"The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. 2:20)."Parents should not only teach, but command, their children to enter the sanctuary with sobriety and reverence."—Child Guidance, P. 540.
Ideal churches provide a mothers' room for all mothers of infants and small children up to three or four years of age. This room has movable chairs and equipment and a picture window that enables the mothers to see as well as to hear the services while they are caring for their children.
Even churches that have already been built can provide a room for the mothers. With little expense a section of the main auditorium can be used that will not curtail the floor space, but will isolate this part where the mothers can take their children and still receive the blessing they need for their good and the good of the children they are training.
Until such a room is provided, the head deaconess should consider it a part of her duties to help make the worship hour all that it should be to the mothers as well as to the rest of the congregation. She might arrange for the mothers to take turns in caring for the little ones in a special room during the church services.
In churches where no facilities are provided, the mother should sit near an exit, where the least disturbance will enable her to make a hasty retreat.
Babies and children should not be allowed to disturb divine services at any time. It is in-everent for a mother to remain in the church while her child is crying or fretting. Occasionally a parent is found who has the misconception that keeping a child right in the house of God no matter how much he may be disturbing is teaching him proper church decorum. It is hard for an intelligent mind to understand such reasoning. If the child is too young to comprehend what it means to be quiet, he should be taken out the moment he begins to fret. It is discourteous to the minister, inconsiderate to the audience, and disrespectful to God to allow a child to attract attention either by his cuteness or his misbehavior. Take crying children out immediately.
One- to Three-Year-Olds
As a general thing an infant under one year of age causes very little disturbance in church. He is put in his bassinet, given a little pat, and is soon fast asleep. But it is entirely a different story with the one- to three-year-olds. However, the child can and should be taught proper church conduct very early in life. Never should children show disrespect for the house of God by running in that holy place. Whether the child is taken to the mothers' room or is in the main auditorium, he should learn that he is in the house of God and that he must treat it with reverence. Being in the mothers' room does not for a moment give him license to show disrespect to the church.
On the other hand, to force a child to sit perfectly still with nothing to do for sixty minutes or longer each week is teaching him to hate church. If we adults had to sit still for an hour where the service was spoken in a language unknown to us, we, too, would dread the repeated events. If children are taken to Sabbath school and church in the morning and to another service in the afternoon, they are likely to hate church and dread the Sabbath. Thoughtful parents, including ministers' wives, limit the number of services a child attends, and refuse to punish him by forcing him to attend institutes, conventions, and all-day rallies.
We want our children to love to go to church, to look forward to it as a privilege, to enjoy the Sabbath service. Therefore we endeavor to teach them to like church by providing something of interest to them. Mother could have a little bag all packed and ready for Sabbath that contains various things to interest a little tot during the church service. Of course, no two bags will have the same items, but some might have a magic slate, a rubber doll, a woolly lamb, molding clay with paper towels to protect the church pews, colored sticks to represent people, picture books, paper, and pencils. No bag should have anything in it that will make a noise if dropped, or that will roll noisily, or that will litter the floor. Noiseless toys, color books, and special objects used only for church service will help the child to look forward to these occasions and at the same time teach him that he is not to disturb the hour of worship.
Parents will gain much if they plan the church service for their small children. Before church service begins, one parent could go to the Sabbath school room and get the child at the close of Sabbath school, take him to the toilet, give him his drink, and then take him for a little walk around the block. These three items are essential if good behavior is expected.
The two- or three-year-old is usually fairly interested in the opening exercises of the service, at least enough to pay some attention to them. He might enjoy "taking part" by holding a songbook while the congregation is singing. But when the sermon begins it is time for the little bag to be opened. If, after all these preventive measures have been taken, the child refuses all objects offered him, is cross and fretful, and will not quiet down in spite of mother's whispered reminders to be good, he should be taken out. Finally, Mother should examine him to see whether he has fever or shows other signs of illness. If he is well, he should be switched and taken back to his seat. It will not take many such experiences to teach him that he is to be reverent in the house of God. On the other hand, if the child learns that by fretting and crying in church he can entice his mother to take him outside and walk with him during service, he will certainly keep her walking Sabbath after Sabbath. But if he learns that acting naughty brings a punishment of some kind, he will soon learn proper decorum. A child who is taught to obey at home is not likely to cause much disturbance in church. "The home is a school where all may learn how they are to act in the church."--Child Guidance, p. 549.
Four Years and Up
Of course, children differ greatly in their growth and development, but as a rule we think that by the time a child has reached his fourth birthday he should be ready to sit in the main church auditorium and begin to enjoy the preaching service.
There is only one place for children to sit in church and that is with their parents. The best children will find it hard to be good away from them, and the worst ones will find it much easier to do the right thing when they are between Father and Mother. Proper church decorum calls for the family to sit together.
We go to church to hear the message; it is God's appointed way of communicating with His people. Our children should be taught this and how to enjoy the sermon and how to listen to it. The child's education in listening begins by his being asked to make a mark every time the minister uses the word "God" or "Jesus" or some other key word. In this manner he begins to learn the art of listening. If the minister tells stories, and we certainly hope that he does, question the child at home to see how much of them he can remember. As he grows older he can take down the texts and make notes and discuss these at home with his parents. Thus he will derive much benefit from the sermon and will enjoy it too. Perhaps some adults could profit by these methods also.
"Each hearer should strive to understand each presentation of Bible truth as God's message to him, to be received by faith and put into practice in the daily life. Parents should explain to their children the words spoken from the pulpit, that they also may understand and have that knowledge which if put into practice brings abundant grace and peace."—/bid., p. 531.
Many five-minute lessons during the week are worth more than one long sermon Sabbath morning. The child that is accustomed to having morning and evening worship in the home learns reverence so much quicker than the one who is deprived of the family altar service. A small child cannot concentrate very long on any one thing. The short worship periods give him the idea in small enough portions for him to comprehend, whereas the "endless" church service is too much for him to understand.
