What I Have Learned Organizing Things For Children
Organizing events for children could be a challenging task, but it doesn’t have to be like that.
Of course, you’re learning a lot when organizing events, especially when it is for children. At least, I do. There are tasks to be done, tasks you have learned to do. Not only tasks but also you think about these events, the way you approach the children and their parents.
You learn the process of organizing for children, you stand in the children’s shoes. You think about what they like to do, how the goals of the events are. And I can give you the list, which is very long, I guess.
I have been an orchestra parent for three years, until last year l. Back then, I also started being one of the members of the jubilee committee of my daughter’s orchestra, the same orchestra I have been an orchestra parent for. With this jubilee committee, we organized concerts, activities and many more for these children and to be seen in the city of Utrecht.
As an orchestra parent, I have learned a lot, but I also learned a lot by organizing these events for these children.
I’m not only organizing for my daughter’s orchestra. Sometimes I help at school too. This year, I will organize the end-year school party with two teachers. We will find a theme the end-year school party will be be held with. I mean, the children and their parents have to dress within this theme as well as we are putting the sphere in the theme. We have to inform the children and their parents about this end-year school party. The children are doing a show, alone or with their class. For that, you have to make a list who is going first and so on.
Sometimes it will be a challenge to organize for those children. Some age groups are difficult and some are not. Actually, all age groups are amazing, but some age groups are somehow challenging. They’re having a strong mind what they want. The age groups between nine and thirteen years old, the members of my daughter’s orchestra, are a bit more challenging for their strong mind. When I was an orchestra member, they thought I was strict and they thought they weren’t allowed to do anything, but I just gave them the boundaries they need; structure and boundaries.
There are a few things that I’ve learned while I organized events for children. I’m honest with you guys, but it was a bit challenging too sometimes, but for sure it was a lot of fun too. I kind of felt a little bit important as well, haha. Things what you do, for them, are things you learned while organizing these events for children. It’s a process I have been through and a process I’m still learning.
When you start organizing an event, you have to get in mind what the age group the event is for and for whom you want to entertain/organize the event. Then you have to get in mind what the goal is of the event, you have to get in mind what your event is about. After mind mapping the age group and goals, you can think about a theme, what you want to do and what you need for that.
And I have learned a lot more. I have learned how to approach children and their parents. I have learned to approach third party organizations to work with us. I made newsletters to inform the parents, I have made appointments with (concert)locations, meetings with the other orchestra parents.
I will learn in the future.
Agnes Laurens is a writer. She writes for the local newspaper. Agnes lives in Bunnik, The Netherlands, with her husband and three daughters. Writing is — aside from playing the violin — one of her passions since childhood. She is on Twitter and Instagram.
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