Sitting Still in Church

This morning at church, I sat in front of a family with seven children.  They didn't make a peep or fidget.  I was in awe.  The youngest is a busy 2-year-old boy.

Until Mr. Intensity turns five, he is allowed to go to children's church.  In a few weeks he will join us with the other adults.  I am fearfully dreading bringing him into the sanctuary.  He lives with ants in his pants.

So, at a church picnic tonight I singled out the blessed mother of the seven and drilled her.

"How the heck did you get them to sit so still?  and so quiet?!"

For the sake of brevity (I want to go to bed but wanted to post this marvelous idea), she said, "We started by listening to tapes on the couch.  They had to sit still or there were consequences (spankings).  Short increments at first then gradually lengthened the time."

She went on to say that in the beginning she brought coloring books and toys into the sanctuary to keep their attention.  But this became a distraction, to her as well as other worshipers.  In her words, "I had to re-train them to sit still and listen.  We started with 5 minutes of listening to a sermon on tape."

The novelty.  Ingenious idea.

I asked if, during their family worship time at home, the children had to sit still.  They are allowed to play quietly with blocks on the floor.  This is after they have mastered the skill of sitting on the couch and listening.  If the block building becomes too rambunctious the child goes to the couch to listen.

Guess what our family will be practicing this week during family worship?

I'd love to hear other ideas of training children to sit still on Sunday morning.