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little ones and church
Do you go to church? If so, do you take the kiddo? Or do they go to the nursery?
Also do they go to Sunday School?
I am struggling with wanting to find a church to go to so that E will have a place to go. But as we don't go to one regularly, I am not comfortable sending him to the nursery or sunday school when we go. And it is HARD to keep him entertained during the service.
Thanks!
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Re: little ones and church
I've always taken Addie to sit with me, at that age though we sat in the cry room, I'm not sure if you have that available. I would bring a bottle, but no snacks. I also brought books that had to do with the bible (board books about noah, veggie tales etc.) as she got older I'd bring bible sticker books and now up to coloring books. At her age now they offer children's liturgy so she goes for part of the service. For a long time she didn't want to and preferred to sit with me in church.
I think it's all about the repeatativeness of it. They'll get used to anything and learn how to behave. DD was always pretty good but one of my nephews used to freak out anytime they sang at church (so 5 times a service?!?). My sister kept going and he eventually got over it.
We go to Woodlands Church Northwest Campus and DS#1 goes to children's church while we go to the main service. DS#2 goes into service with us because I do not feel comfortable with him going into the nursery yet due to his age, he sleeps through the whole thing anyway. DS#2 will go into the nursery when he is a little older.
Our church has an awesome children's program and they definitely learn a whole lot more there then they do in main service. The main service is definitely geared towards adults with adult topics. Not to mention, I have tried taking DS#1 to a church with no children's program and let's be honest...how much do parents get out of a service when they are trying to entertain a child the whole time? I have literally gone to a service and left without knowing anything the preacher talked about because I was trying to keep ds quiet or entertained. I can't imagine how the poor people sitting around us felt.
Sending my son to the children's program at church ensures two things...1) I will be able to pay attention to the sermon and 2) My son will learn something too. It's a win win situation, in my opinion.
Just some food for thought.
I guess I'm not very protective about leaving mine at the church nursery, especially now that he's older. When he was little (maybe until 6 or 7 months) i'd just take him in to church with me. But once he started getting too restless/loud, I took him to the nursery.
When we were church shopping more actively, sometimes I'd go alone and check things out, check out the nursery/cry room options etc. If I didn't feel good about the nursery situation, it would normally mark that one off the list Plus, I could tell if it was a place DH would like and whether it was worth taking him back.
Most churches, especially the bigger ones, run their nurseries like well oiled machines... they take it very serious to watch your child.
Ditto.
My girls went to the children's church the first time we went to our church... I was instantly comfortable with their process because of how well it all worked and how awesome the staff was... So much so that now I am one of those people who welcome the new parents/kids every week.
Both kids go with us. There is a nursery at our church, but we tried it once, and got paged right away to come pick her up because she wouldn't stop crying. We go to the Sat evening mass now and so everything is closed that day. The oldest sits with me during mass, and when the little one gets crazy (really...just likes talking and talking), the DH will take her outside and to the parish hall to run around. Then he comes back in time with her for communion.
We don't have a cry room at our church, but if we did, I guess that would be a better choice, but I tried doing it once at another church and it felt weird that I was the only one singing in the entire room and you can't hear that much of what the congregation does or says.
We have struggled with this. I tried taking C to the nursery/Sunday school last year and it just got too hard. He flipped out, cried and threw a fit when we pulled into the parking lot. I quit trying and we tried other options.
I tried taking him into church, with books/snacks. As he got closer to 2, we started sitting in the cry room hoping that he would learn to be quiet, but since we were the only ones in there he just went crazy. Right before Christmas I made a big deal about listening to stories about baby Jesus, and my sister went with us. For a few weeks he did pretty good. We still had to go outside after 45 min or so.
Now that we're going regularly, I'm taking him back to SS. I talk about how he gets to play, and color & sing songs about Jesus. He's gone twice - cried in the beginning and then he ends up fine.
I grew up sitting in church, though we were at a much smaller church. Now, I know that me going and keeping him in there does no good. I can't concentrate, I'm not listening and it is a waste of an hour - for us.
I've felt this way before too. What I found is that sticker books work well to keep them entertained.
That said, we send our second to the nursery. We became more comfortable with the idea over time, and our second is a little crazier in seated situations than our first...(parent the child you have, right?)
Good luck. It gets better with time, too.
We put both of ours in the nursery. Soon, the older one will join a Sunday School class. They both thrive in the nursery. Personally, I get very little out of the service when they are with me. The older one talks too much, and my baby just cannot sit still right now.