Written by Ashleigh Bryan, assistant to Karla Stinson, Director of Adventure Avenue

I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVE the rock bands from the 80’s. Journey, Def Lepperd, Styx, Queen…the legends. So when I found out that we were doing a “Kids Rock” theme in Adventure Avenue all summer long, to say I was excited is a bit of an understatement.
Oh, by the way, HAPPY SUMMER!!! There’s just something about summer that, no matter how old you are, brings about a sense of freedom, and fun, and relaxation, annnnd…boredom. Oh, yeah. There’s a lot of that, too. For many of you parents, you are reveling in the newfound freedom of no more homework folders to sign, no more crumpled up drawings to stick on the fridge, YOU. ARE. FREE.

For about a week. Then, without fail, the kids will come to you and say, without a doubt the most famous saying in all of summer history, “I’M BORED.”

Wait a minute…what?! Just last week your kids had a list a mile long of things they wanted to do this summer and were getting along so nicely. But now they’ve succumbed to the mind-numbing hypnosis of the television, the allure of video games, and they’ve become even more creative in the topics of their fights.

Let’s face it—as much as we love summer, it does disrupt the routine. Nights get longer, mornings get later, and eventually, somewhere around mid-July, you’re the parent who lets their kid eat ice cream for breakfast because WHO CARES ANYMORE?!

It’s no different for preschoolers. All school year long, they have a routine. Either they are going to school or daycare, or they are used to their older siblings being gone, and then summer comes. Suddenly, they might be home for the whole day without seeing their friends and there’s this other person in their home, also there all day long, just brimming with ideas to make them mad.

Sometimes it can seem like our kids are just that…kids. It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that someday, when they’re older, they’ll do something great. It’s even something parents often dream about—what will my kid be when they’re older? What will they accomplish? What will they be known for?

But, here in KidzWorld, we believe that kids can do great things right now. Even preschoolers! Which is why all summer long, we are dedicating our weekends to stories from the Bible about kids who rocked by doing what God wanted them to do. We believe kids ROCK! And so does God.

Which can be hard to believe when your kids are running around the yard covered in dirt and screaming their heads off. (It’s okay, you can admit it!) But our memory verse this month is “God made us to do good works,” Ephesians 2:10.

There’s no “when you grow up” or “when you’re older” after that verse. We were made to do good works. Period. No matter how old you are. So that means that, yep, your little three year old with chocolate dribbling down her face? Made to do good works. Your five year old who never stops asking why? Made to do good works. Your two year old who just can’t seem to master the idea of potty training? Made to do good works.

All summer long we’ll be introducing your preschoolers to other kids in the Bible who did great things for God, from Jesus teaching in the temple, to David and Goliath, to Miriam watching out for her little brother, Moses.

And to help you out with that summer boredom, we have a great thing for you to do with your kids. We believe that they were made to do good things, so we have a “Do Good Challenge” for them. It’s simply a piece of paper with rows of smiley faces on them. Each time they “do good,” encourage them to color in a smiley face. Once an entire row is complete, you can celebrate as a family. Hopefully it will keep them busy all summer long thinking of all the things they can “do good.”

We will also have some collector cards each week with the kid from the Bible story we talked about that weekend. They can grab the new one each weekend to help remind them that, even though they’re kids, they were made to do great things and God knows that kids ROCK!

It’s going to be an AWESOME summer in Adventure Avenue and we can’t wait to see you there!

And for those of you parents who are already struggling with the summertime blues? All I can say is…61 days until September! GOOD LUCK!