Inapro-pro

Gettin' it off my chest? 

So, recently I read an article about ways to keep your kids quiet in a church service.  It was written with LDS meetings in mind, since the first full hour of  our church services are with our kids. Although an "in general" type of essay, the woman who wrote it was obviously Mormon.  The article itself gave some good tips, like spending time at home with your kids on the couch practicing being reverent and reading quietly and all that jazz. It also suggested things like NOT taking your kids out and letting them play, but rather helping them to get used to staying in the meeting, and keeping snacks to a minimum. All good things.  Not disputing that.

  What frustrated me was the comment section. 

Every comment I read was something to the effect of

 "Great article!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLL the parents in our ward take thier kids out in to the hall and let them play! Dumb parents!" 

OR

  "I want to pass this out to my congregation!  Our services are very loud and none of the parents know how to control their unruly kids!"

OR

 "The back pew gets so messy from this one family who let their children eat anything!"

Seriously? 

Can we all please stop judging each other at church?  

My kids are unbelievably loud.  For real, they have 2 volumes: 1) Blow your ears out, and 2) Asleep.  

They also have 2 speeds: 1)Crazy-run-jump-bounce off the walls, and 2) Asleep.  

I practice with them.  I try.  I do my best.

I blame Michael's ADD genes, but that's beside the point :)

 Here's a confession: I KINDA HATE SUNDAYS.  It is in no way a day of rest for me at this point in my life.  This hasn't always, nor will it always be the case, but as of right this moment- Sundays are stressful. 

And yeah, sometimes I feel judged. 

I consider it a success if we only have to take Nolan out once or twice for a time-out because he shrieks so high and loud that all the old folks hearing aids are squealing.  No joke. 

So here's my point: 

Not all children are created equal in terms of thier capabilities to remain quiet.

Not all parents with loud kids "just aren't trying."

And for heaven's sake, if you have quiet kids, thank your lucky stars.

 AND, last but not least: don't read the comments section :)

By the way, one of our finest tactics for keeping Nolan quiet in church is to steal one of the plastic sacrament cups and keep re-filling it with water.  He sips it and then says "MOE! MOE!" 

 Is that wrong? Or maybe just completely inappropriate?