Children's Classes

Casalecchio di Reno, Italy

Dear Children and parents, 

Again this year we are beginning a new cycle of Children’s Classes and it is a great joy for all of us as we begin to understand how important these classes are for our spiritual growth, our families, our community and of the world.  

The education and classes for children is one of the three portals for which the Baha’i world have a project and a precise plan of work to follow for the next twenty years! 

We are then, at the beginning of a venture which involves us all and is a joy to know that the work and prayers which we share with our children are being done throughout the whole planet and all are following the same principles, the same guidelines, in order to arrive at the unity of humankind and peace in the world. 

Very soon this wonderful guidance will become clearer and clearer and the Baha’i classes become more and more endowed with the structure of a Baha’i School, thus serving as an important institution for our clusters - not only for our children, but for all those who are searching for alternatives and a spiritual education.  We can now propose this new way with the Message of Baha’u’llah. 

Our Children’s Class committee for our cluster has formed a programme, which includes the gradual introduction, of teachers and programmes that have been prepared with such a goal (Study Circles, Lou Helen Courses and Virtues Guide as didactic materials). 

Please find the programme for the Children’s Classes for this year attached to this letter.  We ask both parents and children to study it together and kindly follow it so that a serene atmosphere can be achieved and that all become active participants in this worldwide process, which is so vitally important.  

The committee wishes our children a wonderful year that will produce enthusiasm and joy in the service o four beloved Cause. 

With Baha’i greetings, 

Committee for Children, Bologna

Carla, Sabina, Antonia, Claudia, Igor

Rules of Behaviour for our Children’s

Dear Friends, 

When a foreigner arrives in our town we do all we can to explain our habits and our ways of life to him.  With our children instead, we often believe that they know all the rules of behaviour of our society.  May times it happens that our child says; … "I would have done that but no one explained it to me". 

For this reason one of the first things to be done in a Baha’i Class or in the home or on a trip or with guests, is to explain to our children the ‘ground’ rules’ and those Laws of God which serve as Spiritual Guidance for all humankind. 

The existence of these rules or guidance is to establish stability from which one derives a sense of security: this state of being is created when we know our limits of action and understand our relationship with others. 

If our children know or understand that we will always have the same precise reaction, we thus give to them security and faith and from this faith blossoms the capacity to love. 

Another result of these fundamental rules is that which assists children to acquire:

- The sense of responsibility

- Discipline

- Respect for others 

a) The sense of responsibility derives from the knowledge that every one of us must contribute to the maintaining of order of the group.

b) Discipline is achieved when we follow the rules.

c) Respect for others means courteous behaviour of others towards us and harmony which this principle creates. 

When children feel and see harmony and security, which come from obedience to the rules, they understand the necessity and follow it with joy.  The principles should be few and clear/simple.  If there are too many rules the children will never learn to apply them in any situation, but will lose themselves in the search for an adequate code of behaviour.   

The following are examples of such ‘ground rules’ that can be used in a Baha’i Class: 

a. In this room we walk slowly and speak in a soft voice (this helps eliminate, to a large degree, any disruptive behaviour.)

b. We ask permission to touch the works of others and the materials that are not ours.

c. We use the words ‘thank you’, please’, and ‘excuse me’.

d. When we use any of the materials or objects, we replace them in their proper place.