Would you leave your toddler?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't feel comfortable and I wouldn't be sure my son would either.

I've never heard of a no-kid service!

Just curious, are you Catholic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be okay with leaving my child with a strange church nursery -- but I would be very upset by a church member telling me my child is not welcome at a service.

There may be some churches that prefer to exclude babies and children from a service. Those are not the type of church I would want to attend. If someone told me that, I would contact the pastor/priest and tell them about it, letting them know how unwelcome I felt at such a place.

Even as a one time visitor?

Especially as a first time visitor. It was extremely rude if the woman (whoever she was), and I am sure the pastor/priest would want to know that people are being rude to visitors.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a super regular churchgoer, and can be characterized as a somewhat reluctant attendee (I have many, many years of church under my belt). That said: our church got a new pastor, and during one of his first handful of services I attended there was a SCREAMING baby. And he stood at the front of the church and said that we as a congregation welcome the sounds of children among us. It was so perfect. He made a point that a crying child wasn't a disturbance to a perfectly serious sermon but was a reminder of new life in our church. THAT is the attitude that won me over.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't have left my tot, and probably would have a) given the woman a piece of my mind about what church *should* be, and b) left the church immediately. And we use the nursery on a weekly basis at our own church and have since he was an infant. Our church has no policy about little ones, and with visitors, we'll just say "There's a nursery if you want it," but understand that most newcomers would prefer to keep little ones with them. Also really little babies will probably want to eat/nurse anyway, so may as well make it easy by keeping them with their parents.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't really matter if anyone else would leave their toddler. If you don't feel comfortable, that's ok. Any of the Pastors I know would rather you come WITH you child, than stay away because you don't want him disturbing the service. Any church that discourages children isn't a church I'd want to be.

My advice for nosey church women in the future: ask her questions. "Oh did he disturb you? Sorry about that". Don't both explaining why you don't want to use the nursery. When she shows you where it is just say "ok, thanks!" and then do whatever you want.

[Anonymous]

It's your child. You are in charge of your kid, no matter what anyone else tells you.

[Anonymous]

No, I wouldn't. I went to my brother's church out of town, and when DD fussed, took her to the family room and watched the service on video. But not leave her in the nursery.

[Anonymous]

This sort of response is what has deterred me from going to church. My 15 month old still is in a stranger anxiety stage, so leaving her at the nursery would lead to crying and stress. I wouldn't be comfortable leaving her at this age unless she already had a relationship with the caregivers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a super regular churchgoer, and can be characterized as a somewhat reluctant attendee (I have many, many years of church under my belt). That said: our church got a new pastor, and during one of his first handful of services I attended there was a SCREAMING baby. And he stood at the front of the church and said that we as a congregation welcome the sounds of children among us. It was so perfect. He made a point that a crying child wasn't a disturbance to a perfectly serious sermon but was a reminder of new life in our church. THAT is the attitude that won me over.

+1
Even though we routinely attend the kids service at our church (for community and to see other parents struggling to get 2 year olds to behave - very very helpful for our mental health), I dont' even make my kids go to the "kids" separate part. Same volunteers or not, they are not yet verbal enough to communicate with us..Not comfortable with it yet.

[Anonymous]

At our church you can bring your baby our take them to the nursery. Almost all the parents are happy to take them to the nursery and have an hour to themselves to concentrate on the service. But no one would chase down a visitor and tell them to the nursery!

[Anonymous]

Nope, would not have left my kid. But I got the same response when I took DD as a toddler to a church. She was fidgeting, but not talking. I guess people are just not used to kids at the services anymore. We totally know the volunteers at our church that we go to regularly. And everyone knows our girls.

[Anonymous]

Nope, would not have left my kid. But I got the same response when I took DD as a toddler to a church. She was fidgeting, but not talking. I guess people are just not used to kids at the services anymore. We totally know the volunteers at our church that we go to regularly. And everyone knows our girls.

[Anonymous]

My church used to have an elderly priestthat would say, whenever a young child made noise, "Parents, don't be embarassed ! It's a beautiful sound--it is Jesus speaking to us through the little children.". He was super sweet.

[Anonymous]

In Orthodox churches (at least all the ones I've been to), there are no nurseries. Even babies attend the service as full members of the church. I don't take my kids every Sunday, but usually they are well behaved when we go. I never understood the whole "put the kid in the church nursery" thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Orthodox churches (at least all the ones I've been to), there are no nurseries. Even babies attend the service as full members of the church. I don't take my kids every Sunday, but usually they are well behaved when we go. I never understood the whole "put the kid in the church nursery" thing.

I like this. DS is baptized, so he's considered a member of Christ's church, so why hide him away in the nursery? Even our own church only has a nursery for half the service, then all the kids come back and worship. He only goes about half the Sundays, it just depends on how rambunctious he's feeling that day.