Preparing for Weekends With Lots of Visitors

As we prepare for one of the most highly attended weekends of the year, it is important to pause and make sure we are ready for the new families who walk through our doors. Let’s look at 5 easy ways you can make it a better experience for first time guests.
Be early! Make sure you are in position and have fully prepared for class before parents begin to drop off children. It does not send a very good message when parents have to wait around for a teacher to show up. Be prepared to warmly greet each child.
Be Flexible! Visitors don’t sign up for when they are coming! You may end up with an over-abundance of one age group. You may have to serve somewhere that you weren’t anticipating. While you might be surprised, God is not. Be flexible and willing to serve wherever and however needed.
Engage. Make the most of every opportunity that you have with these kiddos, especially visitors. Work hard to learn more about them and to help them feel at home in the class.
Connect. High attendance days can come and go and it is easy not to connect with anyone. We end up hoping visitors enjoyed it and that you can get to know them when they come back. You can’t connect with everyone, but maybe you could connect well with just one family. Begin praying now for God to help you connect with one family that is new and look for opportunities to connect with them after Easter.
Be safe. In particular, make sure that you are super careful regarding allergies and security. You may have cheerios as a class snack every week until Jesus comes back, but new parents don’t know that. Make sure that you have ways to identify allergies and to alert parents to what their child will eat. Even more important, make sure all checkout procedures are followed stringently so that parents can see how much you value their child’s safety.