Church Training

Ever have a time where your kids are doing really well in church? They are sitting (mostly) still, listening well for their age, standing when its time to stand, working to pray when its time to pray, not being loud with their paper and pen....? Feels soooo nice to see that training you've worked so hard on bear some fruit!

But then.......all of a sudden....it seems like they are doing terrible in church! And overnight too! Wha???? This happened yesterday. My husband is the pastor of our church so I'm on my own during services. I was about to go bonkers yesterday. The amount of wriggling, whining, not wanting to sit in the services. Oh. My. The level of crazy energy and fighting that was going on before and after services...wow.

Thankfully I took time to stop and think. In the moment I did speak to them, but I didn't just blow up. I realized that this didn't happen overnight. This happened over time. So then I asked when and why did this happen? I was dealing with Morning Sickness for forever it felt like and was having to leave the service so I could eat and keep my stomach where it was supposed to be. At first they were fine with my olders keeping an eye on the youngers. But over time they started pushing their boundaries. With how sick I was feeling, I just wasn't fully aware.

And now. Here we are. Very poor church behavior. While they weren't being terrible (as in I wasn't having to take them out for correction), they weren't behaving as they should.

So! Time to crack down and do some serious training. How exactly am I doing this? Well this is what we've done so far and my plan for this week. Longer if needed, but I'm just focusing on a short period of time for my sanity.

• During our evening service last night I started jotting down quick notes of issues that were popping up. I know. Not the best time to do that, but I was barely able to listen because of the issues and I knew I would just forget in two seconds flat. Pregnancy Brain. It's a real thing.
• I called for a meeting to take place at 9:15 this morning. I told the kids they needed to have their chores done and could work on school work if time allowed. But I wanted them in their seats, at the table, by 9:15.
• For about 25 minutes we talked. Well, I instructed, encouraged and discipled and they listened. I had 11 items to go over with them. After going over 3-4, I would do a very quick review. When I had worked through my notes, I asked my oldest two if they thought I had left any out. They help with watching kids in church so I wanted to include them a bit.
• Next we lined four chairs up facing the couch. The oldest four sat on the couch and the youngest four each took a chair. For two minutes they had to just sit. That's all they had to do. Just sit and be quiet. For the 2yo this was a job and a half. For my almost 4yo, who is a character, it meant him trying to not do things to make others giggle. Oy.
• Tomorrow we will review my instructions from today and do a 3 minute practice time. I will likely read to them tomorrow so they can practice sitting still and listening. As we add time, we may listen to part of a sermon as additional practice.

Compared to a lot of moms/parents, I'm very strict about church behavior. I think most of this stems from not having my husbands help, so its more self preservation than anything. haha I also feel very strongly about learning from a young age to be still and quiet when its time to do so. My kids get *ample* opportunities to be loud and crazy. Psalm 46:10 starts with "Be still and know that I am God..." We can apply this in a very literal sense of keeping our bodies and mouths still so we can better engage in the worship of our Great God and so we can learn. It also keeps us from being a distraction to others who are trying to learn.

Getting to attend church is such a huge gift and responsibility, and we should treat it as such. We need to teach our children to value it. And I firmly believe this begins at a young age. Don't grow weary, mama! Galatians 6:9 💕