Kids attending church service?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always kept mine with me. It’s hard, though. I help other moms with their little ones, to keep them engaged and occupied. Hunting the hymns ahead of time with special bookmarks, raising a finger every time they hear a word (Jesus, holy, God, etc), drawing a picture of what they are hearing or seeing in the sanctuary.

Force them to pay attention. They will thank you later. All children are malleable and will believe whatever you tell them, for a while.

Lol, totally untrue. My parents could force me to sit still and face forward, but they did not control my mind, and I was far away fantasizing about all kinds of things and not at ALL paying attention to services. I NEVER thanked my parents for all that wasted time, and even by age six was questioning what they told me until they told me to stop, so then I just stopped trusting them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Babies but our (Catholic) church never offered a child care/Sunday school alternative

Same here. I let them bring small quiet toys until kindergarten. After kindergarten I let them color during services.

after kindergarten, I let mine drown in boredom. They should experience church as adults do.

Well since I'm not bored in church I don't expect my kids to be either.

[Anonymous]

First grade. I think third is more appropriate, but our church doesn’t have childcare after kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Babies but our (Catholic) church never offered a child care/Sunday school alternative

My public school kids went to Sunday school (aka SOR), but they also went to Mass. It's not an either/or in Catholic churches. Sunday school is for religious education and does not substitute for Mass.

[Anonymous]

I take mine, have at all ages. They sit, kneel, stand at the appropriate times. They each have a notebook to doodle in during readings and the sermon, but not during prayer and singing.

Yeah, if we made them sit there woodenly the whole time, they would hate it. But as we do it, it works out just fine.

[Anonymous]

Kindergarten. Our church had extended Sunday school for ages 3-12, which would return the kids right before communion, but around kindergarten, he started wanting to stay (he didn’t like the woman who ran the Sunday school).

That church closed during the pandemic (partially related to the pandemic but mostly related to leadership), so we church-hopped a bit before choosing one, and he never expressed interest in returning to Sunday school, but does want to go to church. He is interested in taking the confirmation classes, which would be his first real religious education since kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Six weeks, when I came back to church after birth and the baby was baptized and chrismated. Obviously we sometimes step out for a few minutes for feeding or to get behavior under control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kindergarten. Our church had extended Sunday school for ages 3-12, which would return the kids right before communion, but around kindergarten, he started wanting to stay (he didn’t like the woman who ran the Sunday school).

That church closed during the pandemic (partially related to the pandemic but mostly related to leadership), so we church-hopped a bit before choosing one, and he never expressed interest in returning to Sunday school, but does want to go to church. He is interested in taking the confirmation classes, which would be his first real religious education since kindergarten.

Our church closed during the pandemic too! And we had one woman running the children's ministry, which makes me wonder...do I know you?