Goodbye Time

Goodbye

This part of the routine usually comes directly after all the excitement of the “Alligator Snap” song, they are probably puffed out and ready to sit down.

I have led rooms that have 27 children in and that would be chaotic if you didn’t have a system. Saying goodbye to 27 little ones is very different than saying goodbye to 8.  With today’s health and safety laws, I think the goodbye and handover to parents has to be as organised as a military operation. Losing a child or handing one to the wrong adult does not bear thinking about.

My routine goes along these lines

-The children sit down in lines facing the door. (the door where the parents will arrive)

-Use this time to hand the children their treasures from the goodbye table

photo shows a busy Good Bye table ready with their take home craft

-When the parent arrives at the door – the child is invited up and if there is time, I ask the whole class to say “goodbye to Laura/John etc. They are allowed to take a goodbye bear and then they leave with their parent.

Stay out!

 

I try to encourage the children to go out to the parent, rather than the parent or adult coming in to the room. Too many parents in the room creates an atmosphere of chaos (remember in a chaotic state, things go wrong and things go missing) and it’s very easy to miss little Johnny escaping or going off with a friend. When the parents of Johnny come to collect him some time later that will be embarrassing if not extremely worrying.  All eyes are on the children at this time and as I say if you have a small group, this is easy, if you have 27 you have to keep an eye on who is leaving at the door with whom. If you have a large group then get all hands on deck at this time, with one at the door, one watching the children, one at the goodbye table to hand out the stuff, as I say military fashion.

Unlike the welcome worm, the goodbye bear is not a bribe it’s all about the love.

It’s not a bribe

These Goodbye bears are easily bought from any supermarket and once again I try and get the smallest ones with the least amount of sugar. I have never ever run a children’s morning anywhere without the goodbye with a bear!

Goodbye Bears

Not my child

Often a parent will be collecting other children from different families, usually family friends and usually a favour to the other parents.  Foyer Church happens directly after church, and often parents get caught up in either prayer or chatting after church.  However, it is so important that parents collect their children and it’s easy for you to show them this importance. 

Don’t hand them to anyone else apart from their parent! If the friend says “Milly’s mum has asked me to collect her too”, then your reply is “that is great, as long as Milly’s mum asked you personally then Milly can go with you.”  If you don’t know of any arrangement then a simple reminder note on the welcome table saying – “If you are not collecting your child, then let us know, we will NOT hand over your child to anyone but YOU.” This is a gentle reminder to the parent of your routine, it’s also something you can refer back to when they say “I thought so and so was collecting my child.”

For safety reasons, you can never hand over a child to someone that you don’t recognise, or, is not the person that dropped the child off. Believe me the parent of a child would rather be questioned if they are the parent than you hand over their child willy nilly.  It proves to that parent that you can be trusted.

I also have a policy that when a 10-13 year old sibling comes to collect their little sister or brother I don’t hand over the child!

Too young for the young

Sounds harsh, I know.  You will find that usually this sibling is too young to even acknowledge your goodbye routine, will force their way into the room, grab a goodbye bear with one hand and their little sister or brother with the other. This is not OK.

I clearly say “Oh tell mummy or daddy that they need to collect Johnny” and I send them away empty handed. (Ok so sometimes not so empty handed I give them a goodbye bear, as after all this is why they took on the task of collecting their sibling). It is so important that children don’t take responsibility for children. If that child doesn’t make it back to Big Church or to their parents, only you, the adult will be responsible and at fault.

This situation rarely happens more than once and the family quickly realises that you put importance in seeing the parent collect their important bundle from you.   Siblings over the age of 13, ie 14 years upwards are, I think, responsible enough to take that bundle directly back to their parents.

As you can tell from this Goodbye Time section and routine, always err on the side of caution.

Caution

Where little treasures are concerned, it is important that you don’t break the trust of the parents that have left them with you. If I don’t know the parents I make it my job to ask if they are Milly or Johnny’s parents before handing over a child.  I may not have been manning the welcome table on arrival and it is perfectly fine to ask who someone is before they take a child, believe me the parent will appreciate your caution rather than thinking its rude to be be asked. 

The parent needs to know how highly you prioritise their child and how you hold the safety of their child as paramount.

Now you don’t have to share the love of a goodbye bear with your adult team, however a hug and a thankyou is so important.

Saying Goodbye to the Team

  See my section on building teams so that you can easily reward them. I make sure that I thank each and everyone of my team, I also try and scurry them away telling them that I will finish washing out the paint pots or putting the craft away as they have usually done more than enough.  Show them your appreciation, as they are so important to you.

You can find more information on this site about building teams and keeping teams, but I always make sure that I spend time texting my team on a Sunday afternoon to “thank them” for their mornings work by text.  I also keep in contact with them during the week prior to the Sunday telling them about the theme and the craft and assuring them I am looking forward to seeing them, because I am!