Meetings are very children unfriendly

by Robert7 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  Robert7

  I guess the parents can appreciate this one, and this is a VERY imporant issue since kids are a huge part of your lifel...

  Have you noticed that meetings are so not children friendly? You are expected to keep you children, regardless of age, quiet for 2 hours. The expectation is that they are as quiet as an adult. If the children are loud, then you are disrupting the meeting. If you take the kids in back then you are not properly paying attention to the meeting. You can't win.

  I mean, come on, most adults cannot sit still for 2 hours. How do you expect a normal 3 year old to sit still and quiet for 2 hours?

  People have told us over and over that they know we cannot pay attention due to the kids (and having no facilities to allow the kids to make noise) and just our attending helps encourage others. So we should suffer for 2 hours just to encourage others. Bogus.
• 

  Robert7

  Just to add to that thought... how many times as a parent have you come home and actually regretted going to meetings because all you did was fight with the kids? No fault of the kids, fault of the Kingdom Hall not having proper facilities for children...
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  journey-on

  When I was a kid, we sat still and quiet. If we even breathed loudly, we were taken outside and spanked. When we came back in, we sat still and quiet for the remainder of the meeting. My parents had a look that paralyzed. We behaved because we knew we would "get it" when we got home. My parents did NOT fight with us, argue with us, nor talk to us over and over. We were disciplined severely early on, and learned very quickly how to behave and sit like statues for two hours AND LIKE IT! We were told ONE TIME. If we didn't adhere to the admonition, THEY DID NOT SPARE THE ROD!

  Kids nowadays have it so easy. Parents actually TALK and ARGUE and BEG and WHINE and CAJOLE.....and TALK some more. Sheesh! We got jerked up by the arm, taken out back of the Kingdom Hall, smacked hard and scolded. When we came back in, we sat as quietly as a mouse and didn't make a peep.
• 

  FreudianSlip

  This is why other churches have Sunday School and what not for children.
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  inkling

  This is why other churches have Sunday School and what not for children.

  ha, growing up I was told that this was just one more way that the JW were better than every other religion- we didn't commit the great evil of separating the children from the parents in church. [ink]
• 

  llbh

  Hi Robert,

  I have always known this, they teach children very little and expect a lot in return, We have three children and were counselled for their behaviour even though they were, are good children

  The wts is run by old men who have never had children.

  The irony is that they expect part of the increase to come from having children, yet counsel against having them and then diolittle to encourage them

  Regards llbh.
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  heathen

  That is pretty sad how they are the only religion to encourage parents to beat the hell out of their kid during a religious discourse. I can remember some times sitting there and hearing the yelling in a whisper type way at the kids and then the hitting on the way to the back and the wailing , this can't be what church is about , very sick.
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  TrailBlazer04

  My stepdaughters who are JW could sit, silently for HOURS! When my husband and I started dating, they were 11 (twins). They could sit on the couch and say nothing at all or just whisper for hours on end. It was unreal. Now that we have little ones of our own, it's been hard explaining to him that normal children run, jump, play and make A LOT of noise. Evidently his girls never did. Strange...

  By the way, my husband never was a JW and his x-wife being one contributed to his divorce, and the fact that we never see his girls now (they're 22) unless they want something. I hope they're not expecting a Christmas invite this year...it ain't happening.

  TB
• 

  searcher

  That is pretty sad how they are the only religion to encourage parents to beat the hell out of their kid during a religious discourse.

  I read over on a board for ex members of The Way International that all of the men carry a wooden spoon in their back pocket to beat the cr*p out of kids who 'misbehave' (any kid).
• 

  momzcrazy

  Growing up my dad would at times take us for walks around the parking lot, to get our energy out. My daughters were very good at meetings. BUT....then I had our son, he's 21/2 now. As soon as he could walk I had a heck of a time keeping him still, and quiet. At our old hall there was a bad attitude towards kids, so I felt awful when he was noisy. But the hall we moved to had 70 something kids under 18. But no mother's room, just 2 chairs in the bathroom. There was always a level of noise and very often a screaming child.

  My son can't sit still to eat, much less for two hours. And I have fibromyalgia, so wrestling with him caused pain. It was a particularly bad Sunday when I said screw this, I'm done! My girls now go to Wednesday Mass because our neighbors teach the kids' classes. They love it. They want to go Sunday, but once again, fighting with my son...

  momz