Christmas Angels

Christmas is a cheerful time for all in the year. It is a time for everyone to relax, have fun, spread the joy all around to others. This is the time when the arts come out to play and show off their great glory. Drama and theatre are no acceptation to the rule. Many plays have come out to brighten up the spirit of Christmas for all to enjoy. A Christmas Carol and the Nutcracker are just a few famous examples at this time of the year. I have called to work in a children’s Christmas pageant at my church on SJAB called All I Want for Christmas… is Jesus! My job is to help out the children with their lines. Sounds easy, right? Well, that depends on a few qualities: patience, a warm heart, and playful spirit. I am not one to work with kids, but I decided to try it this year anyway.

All I Want for Christmas… is Jesus is a children’s Christmas pageant about a store owner around Christmas time. People are coming in and out of the store buying gifts for their families around Christmas time. The play focuses around a native set. As the basis of typical Christian play goes, the meaning of Christmas will be discovered by the very end. The program is to be presented on Sunday December 14 at six o’clock p.m. at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Chapel. I do not have a playbill just yet, but I have the announcement for volunteers for the program. My job was to help the children with their lines for the pageant. The days for work were on Wednesdays from seven o’clock to eight o’clock in the evenings. Everyone was invited to come and help out. Some will even get to act in the play. Rehearsals were held in the Sunday buildings and the Annex of the church.

As it was stated before, in order to work with children, one has to be kind, patient, and a little bit of a child at heart. Patience is the key with any job dealing with children. Working with child actors is completely different from working with adults. Children do not fully understand the world just yet. Plus, they do not understand the word “no” all of the time. They may be smart for their age, but they are still naïve and do some things that adult do not consider to be bright at all. One has to be firm with them. Otherwise, if the supervisor is laughing when they are trying to call the child back into order, the child will think that the adult is just playing and game with them and not take them seriously for the rest of the production. But then, there are some things that adults will have to let go with children. They cannot be perfect little angels twenty-four seven. Children get tired, restless, or bored too easily. Shouting at them to behave repeatedly does not really do too much then to make the children cry and give oneself a bad headache. But yet, one cannot be too light and playful either. The supervisor as to be both firm yet easy enough for the child to understand and behave easily. To be honest, I never really had the patience for anything that much. But this, I decided to set that aside and help out my church for Christmas.

Another quality to have when working with children is to be kind. Children are the most sensitive beings on the planet. Yelling at them and acting cruel towards, upsets them pretty badly. A person in charge of caring for children does not have to be cheerful and sunny all of the time. But they at least have to be a little bit nicer to them. Now to be honest, everyone cannot be perky and happy all of the time. People do have their bad days. But one must leave them at the door so to speak in order to work around children in general. Plus, children tend to mimic the attitudes and behaviors of their caretakers. If they see them acting in a moody or violent, they will act the same upon anything in their path. It is just the human nature of learning. So it is best to come with a positive attitude and smile to these kids.

The other important quality to have when working with children is a playful spirit. It is natural to have fun when working around children. They are so lively in their youth and very trusting. It is not right to load them down with work and a somber atmosphere. The best way to go is to let the children by children. Motivating them with games is really helpful. Children are more interested in a project if it is fun. Sure, they will grow up and realize that there has to be work that accompanies in enjoyment at times. But, they do not have a strong grasp on reality just yet. Plus working around kids sometimes brings out the inner child within an adult. Not always, but sometimes it happens. It just depends on what kind of person is working with them.

I do not particularly like working with children. But sometimes, I will bite the bullet and help out for Christmas or just to be nice. After all, Christmas is a time to give and spread joy to others. That also including doing something one does not normally enjoy doing.