I found this article online while I was searching for "is it ok to give my kids religious books during mass", haha!
Abby, being 8, obviously does wonderfully. We have been to mass before when she was younger, and we also attended an Anglican church for quite a while, so this is all very familiar to her in many ways. She can follow along fairly well, and sits and listens well. We also have been going to the mass that has Children's Liturgy of the Word for 5-8 year olds, so she went to that and really enjoyed it - problem being that Will was QUITE upset that she left. He kept wanting to know where she was. With us homeschooling, he is obviously used to her being around the majority of the time. He did not like her disappearing like that. Now, Will does very well I think, for a 2 (almost 3) year old. Especially for his personality type, which is turned on high energy all the time. Sitting still is something this boy does not comprehend (unless Diego is on, in THAT case...). So really I am very proud of how he has been doing. If he begins to get too restless or loud, I take him out and give him a minute to compose himself and pull in the reigns, and then we come back in when he is ready. However, I wonder if other people are bothered by him. Sometimes I feel as if we are getting looks, and if I am doing the right thing in having him in there with us at mass. There is a nursery offered by the Sisters, but the more I thought about it, I really wanted him to be with us, as a family. Especially if I believe that the Eucharist is really Jesus (which, I think I have been persuaded of that, and not just in an intellectual way, since yesterday at mass I caught myself gazing longingly while I went up only to receive a blessing), then of course I should want my child to be there in the physical presence of Him as well. But, I worry about other peoples stares. If they are thinking I should just take him to the nursery that is offered. Would it be inappropriate for me to give him some religious books or items to sit with? I don't want to upset or offend others, but I feel like my son has every right to be at mass with Jesus as much as anyone else. Anyone else struggle with this? How do you deal with it?
Children should be at Mass. I can not wrap my mind around the nursery thing. You should have no guilt about having him there, about him acting like a 2-year-old, or bringing him appropriate books!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to clarify, not EVERYONE has made me feel like Will shouldn't be in the mass. There have been several people who are very sweet to him and make sure when we are doing the "peace" to include him as well. We even spoke with one of the priests when we were being shown the nursery after our first mass a couple weeks ago, and he said if we made it through the first mass then there was no need to consider the nursery at all, that he should be with us in the mass. So there are many who have also been welcoming, but I personally get very uncomfortable getting looks (which, I could very well be imagining out of my own self consciousness too - my husband says I overreact, haha, and I won't argue that with him). But often it is the negative things that make more of an impression on us than the positive.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand how you feel. As parents, we have an obligation to really try and keep the children quiet in Mass out of respect for the other people there. But people who have no tolerance for children are just flat being uncharitable, and you shouldn't worry about looks, etc. It's hard though, I know.
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