My daughter is 18 months old. She's wiggly and noisy and cranky because church is during naptime. The board books just aren't cutting it anymore and I haven't finished cutting out my folder games courtesy of another post here! Yesterday we spent most of Sacrament Meeting in the hall. I went out one side and an entire family was sitting out in the hall, presumably arrived late, and sitting out there, taking every single chair. So I walked around to the other side and there were chairs to sit in.
My husband and I are of the view that getting out of sacrament meeting is not a prize, so she has to sit in our lap quietly or go back into sacrament meeting quietly. However, we get to the other side of the church and another whole family is there. Like I said, I could sit down with her and talk with her quietly but the other family had two small kids near her age, running around, getting toys out, playing. So of course, mine starts wiggling and asking for "down" and shoving away from me. I felt bad for not letting her play when, at least at first, she was asking nicely, but also wanted to stick to my guns. After several attempts to make it back into sacrament meeting reverently, I gave in and let her play for the last five minutes. I took her back in right before the closing song and got her to sit with a book during the song and my husband praised my efforts and guiltily I admitted that I'd let her play for the last few minutes.
I hope I haven't just sabotaged all my efforts to help her realize she'd rather be in sacrament meeting :) but I also sat in the hall wondering how much of a problem it really was to let her run around, thinking "she'll learn to be reverent in sacrament meeting eventually?"
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5 comments:
Don't stress too hard about it. She's got a lifetime of sacrament meetings ahead of her. I agree that leaving the meeting shouldn't be fun for the child, but sometimes you have to leave and sometimes you have to just let them run a minute. It's the age. Don't worry. This too shall pass. She'll get it.
I have found that going back into the meeting the minute they'r settled back down helps my kids understand that leaving is very temporary.
I think all you can do is your best. Now that my child is walking I am being introduced to this crazy world more than ever! It is so hard, especially when sacrament meeting is last and your baby is at least two hours due for a nap!
I'll admit that this past week I took my baby for a drive during the 2nd hour just so she could get a catnap, she was CRAZY!!!
P.S. I see parents sometimes who walk the halls and kind of just look at the paintings of Jesus and such. I know one parent who tries to not let the kid go running around. She holds him almost the whole time she's out there. It might be beneficial to not be around the other "foyer" kids so it doesn't look like playtime.
I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. It sounds like you're pretty dilligent, so an occasional five minutes here and there shouldn't make a difference in the long run. I'm starting to join you in this area myself, so let me know how it works out!
I feel for you. Teaching your child reverance is such an important and hard lesson. I have two children and dealing with each has been a different experience. With my daughter we would just take her out and sit with her on our lap for a few minutes, then go back in and offer a book or something to color with when we came back in. She responded well to this. We only had about a month of Sundays where we had to go out in the hall.
My son has been another story. My husband and I tried this with him, but it didn't work with his high energy and sleepiness. We have sacrament third hour, which probably contributes alot. I have to take him in the hall but find if he is around the other kids who are running around playing with toys, he is unable to calm down. I walk around with him singing children's hymns quietly and talking to him about the pictures on the hall. If I am at least able to tell him the stories of Christ being betrayed in the paintings I feel like he is learning love for his savior, even if he can't sit quietly in the chapel.
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