The Problem: Bethel has been quite noisy in church. At our new church, children are involved in the first part of the service (singing, Scripture reading, prayer, and offering), and Bethel has been giving a constant running commentary: “All done singing” “That’s Pastor Tyson” “Praying now?” and so on. I wouldn’t mind her talking if she could do it quietly (because she’s following the service and “on topic”), but all my efforts at trying to get a whisper have been utterly ineffective.

Solution: Before I discipline for loudness/ talking, I want to make sure that she knows how to whisper. So although I am not a fan of “playing church” at home to practice being quiet, I do want to play some whisper games (completely unrelated to church) to cultivate the skill of quiet speech. Once she knows how, and I know she knows how, then I need to think through the consequences. Simply taking her out of the service and letting her play in the nursery is not unpleasant for her, and unlikely to be an effective consequence. We’ll see.

For the last several weeks, I’ve been bothered by the Sunday performance, but quickly forgot about doing anything about it. Perhaps writing down my intentions will help. I’ve got a nasty cold, so vocal games aren’t real practical right now. Solution will have to wait.

Similar Posts:

• Sunday Update
• Why I Love the Nursery
• Whisper Update
• Learning to Sit Still in Church
• “Bringing a Bible Is a Waste of Time”

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Filed under: Attention, In the Car and on the Go