I grew up in a fussier church that was more old-fashioned and it was still very common to hear and see the screaming child being dragged out the back to the basement where they would get their spanking. We had some basement journeys but mostly my parents waited until we got home. And, looking back, the infractions were so minor. I wonder what even my parents of back then would think if they could travel to the future and see how our current church tolerates kids being kids. My parents have visited my church and have no complaints so I guess they mellowed over time as well. I think it would be unfortunate if all the kids were unruly and no one could hear the pastor but sometimes kids just act out. Whenever a youngster starts to scream I do my best not to turn and look. I keep my eyes forward. I've noticed most everybody does this too. Sometimes people turn to look when you hear the definite THUD of a kid smacking themself on the pew which tends to happen when they are flopping around. Those hurt! And sure enough, seconds later the kid is screaming the roof down. Our church also has lots of special needs' kids (including mine) so there are going to be some behaviours as well that seem age inappropriate. I do try to get my kids to sit still and be quiet and we've often had the mid-service separation where one goes on one side and the other one on the other side. We bring paper and pencils for the kids to draw though we have the strict rule of no drawing or reading during singing or prayers. That is our personal rule as parents. The church doesn't mandate that stuff.
Our church had a "children's service" for the preschoolers before the lockdowns. Even though our Sunday School programs, kids clubs and VBS have all gone back to normal that one hasn't returned. We don't have an official nursery program but there is a room at the back where nursing moms can go. My kids went in there A LOT when they were toddlers. They were THOSE kids and I just didn't want to subject the congregation to all that energy. Maybe it's back to my roots of the fussier/traditional church. Speaking of, my old church must have gotten sick of the screaming basement visits so they did eventually do a Children's Church but by the time they invented it I was exactly 1 year too old to go so my siblings got to leave for the last half of the service and I had to sit there quiet and still. My parents also relented and let us draw during the service. I listened better too. I have distinct memories of messages that I heard while drawing rabbits in their burrows (a favourite subject of mine).
The only time we got a nasty look in our current church was from a visitor who also was an older lady. She gave my son such a horrible look and then glared at me with a tsk tsk. I felt awful and just wanted to cry. My son was a toddler and not yet diagnosed but his noises were happy and I was already stressing about how loud he was all the time and non-responsive to our commands and worrying about why he wasn't like the other kids his age and we had just gone through yet another miscarriage so I was overly sensitive too.
Our church had a "children's service" for the preschoolers before the lockdowns. Even though our Sunday School programs, kids clubs and VBS have all gone back to normal that one hasn't returned. We don't have an official nursery program but there is a room at the back where nursing moms can go. My kids went in there A LOT when they were toddlers. They were THOSE kids and I just didn't want to subject the congregation to all that energy. Maybe it's back to my roots of the fussier/traditional church. Speaking of, my old church must have gotten sick of the screaming basement visits so they did eventually do a Children's Church but by the time they invented it I was exactly 1 year too old to go so my siblings got to leave for the last half of the service and I had to sit there quiet and still. My parents also relented and let us draw during the service. I listened better too. I have distinct memories of messages that I heard while drawing rabbits in their burrows (a favourite subject of mine).
The only time we got a nasty look in our current church was from a visitor who also was an older lady. She gave my son such a horrible look and then glared at me with a tsk tsk. I felt awful and just wanted to cry. My son was a toddler and not yet diagnosed but his noises were happy and I was already stressing about how loud he was all the time and non-responsive to our commands and worrying about why he wasn't like the other kids his age and we had just gone through yet another miscarriage so I was overly sensitive too.
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