I read a recent tweet from another children’s minister professional who said he finds himself planning activities for 5th-6th graders that were once planned for high school students. I teach early childhood students ages 3-5 and they are doing activities and learning assignments that used to be accomplished in K-1st grades.
It is amazing how much children are growing older and how young they are in their thinking processes and at what ages they are when they reach certain lifestyle milestones. This is true for their physical attributes as well, causing young children (especially girls) to mature faster and experience adult physical conditions and characteristics.
Here is a recent article explaining how children are younger and younger when they begin to reach their puberty years. Researchers have linked many reasons to these younger years but here is the most recent reason:
“The biggest culprit seems to be the super-sized American diet. The rate of obesity in children ages 2 to 11 has nearly tripled over the last few decades. Fat cells produce estrogen, as well as the hormone leptin, which can stimulate the release of the hormones that trigger puberty. Girls who are overweight also produce excess insulin (a hormone that helps the body use starches and sugars from food for energy), which can stimulate the ovaries and adrenal glands to release more sex hormones. A 2003 study found that nearly 60 percent of girls with precocious puberty were overweight.”
Click here for the full article.
Facts like this greatly change the children’s ministry thinking. Not only must we change our ideas and thoughts on activities for early childhood and elementary students, we must change how we think about fun activities and summer camps. Elementary students must almost be thought of as youth when it comes to camps, etc.
