Anyone else out there have REALLY stubborn and noisy small children they attend church with? Sometimes I feel like every Sunday is a lesson in futility. I've given up any hope for reverence. Now I'm mostly going for keeping the screaming to a minimum. We can usually make it through the first twenty minutes of sacrament, prayers, and songs before Pandora's box opens. Then it is a battle to the end of sacrament meeting. Red Fish loves nursery so that saves us but taking New Fish to the last two meetings is torturous. She gets bored without her sister and she is an especially noisy child (both her happy and her sad noises are LOUD.)
Every Sunday morning it is a scramble to cram toys, snacks etc. into a bag while we try and keep every one dressed and force them into the car. I've been dreaming of a gospel themed church bag for years but it's been hard to find the right items for it. I bought a few things this week and collected stuff I've been saving from all over the house this week to try and find a solution to our problem. Hopefully having a bag of special things that only come out on Sunday will help ease the futility of attending church meetings I can't hear or concentrate on.
I've divided the stuff into a few bags so we can rotate. If they know what to expect every week in the bag they will get bored too quickly and if there is too much stuff in the bag it gets too difficult to pull things out for them. Cross your fingers for me that this helps!
Coloring books (yes I know I am opposed to them but it's a quiet activity they can do in church that doesn't get too out of control so I'm relenting.), lacing cards, gospel themed books, Children's version of the scriptures, paper, washable markers, small puzzle, I spy gospel themed book, animal finger puppets, magnetic scripture pictures/games, and a small nativity set.
8 comments:
You're such a good mom to find so many quiet activities for them and plan a rotating schedule! I'm sympathetic and all I can say is that it eventually does get easier and you are doing a great job!!
Our bishop complimented everyone today on how reverent we all were during the sacrament. The funny thing is the majority of the children were gone. Don't give up, reverence is a process that gets worked on every Sunday. Every mother will tell you that. It will be quite a while before you "arrive." Be grateful when you see even the slightest improvement--it probably won't happen again for a while. That's one reason I got the lacing cards for Red Fish.
FYI: Your children's dad and his siblings weren't quiet in church for a long time either.
Grandma O.
Trying to get small kids to sit still and be quiet for any extended amount of time IS quite the task. As for New Fish, she's at that age that every mother despises. Not old enough for nursery, but is too old and too busy to sit quietly on your lap. Hang in there! "This too shall pass."
Go super mom! Boy, have I been down that road before. I actually discovered that my kids are better w/o my special church toys bag. Totally floored me. Of course, I still break into it for Stake Conference. My kids also like magnets and putting big wooden beads on pipe cleaner. Pipe cleaners in general are pretty popular. Lately I just bring a notebook and a pencil. Paige just asks me to draw this or draw that. At New Fish's age--I hate to say it--it only improves with time. No amount of toy seems to work on a fidget... though snacks seem to cut the noise. :) Good luck and keep it up! You are teaching her that church is where we go on Sunday. Don't worry about actually learning something for a few years.
PS: I used to bring file folder games in my church bag too
We are pretty much down to a notebook and five or six crayons. We tried the church bag thing for a while, but my kids just fought over everything in it. They are most reverent when Daddy is folding origami and Mommy is drawing pictures to color.
I have to say, I am really looking forward to Mr B going into nursery in a couple of months... I think he is looking forward to it too.
Oh can I ever relate! We don't survive church without THE BAG. At least your activities are somewhat gospel-related. We've got everything from Little Einsteins to Sesame Street in our bag - very spiritual. :)
Don't fool yourself, the screaming may get better, but then you have big kids pinching each other and fighting. We use to have a bag of tricks for SUndays too, and one of the things that I loved were the file folders. I have some really cute ones I will see if I can dig up if you are interested in making some. They were a lot of fun and they have some gospel ones too. Good luck, and nice try Mandi this too shall pass in another 18 years. LOL
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