Babies at Church?

Consolation
Mon, 24 Nov 2014 19:04:43 +0000

My church usually has the children in the service for the first 10-15 minutes or so, which sometimes includes a children’s story, and then we sing them out with their teachers. Part of the announcements at the beginning is to tell people that if their children can’t take being still any longer they are welcome to take them into the adjacent parish hall, where the service is piped in and their kids can play in comfort. It is phrased in a very kind and welcoming way. Some services are inter-generational, and designed differently as a result. When my S was a baby, at another church, always left him in the nursery (which was a coop of parents).

I can’t stand it when people have kids in church who cry, talk incessantly, bang the pew doors repeatedly, or otherwise disturb the congregation, especially during meditative moments. As a choir member, I particularly hate it when we are presenting a serious piece of music that we have labored long and hard on and somebody’s kid destroys it.

This reminds me of a Youth Ensembles concert I went to years ago. These concerts were full of families, since the performers were kids. Normally, people with very young children sat near an exit, just in case, as any sensible parent would do. But this one time some idiot woman sat in the from row of the concert hall with a baby, who cried on and off through the first three ensembles. Finally, when the youth symphony was playing, the conductor stopped between movements, turned around, and said “Not everyone likes Prokofiev. But if you are going to cry, you should leave the concert hall.” Thankfully, she got up and left.