My bishop is awesome: assigned seating

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by fusnik11

The early church screamed hallelujah during meetings.

I think they would be ok with a three year old walked down an aisle.

Now we just yell "ALOHA!!!"

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

Your expectation is not the same as mine. My expectation is that parents will discipline their kids and teach them to be reverent. We have five kids, ages 11, 9, 7, 5, and 3. Here are our rules for sacrament meeting which we've enforced from the day they were born:

- No sleeping on the benches or floor. If you are small enough to sleep in mom or dad's lap then that is OK. No lolling, playing on the floor, going under or over benches, turning around, etc. If you can manage to sleep sitting up without lolling around then you might be able to get away with it unless Dad catches you sleeping and you are unlucky enough to be within arms length. If that is the case then you will get one of the following wake-up calls: elbow in the rips, flick of your earlobe, or knuckle crack on the head.
- No food or drink in Sacrament meeting aside from a bottle. Once you are off the bottle then that's the end of it. Thus, all forms of sippy cups, juice, cheerios, etc. are banned.
- No toys. No actions figures, barbies, books, games, etc. Nothing.
- No going out to get drinks. The only going out voluntarily is to use the potty and then you've got to convince Dad that you really do need to potty and are not just bored and want to look around. If you do have to go potty then a parent must accompany you to ensure that you don't dilly-dally and wander around out in the hall. If are old enough to be responsible then you can go by yourself but if you take longer than expected you will have some 'splainin' to do.
- If you go out of the chapel involuntarily it is because you are being naughty and are now busted. You will be taken to an empty classroom (or the car if none is available) and you will be made to sit on Dad's lap with your arms folded. You can cry and scream all you want but in Dad's experience you never last more than 10 minutes before you are ready to concede that sitting quietly in the chapel where at least you can observe people is much better than being stuck in an empty classroom and being forced to sit with your arms folded.
- Children are allowed to draw/color on the program the last 20 minutes of the meeting.

After enforcing these rules consistently over the years with our five children, we've found that by the age of about 14 months to 18 months, the kids understand what is expected and they sit still through church without too much effort on the parents part. The younger ones have learned what is expected from the older ones and have required even less effort.

I've often heard parents say "but my kids just can't sit quietly in church without their juice, crackers, coloring books, crayons, playing on the floor, action figures, games, notes, etc." My only response to that: "horse hockey".

Sheesh. You are truly hard-core, buddy.

[SeattleUte]

I feel sorry for the kids because SMs are so boring. Devout Mormons admit here that maybe two SMs per year are not deadly boring and/or just plain bad. And they wonder why the kids get antsy. Parents have PDA's for checking baseball scores or reading War and Peace or the Iliad. The poor kids; they're smarter than we think.

Now if there were soaring gothic architecture, gory statuary, lovely classical music, exotic Latin incantations, insence, or, alternatively, a drum set and electric guitars and gospel rock and professional firebrand clergy prancing around with a cordless mike, the kids (and the adults) wouldn't be get so bored. I've even seen sexual innuendo that amuses. A while back I went to a cello recital for kids at an evangelical church and there was a large stained glass window behind the podium and the drum set, etc., with a rendition of Christ in the clouds, and below his feet the phrase, "I come quickly." (This passage lends credence to the steamy Mary M. theories, doesn't it.)

[SeattleUte]

Sorry I killed this facinating thread. Oh well, not the first time.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Sorry I killed this facinating thread. Oh well, not the first time.

Is it posible to somehow quickly and easily see who has the most last posts on the htreads on this site? Who is the champion thread killer, IOW?