Sundays are Hard: Part 2

Despite our best efforts and best planning, Sunday mornings continue to be noisy and distracting {hopefully mostly to us and not everyone else sitting around us}. For example, stickers usually are very fun and last approximately 5 minutes except when Luke decides he wants to relocate said sticker. “I’m sorry, baby. Stickers are made to stick. They do not move without ripping the paper to shreds.” {For some reason this is not a sufficient answer.}

I found a blog link on Pinterest that has become invaluable to me...

http://thedomesticfringe.com/no-fuss-parenting-teach-kids-to-sit-still/

The mommy on this blog quickly learned that being consistent and training her children at home was crucial when her tiny church's nursery decided to only take babies under the age of 1 year old. {Insert shrieks!} Though I have not done as much training at home as she, I have found her methods to be effective. Now when Luke begins losing his mind over stickers stuck to a piece of paper or yells “Hi, Poppa” over and over when my dad gets up to lead the communion thought, I calmly pick him up, walk to the back of the building, whisper to him quietly about why we had to get up and how we don't yell during worship services, and hold him until he calms down. Once he is calm, we reenter the auditorium (I'm still holding him which is key). It is not easy and it does not necessary happen quickly {sometimes we need more than 1 exit or sometimes we venture to the nursery a little early}; however, consistency is key!

One final thought is this, children are not born knowing how to sit through church services. We have to teach them! Luke only sits with us through the song service which is typically 20-25 minutes. During this time, we go through everything in the fun bag {see last week's post}, we may require a trip to the back of the building, we eat a snack, we sing some songs, and there is inevitably some crying involved. But…it is important to us that Luke begins this process now. It is important to us that he is surrounded by other believers, that he is exposed to our songs and traditions, and that he hears the name of God from our friends and church leaders. This is how he will learn, by being there.

Additionally, he will learn to sit through church by being there. It is really messy right now and I don’t know when I will get to “enjoy” the song service again, but I do know that my boy is learning who our God is! {And most everyone is supportive of him being in there…they even think him yelling “amen” 5 times after each song is cute…because, well, it kind of is.}

Photo courtesy of Wix.com photo gallery.