Why I Am Not a Children's Minister

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I get along okay with kids, I guess. I'm sure some of our church kids find me amusing. Others probably see me as the "preacher" man. For all I know, some may be terrified of me. I do work hard to learn children's names, but I admit that I don't always get them all.

Over the last couple days, I spent some serious time with 11- and 12-year-old kids. My mission? Chaperone the 6th-graders on their outdoor learning trip in the mountains above Sonora -- old gold country.

83 kids. 4 teachers. 14 parent chaperones. We signed up for this. Even paid for the honor. $171 per child and chaperone. That's a chunk of change that we weren't planning to spend. Clovis schools definitely have this way of constantly sticking it to you in one way or another -- anything for the kids, I guess the theory goes.

The teachers sat mostly together at meals and slept in special cabins. The parents were the ones who had to keep the kids in line. We slept with the kids in the bunk rooms. We ate with the kids. We rode 3 to a bench in the school bus with them, 3 hours up & 3 hours back. Fun, fun.

Going into the trip, most of us knew only our own kids and a few of their friends. But now they are supposed to jump when we snap, even though we have no authority and no quick means of punishing them.

By Thursday, everything was actually going pretty well. One kid got sent home for misbehavior. The boys got yelled at by their teachers for not obeying the chaperones after the lights went out. And the kids were starting to get tired. So they were much more pliable and obedient Thursday night at bedtime.

I can't say that I "enjoyed" the trip, but it was a blessing. I got to know some good folks. I was impressed overall with the quality of these young people. And I enjoyed some neat experiences with the kids as they learned about nature and the universe. This program is first-class, and I am pleased to have survived it with my son.

Why did I go? Simply put, Julie made me. I had to use my final two vacation days to go. And I got very little sleep. As usual, though, she was right. It was a good trip.

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