Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Answering Your Child's Questions

Last Sunday, we went to church.  We stayed in the crying room.  There were several other parents and kids there.  The oldest child was playing with his siblings.  He must be around 5 to 6 years old.  Sadly, he was the noisiest among the kids.  Then at one time when he got really loud; his mother told him to sit down.  He looked at his mom and asked her "why?".  His mom said again with a very firm voice, "sit down".  He questioned his mother "Why?"  for three times.    The mom never answered his question.  Finally, the child told his mom "I want to play" and he continued to play.

Then the mom grabbed him and sat him on her lap.  She whispered something to him and he stopped for maybe 30 secs then he went back playing loudly.

This is very unfortunate.  The child is already in the age of understanding.  It was so easy to answer the question.  She could have easily told him that he is supposed to behave while inside the church.  There were other kids his age who can sit quietly in the church.  I understand that the crying room is for noisy kids but it doesn't mean that the room is a play room and we should just let our kids do whatever they want to do in it.  The other younger kids were more behaved than him.  If the child were 1 or 3, it's easier to understand why he couldn't behave but at 5?  Geesh! I don't know how I should react or feel about it but I feel guilty because I got so annoyed with the situation.  Oh Lord, forgive me.  :(