by Kathy Scherrer, Kid’s Quest Parent

Responsibility. This is the virtue for June and the theme that ran throughout the KIDstuff show that was performed on Sunday, June 6th. As defined for the audience, responsibility is showing you can be trusted with what is expected of you.
Ironically, as a parent and evangelical believer, I was able to demonstrate this virtue for my children before we learned about it at KIDstuff. See, between attending the 10:45 service and coming back to the Loudoun Campus for the 2:00 show, we went over to Costco for some of their delightful (and inexpensive) hot dogs, as well as to get some of our grocery shopping done. While we were eating, one of my five-year old daughter’s friends, Maddy, ran up to our table to greet us. Her family was there for the same reasons.
After a few moments of bouncing around and giggling like little hyenas, the girls asked me if they could have a play date that afternoon. I told them that we had plans at church and just as I was getting ready to say, “but maybe I can talk to your mom about some other time,” I felt a tug that I needed to invite this girl to come with us.
So I obediently asked Maddy if she would like to join us. She was thrilled and began jumping around again. She dragged her mom over to our table and I explained the situation. We ended up agreeing to take Maddy with us when we were done shopping so that we could drop off the refrigerated items at our home and then go straight to church.
We arrived just as the music was getting started. The volume of the music intimidated all of us as we walked in, but Brynn (my daughter) and Maddy soon began bouncing with the beat. They quickly found a place to stand up and dance with the other children up near the front of the stage. It was so adorable to see them interact with each other and with the show. It just seemed so natural for them to be learning about God and what He expects of us.
After the show, it was the girls’ turn to demonstrate responsibility to me. We were enjoying some snacks in one of the corners of the café when Brynn dripped some of her watermelon juice on the table. When we were gathering our plates and napkins for the garbage, Maddy saw the mess Brynn had made and said, “Brynn, you have to clean up your mess and be responsible!” WOW!!! She got the message! I was so thrilled!
We had such a great time together that I asked Maddy and her mother if she could join us for each KIDstuff performance AND for church each week. Both of them were enthusiastic about the offer and this step of faith has encouraged all of my family members to be less fearful about sharing our faith in Jesus with others.
I have to chuckle when I think about how true the KIDstuff tag line truly is: it’s where kids bring their parents to learn. I know I did.