New Calling

I was lead into the Primary room after sacrament, which is a room I was barely aware was in the church. I had the same problem the first day I worked at Toys R Us and had to be told that we had a baby section. Having never had kids it was just a part of the building I had never had use for. We walk in and meet our new little wards. Being in charge of the 3-4 year olds the biggest challenge for the first hour of this new ritual I also didn't know existed called "sharing time" is keeping everyone facing forward and paying attention.

Well they told me it was going to happen. I thought they were lying, prayed they were lying, but no, it happened.

We got called to the Primary.

I am now teaching Sunbeams.

When the guy from the bishopric told my wife and I we were being called to the Primary I was so stunned I didn't say anything for a full five minutes. This has honestly been my nightmare for years. I have never thought anyone would think it was a good idea to have me work with children.

Some background: There was a rule growing up that no child was allowed in my house that was younger than my brother, so I never encountered children growing up. My cousins didn't start having babies till I was well out of the house, and my brother was only a couple years younger than me. The only child in my immediate family is my niece Bella, who turned 6 last week, but I've only ever seen her once every few weeks.

I have no experience with children.

Okay maybe that's an extreme. I do have my niece, plus I have plenty of friends who have kids of their own that I've interacted with. I even once watched 4 of my friend's little ones for an entire hour once, but that doesn't really give me street cred to be Mary Poppins. On top of that, I think I attended Primary twice in my childhood, and neither experience left pleasant memories.

For me there's more.

After getting the call I threw up on Facebook that we got the call to Primary, and I received several messages congratulating us and saying how perfect I would be teaching the little kids, their biggest reason being that I'm "A big kid" or "a kid at heart".

What does that mean?

Some even went so far as to say that because I collect toys I can relate to the kids. That one I want to counter point right now. Yes I collect toys, but I don't collect them for the same reason kids do. I do not spend hours creating melodramas with my action figures where the Green Power Ranger joins the Justice League, or have tea parties with my Disney dolls. I collect them, display them, use them in photography, but that doesn't help me relate to kids.

Back to the big kid thing, I know it was said in love and kindness. Nobody suggested that I was emotionally or mentally stunted or that I was immature, at least I hope not. I had to have my wife explain that in her mind it meant that I like having fun, that fun was a core need of mine, which is true. I guess that's something we have in common, yet I can't just sit around and play with the kids all day. They're are boundaries to enforce, lessons to teach, rules to make. As much as I am or am not a big kid, in this situation I have to be the grown up.

Okay, that was last week, now onto the actual meat and potatoes: What's it like to be in Primary? Is it my worst nightmare come true? Well kinda not actually.

After sharing time we moved into our little classroom with our four new students. After some singing, coloring, and a discussion on how we should treat our families, the panic of not knowing what to do with children started to settle down. As the kids went off with their parents, drawings of their families/drawings of their favorite toys/ a drawing I did on one little girl's sheet of a dinosaur eating a train which sent the entire class into hysterical giggles in hand, I realized that I was looking forward to next week and preparing another lesson for these little people. These are people who aren't yet jaded to the world, who talk about princesses and dinosaurs without a sense of irony but as things they truly enjoy, and who see the gospel and the church as a place of safety and comfort, and have yet to been hurt by our cynical
world. I bet good money that these kids probably won't remember me in a few years, I may even have to reintroduce myself next week, but maybe they'll have a feeling that the church is somewhere safe and fun.

Of course this is just the first week...

-JOE