How would you respond?

[salzer mtn]

Last week my wife and son and I went to a family funeral. My son brought his one and a half year old daughter with him. My granddaughter does not cry or make any noise at all wherever she's at but like all children her age she get's restless and has to be intertained some way or other. My wife and I gave her toys to look at until that got boring and then it would have to be some other item. The point I'm trying to get across is whether they make noise or not at that age an adult is busy at this and it does take there mind off the service. Christians shouldn't rebel because their children from four years old and under are required to go to a nursery. The priority in any church first and for most is to preach and hear the gospel. preach Tony I came out of your kind of churches, it was hard to adjust at first but now I would not go back to that kind of system.

 

[convicted1]

He did sit in the congregation while a screaming baby, me, was in his ear. Since you didn't know him, please don't assign your own ideas to what he believed and knew. He was a faithful servant in the church for over 50 years. His belief was that children should be in the congregation because it accomplished several things. It allowed them to see from an early age how a service was conducted. It required parents to actually be parents during a service. Just listen to a small child that has actually sat in the service and you'll find out quickly just how much the child is hearing and taking in. Yes, they are often just parroting what their parents do, but is that not how we learn every behavior we have? And I don't know if you know it or not, but hearing a three-year-old say amen when a man is preaching is extremely uplifting.

He strongly disliked the idea of nurseries because, as he told me, it takes people away from the service. Some churches he knew of (and I only knew in passing) had such a developed nursery system that they didn't allow children into the congregation to hear preaching until the child was over 13 years old. That, in my opinion as well as his, is just wrong.

No, the volume at which a man preaches is not what makes it preaching. I would be a bit concerned if you have such a soft-spoken preacher that the littlest noise in the congregation could completely distract you from hearing him, though.

My mom(rest her soul) once took my niece(her granddaughter) to church with her and dad. During prayer, as she was kneeling, she could hear her running around. As soon as prayer was over, mom took her outside the sanctuary(where the water fountain was) and made sure her dress wasn't dusty, if you catch my drift. From what I remember mom telling me, my niece settled down rather easily after that.

I see both sides, but lean towards Brother Tony's view. If they are in the 3+ y/o age, a dusting of their clothes should settle them down. I am against beatings, but a spanking does more than words could ever do, imo...

 

[annsni]

My mom(rest her soul) once took my niece(her granddaughter) to church with her and dad. During prayer, as she was kneeling, she could hear her running around. As soon as prayer was over, mom took her outside the sanctuary(where the water fountain was) and made sure her dress wasn't dusty, if you catch my drift. From what I remember mom telling me, my niece settled down rather easily after that.

I see both sides, but lean towards Brother Tony's view. If they are in the 3+ y/o age, a dusting of their clothes should settle them down. I am against beatings, but a spanking does more than words could ever do, imo...

See, I believe in spanking but spanking should not be the first course of action. Did this little girl understand what she was to be doing? Was she told "No, you need to sit down and be quiet." and taught how to do this? Was she ever taught to sit still any other time in her life?

I do think that we need to teach our kids from an early age that there are times we are to just sit. If I take them to the doctor's office or bring them to church or have dinner at a restaurant, they need to be taught how to sit and sometimes that takes a few times to get them to understand what you mean - and that you mean it. I do not spank for first time offenses - especially if the children do not understand the rules and boundaries in this area. That would be like a cop giving you a ticket for a law you had no awareness about because it was not told to you!

 

[SaggyWoman]

Same here. I would do this.

I would also develop a relationship with the parents which hopefully would allow you to do some parenting teaching on discipline.