Sunday School & Childrens church

we have separate leaders and workers for each of our back-to-back services.

No CC worker misses more than one Sunday per month.

We "flip-flop" worship and Sunday school as well; thus, all kids that do CC one hour are in Sunday school--a totally different environment--in the other.

 

My kids are 4, 3, and 1.5.

The one year old goes into nursery. I wouldnt start training her to sit in service until she is 2, probably right around the time baby #4 heads in, as while he/she is very little, we will keep him/her in big church with us. (due in May)

I do know for certain that my 3 and 4 year olds get basically nothing out of the messages. I dont think that means that they arent getting anything out of it at all though.

I was raised Catholic. Catholics are not big on nurseries, so ever since being a teeny tiny baby, I sat in mass with my parents. I think what I got out of it was that God was real. God was important. Church was serious.

I dont have a baptist background going to childrens church, but what it looks like to me when I drop my kids off, are mostly just playing, hearing a bible story, coloring or doing a craft, and singing some songs. I know for certain that my 3 and 4 year olds get nothing out of that either. For Awana, we memorize a verse each week, but even with me taking the time to explain what the verse means and helping them practice it, Im still not sure that they are actually getting much out of the actual scripture at this age.

Most of the things they understand right now are simple rights and wrongs and "that isnt pleasing to God" and "this isnt pleasing to God". Im not a parenting expert by any means, but it seems as though my particular children wouldnt be able to grasp much more than that anyhow.

I am no longer Catholic, obviously, but I take what I got there as a kid seriously. I question the wisdom in sending kids away to age segregated groups for fun kid church for every single service. I think its okay to have Sunday School, or Awana, or Childrens choir (all of which my children participate in) but I do also see a need for kids, even very young kids to see the seriousness and importance of the adult worship time. I believe that somewhere along the lines, their interest perks up, especially if the faith is truly lived out in the home and its importance stressed.

Its the constant age segregation thing that gets me too I think. This isnt really just for kids, but also for folks my age. Someone in my situation in life, would highly benefit from a Titus2 type of woman. I think the age segregation makes even meeting this type of woman very difficult, but thats besides the point.

As I mentioned, hubby and I dont see eye to eye on it. It doesnt cause fights, but rather it seems like we end up being too casual on it. We cant make a decision set in stone about it because we know how the other one feels. He doesnt feel like putting his foot down per se on the issue, and I dont feel like its my place to put my foot down. Obviously, we need to just talk some more about it and come to a decision.