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Today was the first Sunday in about a month that I was able to sit in the service and worship corporately. Just the nature of life with TeamBabetz sometimes.
My husband ushers and so when the baby, who isn't a fan of the nursery, gets chatty, I take her and our 4 year old out. The older 3 are OK to sit there by themselves but the 4 year old is still a toss up.
So there I was taking Communion in the lobby with my baby grabbing for the cup and my 4 year old wanting to know why he couldn't have a snack. I kept thinking this is nuts! Why do I not just take him to the 4 year old class and be done with it. Then my husband came and took the baby and I went back in with the boy to sit with the rest of the kids.
Teaching our kids to sit in the service is really important to us. But it is really hard. Like I said before the older 3 are fine. It's just balancing the 4 year old and the baby right now that's the issue. We are still in the stage of whispering in a normal tone of voice...you know what I mean? Holding his paper up to see if he can see the lights through it...and my favorite, kicking the seat in front of him. Ya, good times. Our goal, at this point in time, is just not to be a distraction to those around us. And with every service we inch towards sitting still and quiet. Working on paying attention comes as they get older. So I have to keep reminding myself we are still in the beginning. And we are getting there.
So if your sitting near someone who is training their young children to worship corporately...be encouraging to them. If you're easily distracted by that training... be assured we don't want to distract you any more than you want to be distracted. But we have to train them. And as with all types of training...it just takes time. And in the end it's worth all the effort.
5 comments:
Great post, Stephanie. And thank you for being willing to train your children ... so many are not! Casiday is still in Children's Church but, though it goes thru 5th grade, we are beginning to bring her in with us to make the transition. It is hard ... but so very worth it!!
I recommend reading "Parenting in the Pew" by Robbie Castleman. It really helped me a lot!
Great post! I pray someone will encourage you very soon as they watch you training your little blessings to be worshipers!
I totally empathise having a 5 year old and almost 3 year old! When our Sunday school is on holiday it means the kids are in the service and it is v hard to train them. Kids are meant to be part of the service though and God would never disapprove so be encouraged, you are doing a great job!
Love Collette xxxx
Teri Lynne, You're right. Not all parents are interested in training their kids...they want uninterupted worship for themselves, which is understandable, but we have teens in our church that are never in the worship service and I just don't want that for my kids. I hope the transition for Casiday goes well.
Thanks for the book recommendation Nikki. I'm going to look for it this week. I really want it to go beyond them just sitting quietly.
Thanks Collette, you're right. I believe Jesus is please by our childrens worship too.
Stephanie, I actually think the first chapter of the book talks about how past generations have done a great disservice to their children b/c they raised them by telling them to "just sit here and be quiet" instead of PARTICIPATING in worship. I know that's what I remember the most from sitting in the pew next to my parents...lol
The book is a quick read:)
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