Discipline Tips

Is Your Club
Are you leaders glad and relieved when the weekly club over? Do they express frustration to you as the commoner director over what has been happening in club? Did some clubbers, or both, lose their cool and express anger during 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 club night.

Solution: maintain standards which require leadership be ready to go 15 minutes prior to the start of club if transportation or other issues make early arrival

Problem: Clubbers arrive early and are unsupervised. When clubbers arrive early and are not supervised, they run wild. This make it difficult to settle everyone down and makes everything in club take more time.

Solution: offer supervised games or activities 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.

　

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 full of kids who are hearing the gospel, learning the World and having fun in the process.