‘Growing to be God’ Programme in Croatia
‘Growing to be God’ Programme in Croatia
Since the autumn of 2019, a group of five teachers implemented the ‘Growing to be God’ Programme in Croatia. Workshops are held in Zagreb every fortnight. Children and youth are divided in three groups. A fourth group is for parents who share stories about Swami and exchange parenting advice.
The first group is made up of preschool children from age three to six. Teaching this group requires patience and creativity. The teachers have a treasure of stories and games that are related to the topic. Children love stories enabling them to discriminate between good and bad. They can also relate similar experiences to the topic of the workshop. During the past three months the teachers addressed themes of love and peace through drawings and various games. Children are very spontaneous and always complete the tasks. Also, they became independent of their parents, who can then focus on working in their own group during the programme.
In the second group, the nine-year-old children are more attentive. They also love stories and enjoy sharing their own experiences. They need dynamic workshops including more games. Drawing is also used in this group and then some values, which may remain hidden in the conversation and can be pulled out. For example, in the lesson about peace and mindfulness meditation, some of them were truly aware that peace was not a task but their natural state.
A group consisting of teenagers understand and learn by watching. They look for role models to follow. This is why teachers have to provide good examples for them. Teenagers respond better when they are treated like grownups and not children. Nevertheless, they need mature and confident guidance from their teachers for current life experiences. The teachers can learn from the teenagers as well, because they connect things and derive conclusions like adults. Altogether, teachers serve children as role models and the children are their powerful mirrors, so the learning process is mutual!