Baby Goes to Church (…or Doesn’t)
Church is tough with kids.
When mine were really tiny, they’d just nurse and sleep through, and it was delightful.
But now ds is going on 6 months old (and I remember going through this with dd), and he’s just not ever quiet that long – for one reason or another. He won’t just nurse and sleep, but he doesn’t yet understand/have the ability to sit and color or play and amuse himself for half an hour.
I’m not a “leave ‘em in Nursery even if they cry” kind of mama.
Sometimes I go along to church, but just end up sitting in the nursery with him the whole time.
There doesn’t seem to be much point in going through the effort of getting the baby and myself dressed up and there if I’m not going to hear the service anyway, so I’ve been staying home some lately, too… 
What do you do about it?
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September 1st, 2008 at 2:30 pm
We always take our children to church, unless they are sick. We want them to learn that Sunday is for worshipping God. Once they get in the habit of going they are much more likely to keep going. I think it would be hard to start taking a child to church at three or five, or even later.
With our current foster care baby boy my wife and I take turns. I’ll be out in the halls, catching some of the service, while my wife gets to listen.
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 am
I don’t have kids…I’m only 17…But I want to be a home-maker after I graduate {in the Lord’s timing} so I observe other families in our Church. One family has 4 kids. The oldest is 5 and then 3 and the twins are going to be 2 soon. I’m not sure of your whole situation with Church, if you go to different Churches every week because you live in an RV or if you have a Church you go to all the time. I can see if you are consistantly at new Churches why you would not want to leave your child in the nursery, but if you go to the same Church I believe that the nursery is somewhat best for them because they get social interactment. The family that I look up to most at my Church requires all of their children to sit with them during the opening service, and then go to their sunday school classes. And then for the main Church service the two older ones stay with them until they go to their seperate classes, and the little ones are in the nursery. Now for Sunday evening it is different depending on the twins mood and if they had a nap. They normally have the twins with them and try to keep them entertained, and when they get fussy they take them to the nursery, but then they themselves come back into the service.
I don’t know if this helps at all or not. But it’s just something I’ve seen while observing other parents.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:58 am
Great post. I don’t like the concept of church nurseries. I know of a church that has a “cry room” which is a self service nursery where you can see the preacher through a window and listen to him preach via a speaker. There’s a changing table stocked with supplies in the restroom. The idea is to hold your child in church as long as he or she is quiet and step out when necessary. This helps the child learn how to sit in church at an early age. I live too far from that church to go there, and my church has a mandatory nursery policy which I disagree with.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
By the way, my brother is a pastor and the one with no church nursery. He’s pro homeschooling and the best preacher on the internet. From reading your blog, I get the feeling that you might enjoy his sermons:
http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org
God bless!
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Can you sit out in the lobby and listen to the sermon via speakers? This is what I did sometimes if I needed to leave the sanctuary. If I sit in the nursery, you can’t hear the sermon, but not all churches have the speakers available.
December 31st, 2008 at 5:00 am
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