To whom it may concern:

I felt I should tell someone how it went, and what I learned from the
experience of organizing the program. I am proud of how it went and I would
like to make some suggestions for future quarters.

First, an outline of what we did. After Family Worship, we gathered with
parents and children for introductions and to run through the plan for the
day. The middle school group split off and was run by Susan Gore. You'd
have to ask her for a report on their activities. The baby spent most of
the day in the "quiet room", although older children wandered in and out of
it over the course of the day.

For the first hour, we had 11 children, age 1-9. They made rattly
noisemakers and signs to take on the peace march - even the ones who were
not going. After our snack, we had planned to go downstairs and have some
more active games. But the plenary session didn't break for interest
groups, so we played a couple of games right in our small upstairs room. We
went down for lunch right at noon, although the plenary still wasn't
finished. The older kids and their parents left for the march at 11 and few
more went right after eating lunch.

After lunch, the children, now 1-5 year olds, had free play time. We played
with legos and in a tent and some of the other toys in the quiet room.
Three younger teen boys joined us when they returned from the march. They
worked with the legos and helped pass out the afternoon snack. After snack,
we had another circle time. The children ages 3-6, 3 teens, and the adults
who had been on the march this morning (or the one in October) shared what
they liked and didn't like about the march. We talked for a little while
about why there are peace marches in general, why this one today and why
Quakers are involved. We wrote our epistle using the information from this
discussion. (See below.) Then some of them went back to their legos and
some painted a mural with watercolor pictures of peace.(see Susanne's
picture)

Our last main activity was making a balloon sculpture of a giant peace
sign. The kids and adults learned how to join the balloons and each added a
piece. Then the volunteers who are experts at balloon figures, made
animals, hats, etc for the the kids to play with. At about 4:00, I had to
ask the teens to go back to the teen program, because they had become bored
with our project and were starting to wander in and out and disrupt the
younger kids. (One of the older teen girls was really helpful to me at that
point.)

At 4:25, as scheduled, we went downstairs to present our work to the
plenary. As we waited in the lobby, we sang a few songs, played a couple of
games, drank juice boxes, and rehearsed our presentation until we finally
got to go in a little before 5:00. After our presentation, we went back
upstairs for a little more food and playtime until parents were able to
take their kids home.

Children's Epistle:
   To Friends everywhere:
      Today, some of us went on a march. We liked our signs and our
shakers. We liked being together. We like love. We didn't like walking so
far and some of the signs. We went for peace and to help the people of
Iraq.
   In peace, the Children of College Park Quarterly Meeting (Quakers)
The following are my personal reflections.

I'm proud that as the circumstances changed, in the week before the
meeting, and all during the day, we were able to be flexible and adapt the
program to fit the schedule and the children and the space. I think we
managed to have a Quaker religious curriculum that fit a wide age range in
a short time span.

I think the children had a good time and they learned something.I think the
adults who were involved also had a good time, worked well together and
with the children. We were very familiar with the space and the materials
available on site. Most of the children were from San Francisco Meeting,
which made it easier for the staff - all adults from SFFM, mostly our CRE
committee and our regular paid childcare worker, since we knew most of the
kids pretty well. It was also a bonding experience for our First Day School
program.

The balloon sculpture was a real positive energy boost at the end of the
day, and introduced a new set of toys right when we needed it.

I think that the boys, 11-14, who came into our program and said they were
bored with the teen program because of too much talking show the need for a
middle school program with a middle balance of business and playful
activities.

It is really hard to plan anything meaningful when you don't know who or
how many children are coming. Perhaps there could be a way for people to
RSVP if they are thinking about bringing children to winter Quarter, even
if they don't have to pay or definitely register in advance.

At the registration desk, children's registration/medical forms could be
proactively offered to people with children. At the beginning of the
children's program, it would really be useful for ALL parents or sponsors
to accompany their child to the program so that the adults and children all
understand the plan for the day and we can be sure that the
registration/medical forms are all filled out and signed. (Some parents
left for the march before they signed a form or knew what their children
were doing/when the program was ending).

At some point in the day, someone from the CRE committee (who is not
working that day) or M&O should check in with the program staff to see how
they are doing, much like this service is provided to the Clerk.

I think there should be a concious effort to grow the children's program:
to provide meaningful spiritual experiences as well as social
opportunities, and to achieve a critical mass at each age level.

The program can not be run just by parents - it has to be another kind of
ministry and oversight committee - needs some of the most talented people
in CPQM to pull it together. Parents need to be valued for other
contributions as well, but we can't if there's no children's committee.

Autumn Edgar's father told me that she is willing to work again at the
Spring Quarterly Meeting.

The Quarterly Meeting children's materials arrived too late for us to plan
to do stuff with them, but they are now in the basement of SFFM
meetinghouse. I added a box of 1000 legos, and another Friend donated some
wide flat bases and several sets of wheels to the crate. It would help to
have a half dozen or so cafeteria trays.  This was very popular with the
kids, 4-14, and several adults, especially boys and men.A member of the PYM
children's program suggested that this is a good opportunity for an adult
to play with the children and to take advantage of the teachable moments
around weapons and conflict resolution.


Yours truly,
Robin Mohr
Clerk, children's religious education committee,
San Francisco Friends Meeting