Sacrament meeting, for my little family of rambunctious boys, is always an adventure. A noisy, crazy, headache-inducing adventure. I am usually in the hall with Austin, who is freaking out because he misses a nap and lunch. Matt is usually in the hall with Derek, who only gets to go in the hall for time-out and has been averaging 3 time-outs in the span of an hour and ten minutes. Zack is left alone on the bench, or sometimes, if my brother is there that week, he will stay with him.
Well, things had gotten to a point where Matt and I were both very frustrated with Derek, especially. We were trying to think of things we could do better. That very week we had a lesson on the Sacrament (based on a conference talk by Elder Oaks) called, "Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament." We had a good discussion and a lot women offered tips that have helped their families. My favorite one was that we rush around like crazy before church, until the moment we walk in the door of the chapel and then expect our kids to be angelic throughout the meeting. Based on what this one lady said she and her family do, we made a plan. Starting today, we were all going to be ready for church 45 minutes before it started. I KNOW. I KNOW!!! (Matt and I agreed to this before we remembered that today was daylight savings and had stayed up til midnight watching a movie with my brother. The reason we are ready so early, is so that we have some time to relax and spend together as a family before church. So we (I) got up at the crack of dawn in order to get my shower and breakfast for everyone out of the way. The kids and I were all dressed (including all the church bags packed) around 10:10. The sat really quietly and watched a scripture movie and had a snack and then we had time to talk about our expectations for them in Sacrament meeting, including the promise of a great treat if they were reverent. We had family prayer and made sure to mention that we were all having a hard time being reverent and asked for help. And....we were early to church which means we got to sit on a bench and not hard metal chairs, (always easier to keep the kids contained that way). And, Derek and Austin were both the most reverent they have ever been. EVER! We did not have to take the kids out once during the meeting. They still fought over sippy cups and crayons, but we were able to resolve things quietly and Derek especially tried so hard. We told them over and over how proud we were of them and how great it was to sit together as a family and not have some of us in the hall. Not to say that every week will go as well as this week, (that would be a true miracle!) but having them calm down before we even got to church was so nice. There was no, hurry, hurry, get over here NOW! Just some chill family time before church. Just thought I would share, because I thought it was a great idea, I wish I could claim it as my own! And, although I really need a nap now, it was worth it to have a Sacrament meeting where I could listen.
4 comments:
Good job, Mom! You are amazing, cause I know Derek. You are amazing. Isn't it fun and it will be worth it, someday.
Laurie, this was just what I needed to hear! Yesterday was such a crazy day for me and I was desperately trying to figure out a better way to do Sunday mornings. I'm going to try this next week. Thanks.
Love,
Amy
I think this is a great idea, we are always rushing to church (and school for that matter). We need to try this!
That was such a great idea, and good for you for doing it. When I was a young mother, a women who had 7 kids, told us that she made sure everybodies church clothes were clean and ready to go even down to socks and shoes, by Thursday. That sounded great to me we were always looking for the church shoes and socks. But as great of an idea as it was I just didn't do it. And Matt is awesome for doing it. Mike would never have agreed to be ready that early he's a last minute Sunday guy!
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