District Conventions are awful if you have kids. (Learn why!)

by easyreader1970 43 Replies latest jw friends

  • lonelysheep
    lonelysheep

    The thought of being at Nassau Coliseum with my two babies is enough to make me want to cry! That was just insane. I wasn't yearning to be saved and never went back. I thought armegeddon could just have its way with me when it wanted to.

  • Switch
    Switch
    So, so long. Can't they make these shorter? Yes, I have kids. They are altogether evil, according to the Society. They make me miss spiritual gems that flow from the platform. They distract others. They will only grow up to leave the Organization, anyway. Why not just abandon them? Why are the sessions so numbingly long? Five o'clock in the afternoon? Can we not subject small kids to this sort of torture?

    I'm hearing ya ER. We used to make it through about a day and a half. On Sunday, we'd start the drive home after breakfast since I couldn't stand the boring public talk anyway. Then, they changed the drama and put it on Sunday. (The only thing remotely interesting for the kids to look at.) Sneaky. So this year we're not going at all. What's the point of taking two small children and basically exhausting us all? The kids never sleep properly in hotel rooms. We barely heard any material anyway. It's a lot of money spent and none of us enjoy it.

  • Switch
    Switch

    You mentioned behaviour too. It reminded me of how crazy it would get around the time that the new releases are handed out. In Ireland, they frequently run out of new books so everyone rushes to get in line. I remember watching a brother shuffle backwards down the aisle during the song and prayer so that he'd be first in line for the new literature. It was comical.

  • Layla33
    Layla33

    Oh I am so glad I don't have to endur that anymore.

    Mine were at Veterans Stadium in the heat of summer. I remember people passing out, moving depending on the sun, and the nosebleed sections. I so remember a woman being so scared to come down the steps in the nosebleed sections, she sat on one step and slid down till she got the bottom to go to the bathroom. Oh, those glory days...

  • FlyingHighNow
    FlyingHighNow
    Grown people--grown people--are running through the place, briefcases and purses swinging, trying to find seats.

    If I'm gonna die, I'll get killed trying to get into a Who concert with festival seating.

    Take your kids to your local Episcopal Church. They have nurseries for the little ones. They have Sunday school. They have crayons, coloring books and toys for the children you wish to bring into the service. They don't mind if you kids lie on the floor, sit on their knees in the pew, pile up the prayer cushions like building blocks, sing when it's not time to sing, cry, talk, babble or whatever. They love kids and they all will tell you it's a healthy place for children. They don't have big conventions they expect you to break the bank to attend. They never try to scare you and they don't care if you believe what they are saying.

  • FlyingHighNow
    FlyingHighNow

    Oh yeah, if you are baptized in any christian faith, you can take communion. They baptize or christen babies and children and they take communion, too. And if you're an unbaptized atheist or pagan, no one is going to question you if you take communion.

  • Bring_the_Light
    Bring_the_Light
    Grown people--grown people--are running through the place, briefcases and purses swinging, trying to find seats.

    If I'm gonna die, I'll get killed trying to get into a Who concert with festival seating.

    Take your kids to your local Episcopal Church. They have nurseries for the little ones. They have Sunday school. They have crayons, coloring books and toys for the children you wish to bring into the service. They don't mind if you kids lie on the floor, sit on their knees in the pew, pile up the prayer cushions like building blocks, sing when it's not time to sing, cry, talk, babble or whatever. They love kids and they all will tell you it's a healthy place for children. They don't have big conventions they expect you to break the bank to attend. They never try to scare you and they don't care if you believe what they are saying.

    OOOH! A religion where you don't have to believe? Daaamn! These are my kind of people. I'd probably still be a JW if one could get by without believing (or faking it). I'm smart and honest, never cut out for the JW lifestyle.

  • FlyingHighNow
    FlyingHighNow
    OOOH! A religion where you don't have to believe? Daaamn! These are my kind of people.

    Ever see those signs at the city limits: The Episcopal Church Welcomes You? They mean it.

    They don't believe the bible we have today is necessarily all inspired. They don't all believe you have to be chrisitan to have a good everlasting life. They use reason, tradition and scripture, but they recognize people can and have tampered with scripture with a view to control.

    I grew up in the Episcopal church and wish my sister had never influenced me to study with the witnesses. I don't think you have to go to any church. I go for the connection to my childhood. I go for the spiritual feelings I get there. I like the intelligence of most of the people who attend. It's a beautiful service and they don't try to shove doctrine down anyone's throat.

  • yknot
    yknot

    LOL that is why I haven't been to a whole DC since 1999.

    Many of us Mom's cut-short the talks and head to the pool. Anyone who caught us couldn't/wouldn't tell cause they would be fess' on themselves.

    I think born-in parents of my generation aren't quite the spank the kid & make 'em sit for hours types.

    The main thing is to be there to pick up the book.

  • Bring_the_Light
    Bring_the_Light
    OOOH! A religion where you don't have to believe? Daaamn! These are my kind of people.

    Ever see those signs at the city limits: The Episcopal Church Welcomes You? They mean it.

    They don't believe the bible we have today is necessarily all inspired. They don't all believe you have to be chrisitan to have a good everlasting life. They use reason, tradition and scripture, but they recognize people can and have tampered with scripture with a view to control.

    I grew up in the Episcopal church and wish my sister had never influenced me to study with the witnesses. I don't think you have to go to any church. I go for the connection to my childhood. I go for the spiritual feelings I get there. I like the intelligence of most of the people who attend. It's a beautiful service and they don't try to shove doctrine down anyone's throat.

    Sounds like a deal!!! Even better than the crazy-ass church retreat I went to to get a day off from Army Basic Training. I "got saved" forever and ever and ever no matter what I do (we presumed including any such unpleasantness as we may encounter in the Army) in exchange for nodding. They said to say "yes" I nodded, it stuck, they aren't even strict on the instructions about "how" to get saved it seems. Pretty slick, except it required being in the presense of some pretty insane backwater smelly people from nowhere in Missouri (Mizurah). That kind of customer service with people who aren't scary-nuts and toothless would be a trip! I'm going to an Episcopalianish Church next Sunday. (does my standing nod stick or do I need to nod again for these people?, not sure if credits transfer etc, but no biggy)

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