Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not start a parent coop at your parish? That is what my parish in NOVA does.

Op here- thanks! how does that work?

Contact the parish office or your pastor about securing a room to use for the nursery (our parish does the nursery at the 10am Mass). Collect age appropriate toys (our nursery is geared towards kids who can sit independently up to age 4; however, most parents don't seem to bring their kids until they are over the age of 1). Ask to have a notice put in the bulletin seeing who else might be interested. You would probably want at least 10 families in the co-op. That way, you are only responsible for overseeing the nursery maybe once per quarter. Once you have interested parties (and you will), permission from the parish, toys, and space, set up your rotating scheduling. Our group requires that 2 adults (usually a husband and wife team) are present. It works out reasonably well, and I think it helps to keep a lot of families attending Mass on a weekly basis. Hope this helps!

Most Blessed Sacrament in DC has a nursery at the 10:30 am mass. It's not the best childcare you'll ever find, but it suffices to get you through mass. That said, it only runs during the school year and it's about to come to an end. So come back in September... my youngest will be 2 by then and he'll be there for sure!

Anonymous wrote:Why not start a parent coop at your parish? That is what my parish in NOVA does.

Op here- thanks! how does that work?

Why not start a parent coop at your parish? That is what my parish in NOVA does.

This doesn't give you a solution but I was and still am irritated by the lack of nurseries in the Catholic church. I was told that the church WANTS the children in there which is why they don't provide the child care. Sure, THEY want the kids there but I don't! I'm with you on not getting anything out of it ... we don't even do the cry room b/c it's too loud to hear anything. I now pack fruit snacks on the rare occasion I feel my 2 YO can sit still long enough to last.

Need to go to mass but I get nothing out of it with my 2 year old- thoughts?