Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Clinton and I am going to be leading you through your learning today.

I'm so glad that you've chosen to come and do this lesson with me.

We are going to have a great time in our learning today.

Today's lesson is called welcoming a new child with or without God, and it's from the unit, New life, how is a new child welcomed? By the end of today's lesson, we will be able to explain that families might welcome children in many different ways.

We have four key words to help us in our lesson today, and we're going to do, I say, you say.

So let's get going.

I say welcome.

You say.

I say Welcome.

You say.

And welcome is to show you are happy to see someone.

I say celebration, You say.

I say celebration.

You say.

Celebration is a way of marking a happy day or an event.

I say ceremony.

You say.

I say ceremony.

You say.

And a ceremony is an event to celebrate a special occasion.

And our last one for today, I say tradition.

You say.

I say tradition.

You say.

And a tradition is a way of doing something that has existed for a long time.

We have got two learning cycles.

Number one, how do people welcome a new family member? And number two, how do people find the right ceremony for them? And we are going to first of all start with how do people welcome a new family member? Are you ready? Let's get going with our learning.

Now we've got two pictures here.

You might remember or recognise them.

If not, I wonder if you know what might be happening in these pictures.

You might want to pause for a moment and discuss it with the person next to you.

In the pictures, I think I can see some families, both of them seem to have a little baby or a little child with them.

In one of them I can see some water being poured.

It looks like it's over the child's head.

And in the other one I can see that the man is speaking into a microphone.

Hmm, I wonder what's going on here.

Now a new family member is welcomed in lots of different ways.

Some Christians will have an infant baptism ceremony, whilst others will have a dedication ceremony to welcome a new baby.

Did you recognise those pictures? Yes, one of them is showing an infant baptism ceremony and the other is happening at a dedication ceremony.

So both of these are happening in different churches in different ways, but both to welcome a new baby.

I have a question for you to think about.

Is it true or false? All Christians have an infant baptism ceremony.

Is that true or false? You might want to pause this video while you talk about this with a partner.

Let's find out the answer.

Was it true or false? What did you think? It's false.

Christians have different ceremonies to welcome a child.

Some may have an infant baptism ceremony while others have a dedication ceremony.

Well done if you got that right.

That's brilliant.

Some humanists have a naming ceremony for a new baby.

This is a special ceremony to welcome the baby into their family.

The parents and their family will make promises about how they want to bring the baby up, based on their beliefs.

And here's Diane and Alan with Baby Amy.

They are humanists and they had a special naming ceremony.

Some people decide as a family to foster a child or children to give them a safe, stable family home.

They welcome them into their homes.

And this is a picture of Sharon.

And Sharon is a foster parent.

Some children are fostered by a family for a short time and others for a whole lifetime.

I have a question for you.

Is it true or false? Only people who believe in God have special ceremonies to welcome a baby.

Is that true or false? You might like to pause this video so that you can talk about your answer with a partner.

Shall we check if you got the answer right? Can you show me with your thumbs? Did you think that was true or false? Show me with your thumbs your answer.

Was it true or false? It was false.

Well done if you got that right.

Because humanists who don't believe in God have a special naming ceremony to welcome a baby, like Diane and Alan had for baby Amy.

I have a task for you now.

Lucas is wondering how a family might welcome a new baby.

Sam tells him that Christian families might have a special ceremony called an infant baptism.

Can you tell Lucas two more ways a family might welcome a new baby? You might want to pause this video so that you can think about this question and its answers with a partner.

You might like to draw or write down your answers.

Let's have a look at what your answers could be for this question.

So some of the ways a family might welcome a new baby are they might go to church and have a dedication ceremony, they might ha choose to have a humanist naming ceremony, they might open up their home to a baby or a child who doesn't have a family, that's being a foster parent or a foster family.

And they might thank God for the new baby's life.

They might make promises about how they will help the baby grow up.

Now if you've got any of these answers, really well done, but you might have some things that I haven't got on my list.

The next part of our lesson is part two and we are going to look at how do people find the right ceremony for them.

Many families follow different traditions of how they welcome a new baby.

A tradition is a way of doing something that has existed for a long time.

Do you have any family traditions in your family? I'm going to ask if you pause the video now and then you've got some space and some time to talk in small groups or with the person next to you.

Welcome back.

I wonder what came up in your discussions.

There can be all sorts of different traditions that happen when a new baby is welcomed.

In my family, we often pass on particular clothes that different babies have worn.

So when my children were born, my parents passed on some clothes that I had and my brothers had when they were born and we used those.

Also in my family, there's a tradition to give a gift of something silver to a new baby.

So when I had my children, they got silver spoons and silver ornaments.

We have a little silver squirrel and they also had some silver money boxes, places where they could put their pocket money.

And that's a tradition in my family.

Here's Rafi.

Rafi's family is Jewish and Rafi is going to tell us how his family welcomed his baby sister.

He says, "In my family, we took my new baby sister to our synagogue to thank God for her." And a synagogue is a place where Jewish people go together to meet, to talk, to pray, and to have special services.

"Our rabbi Jordan", that's the Jewish leader at a synagogue, "My Jewish leader and teacher, said a special blessing over my baby sister." So a special prayer was said over her.

So that's how a Jewish family welcomed a new baby.

In a Muslim family, it is a tradition for a new baby to have the call to prayer and a command to worship God, Allah, whispered in their ear.

Here's Ahmed and he says, "In my family, we took a tiny amount of honey and placed on my baby sister's tongue.

It's a way of praying that their life will be sweet and always good." I like honey, I don't know about you.

It's definitely sweet, so I can see how that could be a nice tradition that people do.

Let's check our understanding.

What does some Muslim families put on a baby's tongue when they're first born? Is it A, some honey, B, some milk, or C, some carrot? You might like to pause this video while you talk with a partner about which you think is the correct answer.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look and see what the correct answer is.

It's A, some honey.

Some Muslim families will put honey on a baby's tongue.

Can you remember why? Takes a little bit of thinking.

I think I remember why.

It's so that the baby's life will be sweet.

They want the baby to have a good life.

Well done if you got that correct In a Hindu family, it's a tradition that the first visit a baby goes on outside the home is to a Hindu temple or Mandir.

At the temple or Mandir, the baby is blessed by the priest.

Here's Kavita and she is a Hindu person.

And she says, "The first place I was taken to outside of my family home was my local temple or Mandir.

I was prayed over by the priest to ask God for a good life." Let's have a look now at a Buddhist family and what happens there.

In a Buddhist family, it's a tradition that the main ceremony for a baby happens when it's one month old.

Often the baby is taken to the Buddhist temple and then its head is shaved, so the hair is taken off the baby and the baby is given its name.

Oh, that sounds very special.

I wonder if there's lots of people who go and gather family and friends together for this.

So here's Roshan and he's Buddhist and he says, "The first place I was taken to outside of my family home was my local temple.", his Buddhist temple.

And "A blessing was said over me by the priest for a good life." Often that priest will be a monk and it could be a man or a woman who are dedicating their life to the Buddhist teaching.

They live at often the temple.

And if that's true, sometimes those temples are called Viharas.

Let's find out what happens in a Sikhi family.

It's the tradition in a Sikhi family that as soon as a baby is born, someone will repeat some special words from the Sikh holy book, called the Mool Mantar.

It tells Sikhs who God is.

So the first words the baby hears is about God.

Here's Ria and she follows the Sikhi worldview.

She tells us, "When my baby brother was born, my dad said the Mool Mantar in his ear.

So the first words he heard was about God." that God is one and that God is truth and that we should follow him.

I've got a question for you.

Is this true or false? A baby is often taken to a place of worship to be blessed if a family has a religious worldview.

Do you think that's true or false? You might like to pause the video so that you can talk about your idea, whether it's true or false, to the person sat next to you.

Let's have a look at the answer.

Is it true or false? I'm wondering, did you get it right? It's true.

Well done if you saw that that was the right answer, a baby could be taken to a church or a mosque, a temple, a gudwara or a synagogue.

Lots of different places that a baby can be taken to.

But yes, often families who believe in God will take the baby to their place of worship for a prayer, a ceremony, or a blessing to be said over them.

People welcome a new child in lots of different ways.

Each family will find the right way for them.

Some of them will have ceremonies to celebrate the new baby's arrival.

And these might be traditional, a tradition to do.

Other families will create their own way to welcome and celebrate a new baby joining their family.

And this might happen at their home.

It might happen in a local park or at a hall.

And they might write their own words, their own thanks, their own ideas that they wanna celebrate and welcome a new baby's arrival.

I wonder if you can remember the name of any of the people who are below.

So we've got Roshan and he is on your left and then Diane and Alan with Baby Amy.

Then we've got Rafi who has a Jewish worldview.

Then we've got Kavita, who's got a Hindu worldview.

Then we've got Ria who has a Sikhi worldview.

And then we have Ahmed who has a Muslim worldview.

Lots of different people, lots of different families doing things in lots of different ways.

So I have a task for you now.

Which explanation do you think is correct and why? Is it Izzy's? "Everyone welcomes a new baby in the same way." Is it Andy? "Only religious people have special ways of welcoming a new baby through ceremonies".

Or is it Laura? "Everyone welcomes a new baby in different ways according to their family traditions." I'd like you to pause this video and you then you can talk to the person next to you which explanation is correct and can you explain why it's correct? Even better if you can give some examples to illustrate your answer.

Shall we have a look at the answer now? And Laura's explanation was the correct one.

"Everyone welcomes a new baby in different ways, according to their family traditions." So a humanist family welcomes a baby in a different way to a Christian family.

A humanist family has a naming ceremony.

A Christian family might have an infant baptism or a dedication ceremony.

And some people create their own way to welcome and celebrate a new baby that doesn't involve God, it doesn't involve necessarily a place of worship or set prayers, they might make up their own meaningful welcome.

Well done if you got any of those ideas in your answer.

That's really good work.

I'm so pleased at that fantastic thinking and discussion and listening that you've done.

So in our lesson today, welcoming a new family member with or without God.

We've thought about and learned about people welcome new family members in different ways.

In fact, lots of different ways.

Some families choose to write their own promises and ceremonies to welcome a new baby and some families will use a religious ceremony to welcome a new baby.

Most families celebrate the birth of a new baby.

I hope you've enjoyed our lesson and that you've enjoyed finding out about all these different people, all their different beliefs, as well as how they welcome new babies.

I found it really interesting seeing what's similar and different between all of those people.

Our lesson has come to an ends now, so bye from me.