I am a firm believer in a Sunday bag. I don’t show up to church with a pen I am hoping to entertain my baby for 3 hours with.
If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear
– and I think that goes for church with kids as well (or any place you need your kids to be quiet). 🙂
Here are my 5“truths” for church bags, or a quiet bag.
If you liked this post, be sure to check out my post about my courseFamily Routines:
1. Make it a special bag.
Designate one bag as quiet bag. Have a special place to store it and the kids NEED to know it doesn’t get messed with during the week. My kids, on occasion, have found their ways to the thisbag — and they didn’t make that mistake twice. Check out this cute one on Amazon.
2. Find things that are FUN and QUIET to go in it.
Up until my kids are about 3 — I do include toys in the bag. It’s hard to keep your attention with just books before that age. They’re were always quiet toys. A “find it” toy, a little doll, finger puppets (I love the ones from Ikea). Obviously, they need to be age appropriate. Prior to nursey, you need a LOT of toys. Don’t be afraid of bringing a full bag of toys.
I’m careful to divvy out the toys, and try to keep some “new” for Sunday school and Relief Society (some days I am better at this than others). If money isn’t as much of an issue — Costco often has great options for you {and aren’t often expensive}. Sometimes I’d give a present for my little one’s birthday, I’d covertly steal it and add it to the church bag! Be sure to check out the post I wrote later on what toys are in my quiet bag! In case you don’t have time to click over, favorites of mine are these, this and that, and lately we’ve totally been loving these!
3. Those toys are ONLY for Sundays.
You don’t play with them during the week. The end. They are ONLY for church.
If you’re looking for great ways to help your family run more smoothly — check out my course Family Systems — it has tons of ideas (like this one) that can truly help your family!
4. I had quite a collection of quiettoys.
I was able to rotate through them, and this is the ideal. I didn’t spend much money on them. I found them at Goodwill, or garage sales. You just need to keep your eyes open for new, fun toys that will be age appropriate for whatever you need. Baby toys are easy to find at those places (and they alwasy had a nice dunk in bleach before my kids saw them). There’s lots of cool books at Goodwill, etc. My rotation system, similar to my shirt rotation system was kept in a filing cabinet type drawer. I just put the last used toys at the back, and the newer toys at the front. Again, the only time my kids saw these toys was at church. I always make sure my kids had crayons and a notebook/coloringbook/workbook in their bags. Those are the best (but my kids ebb and flow with their love of coloring).
5. I actually had a separate box for quiet toys at other meetings.
Being that I was the PTO/PTA queen for a long time while Princess P was tiny, she needed to have a lot of distractions while I was at meetings. I didn’t need those toys to be quite as “reverent” though at PTO meetings. I found some cool polly pocket sets, cool “all in one” coloring books. Again, I just kept my eyes open. Because I had SO many meetings (often 2/week) I needed separate toys for that.
A couple other things:
* I did bring food to church once my kids were able to eat solids. It is a fun and exciting thing for new eaters, AND, it’s quiet! BUT, I really try not to bring that out during sacrament meeting. It’s a personal choice, and it probably wouldn’t be the same choice if we had sacrament meeting last. At least with food in my “back pocket” i knew I’d have something for those other hours. I think it also helps keep the chapel a “special” place where we just don’t eat. Again, a personal choice. AND, when I come early for choir right now I do bring cereal in a bag with a groggy P since it’s so early. So, it’s a flexible rule. :
** The quiet bag dwindles as my kids get older. The amount, the size, and the items. By the time they are baptized, the bag is eliminated. It is replaced with a scripture bag that usually has a notebook and some colored pencils in it (and, obviously scriptures).
Anyway, for me, my kids learning to be quiet is REALLY important, but I don’t have overly ambitious goals with them sitting for long periods with nothing to do AND being quiet. Princess P had a lot of toys as she was tiny, and at this point, she has a couple of books and a coloring item (be it a notebook, or a coloring book). I sometimes throw in some stickers if I’m feeling like a giver. That bag, goes with Drew after sacrament meeting. Nothing bugs me more than kids bringing a giant bag of fun into Primary. Take it from them, people.
So, what did you do for church, or quiet, bags? I knowyou are your child’s parent for a reason — and my kids did better with a little distraction. The last thing I needed was kids hating church. They can save that for when they’re primary president. {kidding} {mostly}
** If you enjoyed this post, you might also find my new Creating Quiet Bags post interesting — you can even sign-up to learn how to host a busy bag swap here:
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Some of my other MomHackerposts:
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