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Bringing children to the places of worship is not always an easy work for parents. Here are some tips to get them to the place of worship more peacefully. I mention in any of notes about us that we are a Catholic family. Hold on, I am not going to be so fanatic to show off our religious site as I am aware a lot of readers are not a Catholic, but some of you, I am really sure, belong to certain religion. Whatever your religion is, going to place of worship should be a suggestion. It is even a rule for the followers in some religions.Well, in this posting, I would like to share about how we bring our children to church since they were infants. There are various possibilities and rules for each religion and each family about how old someone can attend worships. All of our children were baptized since they were 1 month old. That was the first time they went to church. It must be a ridiculous decision for some people to baptize or to choose a certain religion for infants that still don't understand at all about any word. Anyway, we just decide it as both of my
Well, in this posting, I would like to share about how we bring our children to church since they were infants. There are various possibilities and rules for each religion and each family about how old someone can attend worships. All of our children were baptized since they were 1 month old. That was the first time they went to church. It must be a ridiculous decision for some people to baptize or to choose a certain religion for infants that still don't understand at all about any word. Anyway, we just decide it as both of my husband and I are Catholics and we would like to take the resposibility as a Catholic. If you are interested to know the more detail reasons, you might see the long articles here.Here are some beautiful and dreadful stories and tips along with
Here are some beautiful and dreadful stories and tips along with bring children to church:My husband and I chose the earliest hour of Sunday mass with some reasons. First of all, it was the coldest time of the day. I just thought that would be the most comfortable time as there won't be as many people as the other times. Moreover,
My husband and I chose the earliest hour of Sunday mass with some reasons. First of all, it was the coldest time of the day. I just thought that would be the most comfortable time as there won't be as many people as the other times. Moreover, 05:30AM suited my babies' morning hour. So, both of us have to wake up early in the morning to prepare everything. It was really hard especially for me, who is a late owl. However, we had to do this for their comfortability. Only having 1 baby, it was not really a big problem, but having 2 under 5 years old kids and 1 baby was very terrible. We just did it because we feel responsible to the decision we had made to get the kids closer to God. We believe that the words of God and all the tradition that our church have would be able to be absorbed by an infant. We believe that God love kids more than anything. That is one of the hardest parts.
Some notes for those who want to bring kids to worship place:
- Arrange the food time or milk time properly so it doesn't take place during the mass or worship. If you are nursing, find a place that is safe and private. This one is the most difficult one, but the effect will be incredible. Right now i often see parents bring some biscuits, cake or any snack and drink inside the church during the mass. It must have been a habit from early time. For me, having just 1-2 hour mass is a kind of time scarification. We have 24/7 hours. Giving up our time for a once week worship should be done the best. I had to wake up at 4AM to avoid giving milk during the early mass, but kids have been used to avoid drinking milk or having meals during mass until now. Kids will have an alarm inside their mind. If he or she is sick and need some drink, prepare it in the car or any other part of the place where is not disturbing.
- If you have a choice, choose the most comfortable time for children going to worship place. Adjust which one is suitable with your condition. Think about the weather or temperature, the audience, the length of the worship, etc.
- Prepare the baby's or toddler's bag at night before the mass because it will make the preparation time shorter. We don't need preparing the baby equipment last minutes before the mass, so that we can focus ourself preparing the kids. For older children, preparing their bible, book, clothes, worship equipment night before, so that it will get us manage the time better.
- When the babies are crying or the children are not controlled, going to the back or to the gate will bean alternative. The worse action will be going outside to get them calmed down. It must be very annoying us. However, this is just going to be temporary moment. Children won't be at this same stage. They are growing and getting more cooperative.
- Get kids sit or stay around you and minimize their voice as much as possible (not running around) whatever happens. You can prevent them for unnecessary action by preparing some religious pictures or books for them to get busy. Books and picture still can get them hearing what the priest says and listening to the songs or liturgy. However, I don't recommend drawing or writing which can move their mind away.
- For children who have been able to talk, we can anticipate their manner at home or on the way to the worship place. Get them think about their manner previously.
- If the children are mature enough, a discussion about the importance to watch their manner in public place generally and places of worship specifically.
- Older children can have a rehearsal sometimes in a special time. Special practice of worshipping is also important so that children can be involved in the worship actively. As a result, they will forget how to make chaos 😉 . It really demands parents to discipline themselves.
- Giving examples for children in manner should work well with children since they were small. Don't expect the result shown in the short time.
- Make going to worship places as a special time. For example, having a handbag for each, comb their hair tidily, etc.
At the moment my children are getting better and better. They start to be able to response spontaneously all of the time, sing beautifully, listen to the priest attentively (not daydreaming as they ask questions soon) if we accompany them. Otherwise, they still tend to giggle and tease each other. This is a huge homework for my husband and I to reduce their teasing each other and giggling. However, we are aware that education is a journey. It takes time to get children really embrace their faith and religion. I think not only children, even adults have the same problem.
I like your article and agree with you. I say that if we would not do so, the world will soon get destroyed. I believe this is duty of every person to teach their child very well about manners at the begining. And When he/she get mature about religion. Not only religion we belong, but all well known religions. Come back to religion come back to Allah, change your manners and say Allah is one. before you revert to Allah, fear for the day of judgment before the hereafter…
Thank you for stopping by..
Thanks for this post. It is important that children (and adults!) know the proper way to act during a worship service, regarldess of the religion.
You’ve given excellent advice here Adelien 🙂
You have some great tips in your blog post. But I have to disagree with #1, especially if you have little ones. I would rather a parent give their child a snack during church service than hear “I’m hungry or I need a drink” throughout the entire service.That takes away from *my* family’s worship time. I think having a child eat a snack during services far outweighs the supposed “you shouldn’t do this in church” mentality. Kids and hunger can not always be taken care of before.
Fortunately, as we have the kids certain meal time, their brain and body have already set to the time and they never ever ask for food during the mass and we never ever forbid them eating meals during the mass. It just happens as we set the time regularly and naturally. Babies still might have some milk, but it rarely happened. The trick behind this is to adjust their meal time. Of course it depends also on how long the worship is. Ours is 1 hour 15 minutes. Thank you for stopping by.
I’ve been taking Madison ever since she was a newborn. I’m in a church that understands that babies are babies and what they do best is make a lot of noise. We also have a nursery where we can take the babies if they get too loud but we can still hear everything since they’ve installed speakers in the room. I believe in taking your children to church giving them that spiritual foundation. Great tips!
I love the nursery room. I think every church needs to have one
My church always had a nursery where the little ones could play and be happy rather than try to behave at church! Once my babies got to be 6 months and older, they really enjoyed going there and I loved having them there so I could listen and participate in the service.
It is great to have a nursery room.
Great tips! My mom used to keep a coloring book, some crayons, and a bowl of Cheerios (for snacking) in her purse at church. If I got bored or was having a hard time sitting, she would break out the treats and I would settle down 🙂
A parental trick, isn’t it? Thank you for sharing.
It can be a challenge but it is SO worth it. I didn’t take my son to church until he just just under 4 years old (that’s when I found faith and my life changed), but now he knows it is a part of our life and while he grumbles a little about it being boring, he embraces it. It is critical we teach our children our faith. They won’t just pick it up without it being taught. And if BOTH parents go to church instead of just one, it makes a huge difference in whether the children will continue to go and embrace the faith as adults.
Nice to hear that. Of course a strong foundation should be planted earlier, i think.
We have taken our children to church since their birth but have had phases where it just wasn’t always practical. My first was/is very quiet and would often nurse down during the service. My second was a little more restless so I put him in my ring sling and paced in the church lobby. It allowed me to listen to the sermon without distracting everyone in the sanctuary. The rough patches were when they got mobile. We have a nursery though and I was able to go their to let the kids play and wiggle a bit for the second half of the service but they still joined us for the singing and worship time. It did mean, however, that my husband and I would need to alternate duties: one of us would listen to the sermon while the other was with the little one in the nursery.
They are now nearly 3 and 5 and usually sit very well until they are dismissed for Sunday School. I’m hoping that baby number 3 will be a quiet one because it has been great this last while to sit next to my husband during sermons again. But, as you said, this is just a phase in our life and I’d rather be at church sporadically than not at all.
We have taken our children to church since they were two weeks old–and unless someone is sick, we go 3 times a week. Once my baby is one month old, I put him in the infant nursery. It is so nice that we have a great nursery so I can hear God’s Word being preached. My other children have programs for them except for Sunday night where they sit with us (and Sunday 2nd hour church service my two oldest sit with me.) So they do learn how to sit still and listen. We do not baptize until a child has trusted in Jesus Christ themselves for salvation from sin; then when he understands what baptism stands for–they can get baptized. We do have a prayer of dedication over infants though where we are acknowledging God’s control over our children and praying that our children will grow up to love and serve Him. It is very important to have your children going to church at a young age so that they too can learn how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
How sweet to read your sharing. Thank you for stopping by.
We have high expectations for our children and their behavior at church. We started teaching them as soon as they were babies. It is so important that we are all respectful of our church services and teach that sacredness to our children.
On the same boat with me. It is quite hard for me, but that is our mission. Thanks for stopping by.
Great info. We do go to a weekly church. We also go on Wednesday night. I do love that the children get to learn social interaction and they get to learn routines as well as what I have as ethics and morals.
Going to church is also a matter of socialization, isn’t it? After the mass, kids usually chat around with people not the same age with them. I love to hear their story after that.