A parent on a tour might ask about opening hours and what to pack, while quietly wondering, \u201cWill my child feel at home here if we don\u2019t go to church?\u201d That question can be hard to ask in a room full of strangers. Educators and service leaders can make it easier by bringing it into the conversation themselves.<\/p>\n
Show families what faith looks like on an ordinary day<\/strong><\/p>\n Walk families through a recent day. When did the children hear a Bible story? What does prayer at lunch sound like? What happened when a child asked a question the educator hadn\u2019t expected? Talk about the parts of the day your service plans intentionally and the conversations that arise naturally. Explain how children are invited to participate and what happens when a child chooses to listen or expresses a different belief. The details help families picture their own child in the room.<\/p>\n Make it easy to talk about what happens at home<\/strong><\/p>\n You could say, \u201cFamilies come to us with different experiences of faith. What would be helpful for you to know about how we share ours?\u201d Give people time to answer. A parent may want to know how you\u2019ll respond if their child says, \u201cWe don\u2019t pray at home.\u201d Another might ask how they\u2019ll hear about the stories or songs their child is learning. Answer plainly, and be clear about the commitments and practices that are central to your service. Families need that information to decide what feels right for them.<\/p>\n Give the child a place in the conversation<\/strong><\/p>\n If a child is on the tour, follow their attention for a moment. They might stop at the block shelf or watch the children outside. Ask what they like doing, give them time to answer in their own way and show them where they might do that here. Ask the family what helps their child feel comfortable somewhere new, then explain what your team can do during the first few visits.<\/p>\n A good tour leaves a family able to describe what their child would experience, who they could talk to and where they still have questions. Give them the name of someone they can come back to after they\u2019ve had time to talk it through at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why a small stack of well-made tees in good cotton outlasts a drawer of throwaways \u2014 what to look for in weight and neckline, and how the right tee earns its place under everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=779"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2437,"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions\/2437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cel.edu.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}