Childhood friendships at risk reveals new survey

Children's freedom to play out with their friends is being curtailed by adult anxiety about the modern world, a survey published by The Children's Society on  Tuesday 5 June reveals.
The survey shows that anxiety about playing out unsupervised means that adults are denying today's children the freedom to spend time with friends that they once enjoyed themselves. When asked the best age for children to be allowed out with friends unsupervised most respondents (43 per cent) said aged 14 or over, despite the fact that most of them had been allowed out without an adult at the much younger age of 10 or under. Respondents over the age of 60 went even further, with 22 per cent saying children should be over 16 before going out alone.
Interestingly, the survey also revealed that early friendships last a lifetime with 69 per cent of respondents saying they are still in touch with at least one childhood friend.
The survey, conducted by GfK NOP, is the first in a series called Reflections on Childhood being commissioned by The Children's Society as part of its Good Childhood Inquiry.
'Children have told us loud and clear that friendship matters and yet this is an area in which we appear to be failing them. As a society we are in a real quandary; on the one hand we want freedom for our children but on the other we are becoming increasingly frightened to let them out,' said Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of The Children's Society.
'All the research shows that spending time with friends is fundamental to children's wellbeing and development which means it is crucial that we resolve this contradiction. The Good Childhood Inquiry allows us the opportunity to do so by rethinking the kind of lives that we want to create for our children.'
The topic of friends is the first of six key themes to be considered by The Children's Society's Good Childhood Inquiry. A summary of the evidence about friendship submitted to the inquiry by the public, adults and professionals can be downloaded from www.goodchildhood.org.uk.
Over the next twelve months the inquiry will hold meetings on the remaining themes of family, health, learning, lifestyle and values before reporting its final conclusions in late 2008.

Coming soon from MethodistChildren

This month sees the publication of two major pieces of work from MethodistChildren for the Methodist Church and beyond.

Firstly comes Peacebuilders, an innovative project we have developed in partnership with Pilots and the United Reformed Church as well as friends in India. The Peacebuilders Resource book will enable a children's group to become peacebuilders in their own communities. The book offers ideas for activities, games, crafts, bible exploration, and some very exciting ways to learn about where you live. This first book will be followed by a second Worship book early in 2008. Support material will be available from mph in the form of badges and stickers to help your group become fully fledged Peacebuilders.

Our second new resource is a step on from the Journey we produced last year. Responding to many requests for some type of handbook that can be issue to children's workers and those with responsibility for children's work, MethodistChildren has been working hard to bring you Children's Ministry: a practical guide which offers advice for children's work. This resource will be an invaluable addition to any church and hopefully contribute to children's work in many places.

Both these resources will be sent to every Minister, Deacon, and Lay Worker within the Connexion after Conference. Extra copies will be obtainable from mph www.mph.org.uk.

Extended Schools

Extended Schools is a key part of the government's Every Child Matters programme. In a bid to ensure that all our churches are informed about Extended Schools we have been working with CGMC (Consultative Group on Ministry among Children) to produce an information leaflet for churches about this issue.
The leaflet, entitled Every Church Matters, is now available for distribution and download. One copy of the leaflet will be included in the upcoming MethodistChildren mailing to Ministers, Deacons, and Lay Workers.
You can download the leaflet by visiting www.cgmcontheweb.com or of you would like a hard copy then please contact us at children@methodistchurch.org.uk and we would be delighted to send you some!

JMA news

Great news! JMA groups and their supporters responded with enthusiasm to the Bangladesh Challenge. Over £4,300 has been raised to support the training of young people in Bangladesh so that they can in turn support their families. Events varied from the ever popular cake and coffee event to sponsored bouncing, ‘glitz’ evening, selling stickers representing a brick and running a quiz night. We were impressed with the imagination and enthusiasm of the groups.

JMA Secretaries should have received the order form for 2007 awards materials with the April edition of Rainbow and FUN. Please let us know if you are a JMA Secretary who did not receive the form or if it has been mislaid. Some of this year’s new resources are already at MPH and the rest will be shortly.

New this year in response to requests is a powerpoint presentation for use in JMA focussed events. It is downloadable from the JMA downloads section of the MethodistChildren website.

If you are sending donations to JMA, could you please ensure cheques are payable to MCFWM. The banks have tightened up on procedures, and any cheques payable to JMA have to be returned for amendment.

Resources & a giveaway prize!

We recently heard Rob Parsons speaking at a local Methodist/URC Church and he was leading on the topic of his new book, Teenagers! What every parent has to know! If you have never heard Rob speak then you should! He is a very engaging and passionate speaker and a lot of what he was saying, although primarily directed at parents, was very useful for all of us working with children in the church. You can read about his new book at the Care for the Family site.

No Means No by Kathy Lee
This is a follow up to No Angel ; the book follows the life of Emma a thirteen year old who is fed up of being the daughter of the Vicar. It explores Emma’s thoughts, feelings and the challenges she faces.

What happens when you couldn't care less about church ? What happens when parties, boyfriends and even fame come knocking at your door? This is all part of Emma's journey. The story applies the Ten Commandments and the Parable of The Lost Son in a Contemporary way. Suitable for 11-14s

Scripture Union ISBN9781844272532 £4.99

Anthony Greenfinger's Apple Disaster by Alexander Brown
Apple Disaster helps 5-7s explore Matthew 7:15–20 in an imaginative and fun way and encourages them to think about how they can grow 'good' fruit in their own lives. The illustrations are fantastic and the rhyme very amusing. Jesus' story of the tree and its fruit retold with rhyme and humour.

Scripture Union ISBN9781844272624 £3.99

Brilliant Bones by Alexander Brown
Harriet Jones is bone-collecting mad, but when she hears about the best bones in the world, she sells everything she has to buy them! The parable of the treasure in the field is retold in a fun and imaginative way. Same great illustrations and humourous rhyme. Suitable for  5-7yrs

Scripture Union ISBN978184427263 £3.99

Assemblies for Autumn Festivals
Suitable for KS1-2
This book  is packed with tried-and-tested assembly ideas for the first term of the school year. It is also suitable for use in your church group setting. The book is well laid out and easy to use with different styles and options of presentation suggested, from interactive storytelling and drama to music and visual aids. There is also the added bonus of extension material to integrate the assembly with teaching aims, plus worksheets available online to download and print off from the brf website .
www.barnabasinschools.org.uk  The four themes of Harvest, Saints, Remembrance and Advent each have at least two assemblies to choose from.

BRF Barnabas ISBN9781841014593 £7.99

Famous Prayers Unpacked
Suitable for KS2

This book is made up of twenty six  five minute stories. Each of these enjoyable tales has been devised to entertain children in the 6-10 age range.
The stories explore and unpack the phrases of two famous prayers: The Lord's Prayer and St Francis' prayer of peace. Alongside each story, there is a suggestion for an appropriate Bible link and thought-provoking follow-up material. The book is easy to use and explores these well known prayers in a relevant and contemporary way.

BRF Barnabas ISBN9781841013930 £7.99

Always in Rehearsal - the practice of worship and the presence of children
You may remember us mentioning this wonderful book by our friend from the States, Jim Ritchie. We recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Jim and listening to him talking about children and worship. This book is packed full of little gems of ideas and will stretch your mind! We have five copies of Jim's book left and we thought it would be good to offer them to you, our loyal readers!

Instead of answering a question we would like you to send us a paragraph telling us about the best worship experience you have had with children. We will then select the five most innovative replies and send you the book as well as publishing the results in next month's e-news!

Send your worship stories to children@methodistchurch.org.uk!

Disabled Children's Review

'Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for Families' - has been launched. The report sets out the key elements of the £340 million funding package for disabled children, which includes:

- a specific grant of £280m to deliver a step change in the provision of short breaks
- £35m to pilot accessible childcare
- £19m for a Transition Support Programme, modelled on the Early Support programme but focussed on young disabled people in transition to adulthood
- £5m to help more parents get involved in shaping services at a local level, including through parents forums.

To download 'Aiming high for disabled children' and find out more go to:
http://www.edcm.org.uk/aiminghigh

Latest news from Friends and Heroes

The first two UK DVDs of the series, one containing the chart-topping first two episodes, and the other the thrilling third episode in which Macky and the gang sink a huge Roman ship are available exclusively direct from the Friends and Heroes website: www.friendsandheroes.com. The DVDs include full-audio descriptions for the blind and subtitles for the deaf & hard of hearing, community language subtitles plus a number of exciting extras.

You can get Episode 3 completely free by joining their Friends and Heroes DVD Club - just click here to sign-up and get a discount of £2.50 on every other DVD too! You can't buy DVD 2, containing Episode 3, on-line or in the stores - it is only available to regular purchasers!

Kids' Website - Fun for all the family!
If your family hasn't found their new website for children yet you don't know what you are missing! There's puzzles, video clips, great downloads, character info and even an opportunity to chat to Macky and Portia. Just click here to join in the fun!

A Good Childhood? at St Paul's Cathedral

We live in a time of dramatic social and economic change. Our lives are increasingly influenced by global market forces, digital technology, the communications revolution and new patterns of work. How are these changes affecting children? A Good Childhood? explores what it’s like to be growing up in the UK in the 21st century – and the likely consequences for adulthood.

A Good Childhood? is about the world we live in now and the future we are shaping. The series brings together voices from education, religion, advertising, politics, medicine, psychology and the arts to share insights and expertise, and to consider the nature of childhood today and its legacy for the future.

The programme is delivered by St Paul’s Institute in partnership with The Children’s Society, who are managing The Good Childhood Inquiry, the UK’s first independent inquiry into childhood.

KEYNOTE EVENTS:
Admission to keynote events is free and unticketed, and admission is on a first come, first served basis. Events start at 6.30pm. Doors open at 6.00pm.

If you require any further information please contact us on children@methodistchurch.org.uk 

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MethodistChildren