The Junior Period
Beginning and End
Only broad and general statements can be made concerning the division lines between the different departments of the Sunday school, especially after the end of the Primary; but the largest factor in deciding when the Junior period begins is the ability on the part of the pupils to read well enough to be able to read in the Bible without too much stumbling. The end of the period is indicated by the beginning of adolescence, and this fixes the Junior period of the normal child as extending over at least three years. The course provides studies for four years.
Characteristics
The general characteristics of the children in this period are marked, differing in many important particulars from those of the period before and still more sharply from those manifested in the adolescent years. There is a reaching out for and a choice of companions differing from the happy-go-lucky way in which the Primary child accepts his neighbors as playmates and a growing tendency to concentration in groups or gangs accompanied by the most intense loyalty to the members of the group. The normal interests which have an important bearing are those in reading, heroes, the forces of nature, and the attainment of results. Intellectually, the child begins to seek for reality. The historic sense develops, and the sense of location both develops and matures during this period. There is a deep regard for authority if rightly administered by one who the child feels has a right to rule over him. Memory is strong and retentive. A deep-seated, though egoistic, sense of justice is apparent. This is preeminently a time when habits are formed and fixed.
There are limitations here, as in every other period. The child is and must be more or less self-centered, because this is a time when he must pay attention to himself and get himself adjusted to the world about him before he can send his energies out in service for others, as will be normal in the next period. The reasoning power is very weak, depending upon sequence rather than causality. The interest in people is altogether in conduct and not at all in character; what a person does is what these children care about, not what he is.
Spiritual Needs
The study of even these few characteristics so briefly stated makes it evident that the children have special spiritual needs; that is, certain phases of the great fundamental truths which underlie all religious teaching will make the strongest appeal and be most helpful at this time. For instance, in God’s relation to us, it is not the Fatherhood of God which will appeal more strongly, but the Kingship of God, his authority, his wisdom, his justice and power; but with this presentation of the majesty of the Creator must be closely associated the thought of God as a daily Companion, as a Saviour from the power of sin, and as the Giver of eternal life and a heavenly home. Our relation to God as subjects of the King, and as dependent upon him for guidance, is linked with the thought of the privilege of cooperating with him in such forms of service as are possible to children, and in such manifestations of love as find natural expression in prayer, praise, and worship.
The Junior in his relation to others must be taught to play fair, to obey those in authority, to cooperate heartily in the duties and joys of the home life, and to champion right causes, whether standing alone or in company with others. The duties the child owes to himself which can best be taught and are most needed in this period are the formation of right personal habits, making right choices, and establishing right conceptions of progress.