Children at the meetings, how did you cope

by Mrs Smith 29 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Mrs Smith

  My son was about 5 years old when we stopped going to the meetings. The other day I asked him what he remembers about them (His now 14 years old).

  He remembered the puzzles I bought him to play with during the meetings.

  He remembered that I packed a sandwich and some juice for him to eat in case he got hungry.

  When he got board I use to take him outside for a walk around the KH garden. \

  I also packed sweets for him that his dad and I use to eat aswell.

  I wasn't the only one walking around the garden with my child, other moms would be there too. Sometimes the moms would start chatting and let the kids run wild outside.

  No smacking my child for not sitting still. I couldn't wait for him to get restless so I could get out of there.
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  Mrs Smith

  No one on this forum ever take their kids to the meeting or are you not talking to me?
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  snowbird

  Hey, Mrs. Smith.

  I'm ashamed to say that I used to spank my daughter if she didn't behave well at the meetings.

  No wonder she hated the whole JW scene so much.

  Sylvia
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  mentalclearness

  ditto Mrs. Smith

  I often welcomed the break in garden from the meeting....If for whatever reason I was without my kids at the meeting I would be so ansy because I couldn't sit through the two hours myself.
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  mrsjones5

  I've taken my children twice to the hall, both times for the memorials of my grandparents. The first time my daughter (who was about 3 years old) cried because she didn't want to sit next to my mother.and did not want to sit still. Mother was pissed and I think slightly embarassed so I took my daughter (along with my infant son) and we walked around in the back of the hall, then we walked outside. Thankfully Mother never said anything about it.

  I've never taken my children back to the hall.

  Josie
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  Country Girl

  My mother coped cuz she had me watch all my brothers. That was rough on a 9 year old, too! One was crawling under the seats, the other was asleep on my lap, and one was biting a hole in the naughahyde chairs that the congregation just paid $3000 to have recovered! Okay, well I don't know if they cost $3,000, but I figure that was a good estimate for around 100 chairs. Mostly, I took the boys back to the second school and herded them around there.

  CG
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  momzcrazy

  For nearly 9 years I have taken the kids by myself. When it was just the girls it was fairly easy. If they were restless we would go outside or in the second school. There a few others in there too and we would visit. But I had a son 2 years ago in July and that all changed. We moved to a new hall with over 70 kids under 18. There is always a low level of noise but no one seemed to mind. I was glad he wasn't the only one screaming. It got very difficult to wrestle with him and he is very outspoken. There was no mothers room, just two chairs in the restroom. I did smack, but never again. It is too hard for them to sit and be quiet for such a long time. Snacks and such were very frowned upon as were toys and "worldly" story books. So for the last 2 years I have gotten nothing out of meetings.

  We don't go anymore, just since the past month. I must say it is a relief.
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  Dorktacular

  My little brother and I were masters at communicating with eachother without making noise or talking. Occasionally, something would be soooo funny that one of us would just have to laugh out loud and we'd get in trouble. We were always in trouble with dad because he wanted us to pay attention. But weekly meetings are NOTHING compared to assemblies! I HATED them! 3 days of crap! When we were really young, we lived up north where the summer district conventions were outdoors at Yankee Stadium or Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia! 8 hours of sun exposure in the hot summer sun in a suit and having to be silent.... hmmmm.... can anybody say TORTURE!!!! I'm really fair-skinned, too so the sunburn was an added painful bonus. I would never make my kid stay outside in the hot summer sun for 8 hours, much less dressed up in a suit! That's gotta qualify as some sort of child abuse. I was releived when we moved to Georgia. At least the assemblies and conventions were indoors and air-conditioned.
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  Mrs. Witness

  I'm not nor never have been a JW, but I've attended one meeting and one funeral talk with my husband. We have two daughters, one who is 11 (mine from a prior relationship) and one who is 2. The 11-year-old was just bored to death and we laughed privately together that we couldn't keep up with all the bible flipping and we didn't know for sure what order the books were in...

  The funny story is that during the funeral talk, I gave my bible to my 2-year-old to keep her occupied and at the end when we stood up to sing, I took it away. Well, she loudly protested by saying "READ the BIBLE!". Her father beamed and a few dubs around us turned and smiled, like, "what a great child, she's 2 and wants to read the bible". I laughed because since her dad reads the bible so much she sometimes calls any book "bible", so, she could have been holding a Stephen King novel and shouted the same thing! We had a good laugh about it.
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  InquiryMan

  We had three children. Always had coloring books and toys, even though being an elder. Never spanked them. But it was quite a show getting things rolling though.... One of my sons, says that although the meetings were boring, he did not mind, cause he played with his dinosaurs. He also liked the intermessions at the assembly, cause of the non spiritual food.