How Sunday school and elementary school are different (and the same)

I worked in Christian education for just a couple of years before I had a child of my own. It was remarkable to me how different my work began to look once I was a parent and could better understand the needs and perspective of parents and families within my congregation. 

But it wasn’t until my son was old enough to attend school that I started to understand the behavior of parents and families, especially in relationship to the “formal” education that we offered as a church. 

I spent many Sunday mornings wishing that families would consider the classes we provided at church to have the same importance as the classes at school their child attended Monday through Friday, while at the same time wishing that they would acknowledge and value the differences between the two institutions.