JPD Meeting Again

After weeks of preparation by the co-ordinators, AKA the mummies of the kids, it is time for the JPD meeting again...

I had fun preparing with the other mummmies in the international group... There are only three of us.. four if we include our leader and it was nice to have daimokukai at each other's houses and brainstorm for ideas that we think might help our kids.. and they are all so sweet.. always preparing nice food afterward and one of them even volunteered to make an invitation card for the kids:)

I found out that most children have the same few questions about chanting like why do we have to chant, what is that paper inside the box.. etc..  But I also found out that most mummies are not sure if their children can understand or can do simple things like gongyo or daimoku for longer stretches.... But well, it was our very first meeting for the international group and we are hoping with more exposure and explanations, the kids will start to understand why they are chanting and be motivated to chant on their own...

We were very lucky to get N to be our MC for the day.. we din want to use the mummies as it will feel different having someone else as MC.. It is diff if the one up there is your mum, isnt it? And N is such a love with kids! He was great!

We started the meeting with Aunty M sharing about why we chant Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.. we used a book called Buddhist Treasures as reference and I think it is a great book tat explains many buddhist things to children...

Ace was mighty pleased to know that he is also a buddha and so proud he wanted to paste the BUDDHA nametag Aunty M gave him at his study desk:)

Next, we planned for the children to do some artwork.. we had intended for them to do a small performance.. they are going to choose a letter from B, R, A, V, E and we will get them to read a small passage about Buddhism related to the letter they have chosen ;) I knew hor if up to his own devices, Ace will surely choose A...

He finished his letter A in record time lor:)

But the meeting was sort of messy as well... cos the children were all over the place.. so difficult to even get them to sit down and take a proper picture:) I think they thought of it as a party cos one of the kids kept asking the parents when are they going to start to play:)

 Finally there is a proper picture:)

At the end of the meeting, they were even given goody bags:) wahahahahahah...But it turned out to be a problem for us as well cos some complained why their bag got this dun have that.. Ace lost his bag and cried and luckily they found it but he still sulked cos his goody bag now had two less sweets...

But other than that,  I must say that the meeting was a resounding success...

During the meeting, after we explained to them why we have to chant nam myo ho ren ge kyo, and afterward, we gave out a chart... for now, we set a very very low goal of just doing sansho twice a day for the next two months (because most of the kids are very young and have only chanted randomly... so the mummies thought it is better to start small). They are also to put in their prayers for chanting... And we told them that they will be rewarded with a present once they complete the chart:) hee hee...

Nice or not.. I was the one who designed the chart.. i so proud of my chanting bear design:) Anyway, to my surprise, Ace was so excited that he actually started off chanting 1-2 minute a day all by himself without me asking him to.. instead of just sansho.. and I never remind him.. he just do by himself...

And then during his one week holidays, he asked if he could do morning gongyo with me and suggested that we chant for 1 hr together.. too bad sanshoshima came to knock on the door and asked if he wanted to go out and play and so he end up just chanting 30 min.. but he has been doing 15-30 min everyday since... :D I am very proud of him...

So what are his prayers?

1. Score 15 house points in a day (so that daddy will buy me a toy)
2. Have the wisdom to finish my homework quickly everyday so that I can go out and play for a longer time with my friends.
3. Mummy have another baby.

Hilarious lor, this boy!

Anyway, as I believe that the earth will be going through a massive transition come 21 Dec 2012, I told Ace that we can help by chanting more.. so we agreed we will chant together for at least 15 min everyday for the world to make a smooth transition and have an easy rebirth...

Because of this, I also started to chant more lah.. hehehe:) I think my momo will be super happy to read this:)

PS: My boy did his first shakabuku and kosen rufu today! He forgot to sansho before he left for school and so he chanted and did his sansho in school and got his ang moh classmate to sansho together with him!:) wahahaahahahahaha....

PPS: Ace already achieved his first prayer.. he recieved 23 house points yesterday in school in one day.

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