Random Thoughts

When did church become fun? Did I miss something? As an adult, I enjoying going to church (for the most part) or I wouldn’t be there every week, but as a child I do remember it being a little boring and sometimes confusing. I certainly do not remember it as play time. I think it is important to bring your children to church, but only if they know where they are. If they are eating Cheerios, coloring in a Harry Potter coloring book and driving a race car around the pew, it is not helping them any to be there, and it is certainly not helping me. I applaud parents for bringing their children to church, where they should be on Sunday mornings, but please don’t bring them because you can’t think of anything else to do with them. Those of us who choose to attend are being seriously annoyed by your little hellions.

Before you start yelling at me, I am not talking about infants and very small children with a bottle and a graham cracker or something. I am talking walking, talking 4-8 year olds who can’t be bothered to pay attention. The parents are just as bad; braiding hair, talking about where they are going to lunch after church is over, encouraging and often times participating in the play activities, allowing the same child to make three or four trips to the restroom during a one hour period etc.

Here’s a little FYI from yours truly. I will concede a child could have a bathroom emergency during church (illness aside), but certainly a child who needs to pee more than 3 times an hour needs a doctor’s assistance immediately. Again, barring illness, I am certain one can go before church and not have to go again until it is over. I am equally confident your child will not die of hunger during a one hour Sunday service. If your child really can’t follow along with the service, consider a prayer book designed for children to read. If your child is old enough to walk and talk, but doesn’t read yet, consider a religious coloring book or a biblical story book containing lots of pictures. This way your child will get the idea he or she is not at playtime, but at a sacred religious ceremony even if they don’t yet understand exactly what is going on. As an added bonus, you won’t face that awkward conversation when you tell them they are too old to play with toys at church anymore and they don’t understand why. The people around you will thank you too, not because your children are suddenly going to become less annoying, but because we know your children are trying to learn how to be a part of the community; even if they are not perfect angels, we can see they are trying, and you are trying to guide them not just ignore them because it is too much trouble to help them learn.

You don’t have to take my advice, but if you do, you’ll see a difference when your kids grow up. And the best part is, my kids won’t have to write this rant because your kids will have taught their kids by example and this problem will have taken care of itself. I know, I know, FAT CHANCE, but it worked when I was a little girl and it could still work again. There I go being overly optimistic again, but I can’t help it. If you can’t believe the world can be a better place, what can you believe?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 22nd, 2002 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.