Bernie and I went to church today. We've been shopping churches between weekends when we are too tired to go at all, and we tried a new one today. I have never been an enthusiastic church-goer, and I would desperately love to find something enjoyable about the experience, but I really haven't found it yet.
Today might have been the first exception to the rule, but I'll never know, because some woman let her 3 year old whine and bawl continuously (yes, CONTINUOUSLY) throughout the whole service. At the top of her lungs. Apparently without any effort from the mother to shut her up, and definitely without any attempt to remove the kid from the church so that others could attempt to understand the pastor. I just wanted to kill her and her kid.
Here's what the sermon sounded like:
"I would like to teach the sermon from the book of NOOOOOOO MOOOOOMMMMYYY where Saint Peter WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA on the road NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DONNNNWANNNNNAAAAAAAAAA and said to them NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO brothers and sisters WAAAAAAANTTTT DAAAADDDDYYYYYYY....."
I noticed while I was trying to ignore the shouting and whining and bawling that many other children under the age of 3 were present, and some of them were not quiet, either.
So here's my rant:
WHY would someone bring a child that couldn't understand one single thing about what's going on to a church service? The mother isn't getting any benefit, either, since she's constantly picking up the child and bouncing her, trying to get her to look at a picture book, etc. Why not leave? Instead, hundreds of people are denied their chance to worship. Look at how churches go out of their way to give you a way to avoid this:
- There is a free day-care at every church I've ever been to, to keep the kids happy while their parents worship.
- There are usually 'quiet pews' behind glass where families with loud kids can sit and not disrupt the service.
- There is also a 'children's church' where the kids can get a little bible teaching seperate from the adults.
I'm not a big fan of ultra-conservative denominations, but in a Southern Baptist church, an usher would have come to this woman and escorted her out. And I would have stood up and applauded.
I'm telling all of you this - When Bernie and I have kids, they will not be coming to movies or to church or to weddings, funerals, etc, until they are capable of being quiet for extended periods. If my kids aren't a joy to be around, I won't force anyone to be around them.
I can only hope that there is a special circle of hell for inconsiderate parents.
6 comments:
The majority of people go to church to be seen more than to worship. I've always seen church and, by extension, religion a huge waste of time.
Yeah, I'm still not comfortable being in a public place when Elise decides she's had enough and starts to scream (it's never a cute little cry, it's always a blood curling scream). I'm taking her to my sister's wedding in July though. One, it's going to be outside, two, the ceremony is going to be very very short and three, it'll be the perfect opportunity to show her off to my numerous family members that are making the trip all the way from Belgium.
If she screams, just get up quietly and walk with her. We took Athena to both my cousin's wedding and my brother's wedding. She wasn't happy all the time and I'm sure there will be plenty of family more than willing to help out. It's part of having a kid. Really, don't sweat it.
I know, I'll get used to it eventually. She started fussing the other day in Hallmark and I guess I spent five minutes too many reading the cards. Thankfully, the store is run by a bunch of friendly grandmas that rushed over to play with her. She loved the attention and was quite a hit!
That's why I only take my kids to Wal-Mart...it's so big, you can't tell where noises are coming from, there's a giant echo echo echo :) jk. I also take them to Big Lots.
Amen!!
Unless the kid is your own, and even then not always, a screaming kid is equivalent to nails on a chalkboard.
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