Kids and Church

from the mom

Ben was happy to be back in church Sunday after missing a few weeks. He likes to follow along with the words to songs, working on learning to read. Until Kyrie I didn't realize what a little saint he is in church. She has presented quite a challenge in the last few months. If church was just about the sermon for us, I wouldn't bother going. I really can't say I've heard much of the sermons lately.

Sunday, I decided that at 18 months she doesn't need to nurse in the middle of church. She didn't take "no" for an answer very well. I'm VERY ready to wean her but made up my mind to let my kids nurse until two if they want to. She loves to pull me out of church for whatever reason and this one has always worked. Until now. M walked her around in the back for awhile and I heard a little bit of the sermon.

We had a pastor when I was young who would tell the children at the beginning of his sermon some key words he was going to be using. We were supposed to keep track of how many times those words were used. It was a great exercise in listening and kept us all quiet. I had thought Ben was too young for this until he visited my parent's church a month or so ago. My mom got him started and he at least understood the concept. We tried it Sunday with some words he reads: God, Son, Father, Jesus. We wrote those down and he made little marks next to each when he heard them. Sometimes his imagination got away with him and he heard things I didn't, but it definitely helped focus him on paying attention to the sermon. It is really a brilliant strategy. And for Ben who has horrible listening skills it serves many purposes. Unfortunately Kyri is too young for this exercise.