teams and vary games. Reassign
clubbers to others teams if necessary, but use this option
sparingly.
- Problem: points are hard to earn. Clubbers lose
heart and give up.
Solution: Establish a point system that gives every
clubber the opportunity to earn points. Give points for
attendance, bringing dues, bringing Bibles and handbooks,
wearing the uniform, or exemplary behavior during Large Group
Time. The athletes can earn points for their tam during
Game Time. The "brains" can earn point during
Handbook Time. And almost all kids can earn points by
bringing dues, wearing the uniform, bringing their Bibles, trends
and demonstration respectful behavior, etc.
- Problem: Clubbers constantly lose handbooks, awards and
uniforms, costing the club a lot of money to replace them.
Solution: Charge clubbers a fire price for replacement items.
Make parents aware of this policy in advance . This
probably won't eliminate the problem, but it will encourage
clubbers to become more responsible with their personal
property. Conduct periodic uniform inspections and give
points for complete uniforms with award properly
displayed. Awards are less likely to be lost if they're
attached to the uniform. Also have a place for clubbers to
store their Bibles, handbooks and other materials during Game
Time. Use colored baskets, storage containers, or reclosable
bags.
If you address these common causes of discipline problems in
Awana, you'll be well on your way to having a well disciplined club
full of kids who are hearing the gospel, learning the World of God
and having fun in the process.
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