Today is Stake Conference. For those who aren't familiar with the terminology, Stake Conference is a twice-a-year meeting of several local congregations. There is no Sunday school, no children's meeting...it's 2 hours of hymns and speakers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not denigrating Stake Conference. I've been to several in my life, and each one has been uplifting, inspiring, spiritual, and motivational. But these 4 things are hard to experience when you've got children.
I find that most Sundays I spend my time at church focused on keeping my children quiet so that other people can hear the speakers and sing the hymns and feel uplifted, inspired, spiritual, and motivated. I'm not sure I've actually heard an entire church meeting since February 2004. I usually hear snippets of what's going on: "I'm so grateful BYU won the game yesterday!", "And my neighbor replied, I've had problems with raccoons too.", "So I reached for the tire iron, and...". Can you understand now why I get very little out of church?
Nevertheless, I am able to maintain some control because on a regular Sunday I can use this line: "Do you want to go to your class after this?...(wait for the inevitable "yes" response)..."Okay, then let's color/read/play quietly right now." It works time after time after time.
At Stake Conference, however, I have no leverage. I am reduced to making empty threats such as, "Stop coloring on the chairs...stop coloring on the chairs... stop...coloring...on...the...chairs...or I'll take you to the parking lot!" Which is where the kids would rather be anyway, so it's a win-win as far as they're concerned.
And so as parents, we made an executive family decision awhile ago. We won't be attending too many (read: none) Stake Conferences at least until after Sadie turns 3. By then, Amy will be 5 and Lucy will be 7, and old enough to entertain themselves quietly, and hopefully catch a word or two of what's going on. In the meantime, Stake Conference Sundays for us mean taking our kids to a wonderful Lutheran church where the people are friendly and loving, and having the kids attend Sunday school there.
I think this is important because I want my kids to know firsthand that even people who don't attend our church love Jesus, and have the same dedication to God and their families as we do. I want them to feel uplifted, inspired, spiritual, motivated, and comfortable wherever they may be worshipping. And I absolutely LOVE the protestant church calendar. (This is one thing I wish the LDS church incorporated...there's something magical and wonderful and spiritual about the Advent, Epiphany, and Lenten seasons--not just Easter and Christmas.)
But I digress...the point is, we take the kids somewhere else occasionally because they still learn something about Jesus, they get to broaden their horizons by experiencing another religion that has many of the same beliefs we do, and there's usually juice and cookies afterward. Now THAT is what I consider a win-win.
4 comments:
Can I get a HIGH-FIVE!
It's stake conference here too and are we there? I think not. People without kids judge us I'm sure. I just want to tell them, just wait, one day you will understand.
My favorites are the old people who had kids at one time, but have forgotten what it's like to have little, rambunctious nose-miners.
Gotta loves the stares and whispers.
Oh yes! Gotta love the dirty looks and whispers. So nice.
I didn't realize that the stake conference was an actual State wide Stake conference. Mom and Dad said it was good and Pres. Monson actually spoke. OOPS!
With that said all 4 of us probably still wouldn't have come out of the church alive. Somebody wouldn't been killed during the service.
Sorry to miss President Monson...but on a good note, General Conference will be in 3 weeks. And that one gets piped right in through the TV!
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