Saturday, December 5, 2009

Church update

So we did what our friends told us they did to keep their kids quiet in church,(a couple of posts down) two weeks in a row. I must say that having them sit on the couch THAT LONG was a bit much. We actually only made them sit like 15 minutes. (How in the world did they make their kids sit 60 minutes and not feel like the most horrible parents in the world?!!)

So we have actually come up with our VERY OWN way to get the kids to behave in church.

When our fourth child was born, we decided that we would no longer have snacks in church. (Not sure why we decided to do this right after I had number four…….. the child that I thought would make my life THAT much more overwhelming and impossible as it was………but we did)

The Sunday we had no snacks in church was brutal. We heard withdrawal cries all over the place.

I was about to go back to snacks at church, but thanks to a strong husband we made it alive and they have been fine every Sunday since.

So last Sunday, we realized that all the coloring and books we have been bringing to KEEP OUR KIDS QUIET were actually causing most of the noise.
One kid was screaming because he wanted a crayon the other kid had and so forth.
We decided to take EVERYTHING away and just have them……..sit.
IT WORKED!!!
When they had nothing else to do, they actually just sat there. It was awesome!!

So now, we are going to have NOTHING in our diaper bag……….except diapers and wipes.
No books, no paper, no pens…….NOTHING!!!

We may hear withdrawal cries for ONE Sunday……..like we did when the snacks went away, but I now know that it will only take ONE Sunday for them to get it.

I will update on this later, but in the mean time, wish me luck for tomorrow!!

And as for the idea our friends gave us, it actually works better if we do that when our kids are not behaving while other people are over.
My kids tend to get hyper when people come to visit me and they are like animals all over my house.
So they know our new rule that if they do not behave while someone is at our house, when that visitor leaves, they have to sit on the couch for the same amount of time that they misbehaved. (Arms folded and no talking)

We have been doing this for almost a month and it has worked GREAT!!!
If they don’t sit quiet on the couch, I tell them their time will be longer. That usually keeps them quiet for the amount of time they need to be on the couch.

It also works well while I am on the phone and they do not behave.

So our friend’s advise was still useful to us………just not for church. ;)

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