Monday, August 11, 2008

A Worthy Read (re: Kids at Mass)

I read this post over at Healthy Moms blog.
It really struck me and I felt compelled to share it.

The Importance of Taking Your Kids to Mass on Sunday

I have not been the best about this over the summer. It's easy to assume my husband and I can go to separate Masses, leaving the boys home with the one not at Mass. Between work schedules and only having one car, though, that often leaves one of us missing Mass altogether, or even worse, none of us making it at all.

It feels weird even just writing that "out loud".

I find this post to be encouragement to re-commit to going to Mass as a family, even if it means skipping the nap or waking up early after little sleep. I know it won't be easy (it never is), but I need to make the effort.

Are you good about getting your little ones to church each Sunday?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have posted about this before. Since coming back to the Catholic Church from a Methodist church, we struggled with taking the boys into Mass with us. There was a very structured nursery at our old church and that's where the boys were. Now, since returning, we have taken our kids to Mass. Frick is doing great. Frack...notsomuch. There is a nursery at our parish and that is where Frack goes. We tried so hard with him. We finally decided that we were not getting anything out of Mass like we wanted. We did not want to bring in food, toys, etc. to pacify. I personally have always thought that church is not the place for those things. We also did not want to split the family up and attend different Mass times.
When Frack is settling down a bit (hopefully within the next few months), our plan is to bring him back in with us. Ask Sister Mary Martha has a hilarious blog that addresses this topic several different times. You should check her out.

christine M said...

My little ones aren't so little anymore - they're now eight and 11, but it doesn't seem like that long ago that we were going through this.

We brought the kids to Mass with us every week - unless someone was sick. One of the benefits to this is that there is no arguing about going to Mass. It is something we do. Every weekend. Every holy day. No whining to get out of it. There's no point.

Tricks we used when they were young:

1) sit in the same spot (that way we're not ambushing some older person who expects quiet reverent people around)The benefit to this is we made some great friends and it helped keep the kids occupied.

2)quiet toys (for pre-schoolers) and bible story books.

3) our church has a Sunday school pre-school program. Runs about half the year. We utilized this when the kids were the right ages (between 3 and 5)- it ran during the Mass we normally attended.

4) older pre-school age I made sure they knelt or stood or sat with the congregation

5) as soon as they could read I had them follow along in the missal. This helps them to see that there is a structure to what's going on.

We were never big on bringing food - once the child is past the 'baby' age they should be able to go an hour without eating.

Sorry this is long - but hope it helps. I can say this at least - since our kids are older I can attest that our methods seem to have worked. The kids don't mind going to Mass, they pay attention, they discuss the readings or sermon with us afterwards (if something strikes their interest).

I say bring the boys to Mass. :)

Andrea said...

We always go as a family because we are able too. I complain and say we are going to go separate but I don't want to go separate. Sometimes I end up in the back with Amelia because she's loud, but Landen knows how to behave now because he knows what's expected of him. We don't do toys or food in church either - we go potty before we go in and we have a little talk about how Jesus wants us to be there and say prayers to him. I'm not saying Landen is great, he's not but he's getting better. Amelia is just at a hard age where she wants to do her thing and when she 'talks' it's loud! I go to the back and come back when I cane. I'm going to go read what you recommended.

Andrea said...

Thanks for linking to this Sharon! I loved the post as well - and I too believe it is really important to bring them starting young. Jesus wanted the children to be there and as sister mary martha says, if those elders don't like the noise, well maybe they need those children there to remind them. I can't remember exactly what she said, but something along those lines. I think it also helps us because we go to Children's Adoration; Landen is expected to be quiet but it's hard and at least he gets to see what church is up close and things.

Angie @ Many Little Blessings said...

We do go to Mass as a family each weekend and on Holy Days of Obligation. It wasn't easy when Molly was a bit smaller (of course, we weren't Catholic when the boys were smaller, and had a nursery at the Episcopal Church we belonged to, although our eldest always sat through church since he was born). It was probably almost a year of going to our parish before Molly actually stayed in church throughout the Mass. But, over time, she was able to spend longer and longer there.

Good luck to you!