In our current church (which we've attended since we moved to California almost 1 1/2 years ago), the nursery is open for children through age 5, so we didn't start requiring our son to attend church service until he turned back in August. However, he still isn't quite ready for sitting still that long and listening. The only thing that keeps him quiet in church is reading. For awhile, when we started him in church, we allowed him to spend the whole service reading a book, but we required him to choose books that somehow helped him learn about God (our little lawyer lobbied once for a book on rainforests, giving the explanation that God made the rainforest and all its creatures, so the subject matter would teach him about God's world). Our real struggle with him is Sunday School, as he has never enjoyed being around a lot of other kids. He does pretty well in his class finally, but during the opening service before the kids go to their individual classes, he can get pretty wild and no amount of cajoling or threatening will get his attention... well, if I threaten to take away his Science Encyclopedia, he listens better, but I really hate making threats like that. It's especially hard because my husband and I are the Sunday School Superintendents, and I feel as if everyone is wondering why we can't manage our kid. He's a really neat kid and we love him dearly. I just get so frustrated with him sometimes! He might have Aspergers Syndrome, which would explain a lot.
Anyway, now we are weaning him off the books in church. He is allowed to read only during the sermon, but must follow along for the rest of the service. As he gets better at sitting still, we will gradually work him up to listening to the entire service. If he follows the pattern his older sister followed, this will work out fairly well--around 7 1/2 she decided she no longer needed books during church and she now sits and listens pretty well. Of course, I'm not naive enough to think that things will go the same way with Daniel.
kellidra
