I remember when I was a little Mexican growing up in Mexico, they had all kinds of stuff for kids. We had a school program on the weekends to help us with our homework. Especially math, since the witness lady was a math teacher. But my younger siblings didn't get to experience that. I thought that was fun. The congregation had a lot of get togethers, like baseball, soccer, or basketball games against other congregations. I remember that they discouraged all that stuff at the meetings, because they didn't want people to go join just because of all the fun we were having after the meeting. That's the excuse they used, and it all went kaput after that. Oh and they stopped making announcements at the meetings about the get togethers because they were told that those activities didn't have anything to do with what was going on at the kh. And that was the end of that.
What about the Children?
by seek2find 14 Replies latest jw friends
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Spectre
I always got the, "you don't have friends? well look what Jeremiah had to go through, how insignificant your problems are compared to what he went through, you'll have forever to do what you want" speech. Oh yeah, and "go pioneer".
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Lady Liberty
Dear Balsam,
I am deeply sadened by the loss of your precious child. I cannot imagine what you and your family have been through. Our hearts go out to you.
Dear Seek2find,
I would drive by certain churches, and see their baseball feild, basketball courts, Sunday schools and think, "Wouldn't it be awesome to have such things for our young ones? After all, wouldn't such things make for a stronger congregation?? " It was rare to ever have a Kingdom Hall get together, let alone play sports together. But on the rare occasion that we did, we had such a good time. And the kids LOVED it!! I think the organization wants to keep you so.. busy with all the meetings, service, and sudy of the LITERATURE, that there is no time for any kind of social life. It prepares the children for life as adults with no pastimes.
I remember going to visit my aunt and her huband who were an elder/pioneer and my daughter was about 4. We went to meeting with them and when we were about to get out of the car, my aunt looks at me and says, "She isn't going to bring that purse in is she? It has some toys in it." I just looked at her in disbelief. My daughter had a little tiny purse, just her size, with a few SMALL items in it to keep her occupied during the meeting. She never gave me any problem because I always made sure she had something to occupy her . Although, I made sure it wasn't distracting or very large. For peace with my aunt, I made my daughter leave it in the car. I always felt bad about that. I know it was a small thing, but I look back with regrets that I was so easily manipulated by guilt especially when I hear stories like the ones posted here.
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sass_my_frass
Aww c'mon, what about the Young People Ask book? "Now that you can read, you must immediately take on adult responsibilities"
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seek2find
To Soapy Dish: I'm glad you have some good memorys of your childhood down in Mexico, I wonder if the atmosphere was different there because of the cultural differences, or if it had something to do with the organizations registerd status as a educational organization rather than a religion. When you have some time could you shed some lite on this for us as someone who actualy lived there. I hear that they didn't sing songs at the Hall. Is that true?
To Lady Liberty: I appreaciated your comments, especialy the part about being easily manipulated. I feel sometimes like my whole life has been lived as a puppet with numerous strings attached. The way I moved and the things I did were dependant on which strings were pulled. seek2find