Meltdown

Yesterday we went to my church with my parents. It is the exact opposite of our church in every way right down to offering children's church. I've never given the kids the option to attend before but the service is very long and much more spectator than participatory and so I asked if they would rather go with the other kids or stay with us. They both voted for children's church. Only they didn't understand how it worked.

I took Kyri to 2-year olds and she went off to play. Then we took Ben to the 5-year old area. An hour into it, I checked on Kyri and found her deep in tears and being held by a nursery worker. She had cried the whole time and when she could speak again, her first question was "Where's Ben?" It seems I've never left her without Ben and she didn't realize she would be completely on her own.

When we picked up Ben, I expected to find a happy boy. He also began to sob when he saw us. He recounted horrible stories on the way home: a child had hit him, he had fallen down (he had a long red gash to prove it), they had a snack (Goldfish) but he knew better than to eat any of it for fear of allergies, and on top of it, he was having a major reaction to something in the air and had to have a Benadryl as soon as we got him. This surprised me. Ben is a huge people person and I've never seen him be insecure about being left.

We assured both kids we are happy to have them stay with us in church and they don't have to do that again. Several hours later they had calmed down and believed us.