What age to stop forcing teens to attend church?

[Anonymous]

Teenage DC is fighting church attendance due to sports interference. DC does not drive, so taking him to sports requires us to miss church as well. We've done our best to limit Sunday sports but as he's gotten older it comes up more and more. I don't believe he wants to give up his relationship with God but he says he'll stop attending church all together if it means missing more games.

For church attending families only, what have you done here?

[Anonymous]

Lyft/Uber changed our lives...Forcing our DD to attend services just made her hate services more. If you can get a friend to ride in the car service with her, great. If not, you can track the Lyft. See how that works, at least temporarily.

[Anonymous]

Is there a youth group he could join that meets on a weekday?

[Anonymous]

My parents let us decide for ourselves whether we wanted to go to church as soon as we were old enough to stay home alone if we wanted, so like 10ish. Verdict: one non-religious adult child, one who consistently attends church with her two small children. I think this solution makes the most sense — your relationship with God isn’t dependent on being in church every Sunday in my view (I’m the religious adult child as you may have guessed).


Asking parents to forgo their pre-existing engagement so the child can do sports is a manners issue, however. Can you guess compromise on that? Carpool so you don’t have to miss every Sunday, and when he has games attend a different service than you usually would?

[Anonymous]

We are Catholic so we have options on Sat evening and Sunday from 0700 to 5 PM. I don’t require DC to attend after Conformation. They usually come with us though.

[Anonymous]

Stop trying to indoctrinate your kid.

Let them play sports and get exercise better for their brain cells.

If you raised an intelligent kid they will leave the church anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop trying to indoctrinate your kid.

Let them play sports and get exercise better for their brain cells.

If you raised an intelligent kid they will leave the church anyway.

Oh look, it is the nasty, religion-hating atheist of DCUM, who can’t resist spewing religious bigotry every chance she gets.

[Anonymous]

We just had a huge thread about this exact question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop trying to indoctrinate your kid.

Let them play sports and get exercise better for their brain cells.

If you raised an intelligent kid they will leave the church anyway.

Oh look, it is the nasty, religion-hating atheist of DCUM, who can’t resist spewing religious bigotry every chance she gets.

Yes, there is only one of the million DCUM readers who finds church intellectually bankrupt.

[Anonymous]

We're Catholic. I told my kids they had to prepare for confirmation, attend the classes and church during the time they were in classes. But the decision to be confirmed and to continue to attend after the age of confirmation, which in our parish is 8th grade, was theirs.

Right now, they are still attending. We will see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teenage DC is fighting church attendance due to sports interference. DC does not drive, so taking him to sports requires us to miss church as well. We've done our best to limit Sunday sports but as he's gotten older it comes up more and more. I don't believe he wants to give up his relationship with God but he says he'll stop attending church all together if it means missing more games.

For church attending families only, what have you done here?

Does God ever leave His house? Tim Tebow said God likes watching football games.

[Anonymous]

OP here, DC is a part of a youth group that he enjoys. I don't want to push Sunday services because I don't want to push him away, but we're worried it's the start of a slippery slope. We've seen a lot of teens fall off from regular attendance this year... Can't speak to if they've abandoned their faith. I'll try to arrange a ride with one of his teammates and see how it goes for the rest of the season. Thank you for your understanding and kind suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Can you change the time you go to church? Don't ask for a ride if you are not willing to do 1/2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just had a huge thread about this exact question.

Probably mine from a few weeks ago? I posted it and assumed it never submitted since I couldn't find it again. I took it as a sign to let it go and see how things played out at home. I guess I misplaced where I posted my original question! Sorry it's turned into a "huge thread"... How embarrassing.

Unfortunately, the issue has continued for us and we had another blow up from DC this morning and I thought I'd try again on this group. It's confirmed what I was already thinking of doing... It's been especially difficult since DH and I are at odds about how to handle this. It's new territory for me.

[Anonymous]

I’m not religious but I think encouraging youth group (usually a different day during the week) and Christian overnight camp (my kids go in the summer and we aren’t even religious lol they love it) would go over better. If you make him miss sports games he will only resent it.