Church nursery...help

kreeper611 · March 2011

Cooper goes to daycare every day. 99% of the time, he does great. Doesn't cry, goes right to the teachers.

The nursery at church is a different story. He hates it there. We've taken him 4 times and he cries when we leave and is crying when we pick him up. Once he cried the entire hour. Yesterday they said he only cried about 1/2 of the time.

I'm at a loss. I can't keep him in church (he talks too much) but I didn't concentrate yesterday on the service. As soon as we walked into the building he started crying. I know I need to just keep sending him and hope that eventually he'll figure it out and get over it. Tell me that will happen...since we only go once a week I fear that it will take months!

TexasSmith · March 2011

Yes, it will just take time. We started putting DD in the church nursery at probably 3-4 months so she didn't really realize what was going on, but once separation anxiety started a little younger than Cooper is now, it was ROUGH. There was a patch of several weeks (a couple months even, maybe) where she cried, but not for the whole time. It eventually passed and she came to love it. Hopefully he will figure out soon that it is a fun place!

Suzi-G- · March 2011

I'm sure it just takes time, also as he gets older you can explain it to him better. In the past month I've noticed a huge leap in my Cooper's comprehension and it is SO helpful.

I wish I had better advice but the few times we've taken Cooper into the church nursery he cried too. Never mind that he goes to school at the church and his regular teacher works the nursery on Sundays. But it's a different room and different kids so I guess it just didn't feel "right" to him.

ayersfam20 · March 2011

If it were me, I wouldn't push it. Does your church have a cry room? I never put DD or DS in the nursery, I always start out with them in the sanctuary and if they aren't quiet then move to the cry room. (when DD was younger, obvioulsy - now she's fine). I want(ed) them to learn that it is a place to be quiet and be together as a family. We sat in the cry room with DD from about age 1 to 2. Sometimes she'd last the whole service in the church with us, sometimes half. After she turned 2 she had a better understanding that she needed to be quiet. Cherrios and board books helped too.

If that isn't an option or something that you want to do then I would just say he'll get used to it over time. Can you go early and maybe get him involved with a friend or a toy before you leave to go to the service?

lilycat · March 2011

Our approach is to take them with us and handle each Sunday as it comes.

If your son hates the nursery, is it worth it? Or, can you take him to service and leave with him once he gets to be too disruptive?

Sean is young and gets very tired of the whole thing quickly. My husband takes him outside at that point. Each Sunday has different results, but he'll learn to behave eventually. His brother is now mostly an angel in church.

I haven't found an easy answer. I just wanted to offer another option, if your little guy just really hates the nursery.

cali_girl92504 · March 2011

Could it be the volunteers change around so often that he isn't bonded with anyone? At our church, DD gets a little shy unless it is someone she recognizes from before. Her room seems to rotate a lot where as the 0-6 month room has had the same people for decades.

I don't have an answer other than maybe asking if there is a service where the same people are always there? I volunteer in the kindergarten room every other week but there are three people who are there week after week after week so the kids know them pretty well.

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Church nursery...help

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