Tuesday is a daily mass day for me and the under five crew. You never know how it's going to turn out. While we haven't had an incident where anyone has needed to pray for me lately, I do have to stop the chit chat of No David. Then there is the Baby Hulk who may or may not like the priest celebrating the mass.
Today was nearly perfect as far as mass goes with three young children. The baby didn't make a peep, the Baby Hulk sat quietly beside me on the last row and No David wandered between the pew and the door without making a sound. Until I burped Baby Z...two people turned as I patted her on the back.
I was feeling good about myself, the day and full of love and then this lady informed me in Spanish that I should use the cry room during mass for the kids. Although I understood every word she said, I couldn't answer her in Spanish. No problem, she told me the same shit in English.
Really???
Oh, the benefits of a cry room: you can hear the mass and your kids can run around the entire time. Just what a mom that goes to daily mass wants, children who don't understand the importance of mass and don't take it seriously. Have I used the cry room before? Yes, and had my children needed to be in there, I would have gone. As laid back as I like to think I am, I am hyper-sensitive about some things. I hate when my kids don't share, talk too loud and so on. I have to be reminded to let them be kids. Often. Ask my parents, I so don't think my kids are perfect despite what they think!
I wasn't rude to the lady, but let her know that I wouldn't be using the cry room. Her response: "God bless you". And if you can make that statement in a crappy way without any heart, she did it.
I immediately found the grandmothers that love me and asked if my kids had made any noise. When they also told me how great they were today, I tattled on the witch. They were appropriately horrified for me.
Then I went to the priest who told me how happy he was to see the children at mass and thanked me for bringing them BEFORE I even told him about the lady.
You know this isn't the first time I've been made to feel like crap for bringing my kids to church. It happens all the time. I'd like to say it's mostly old people who have forgotten what kids are like, but it's not. It's people my age, my parents age and so on. For a church that opposes ABC and is so pro-life, sadly, a lot of them can be pretty crappy when it comes to kids.
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We're going to church for the first time since Cash was born this Sunday. Should be interesting.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? That's absurd and super frustrating. You should have quoted Matthew 19:14.
ReplyDeleteHopefully people won't move away from you when you sit down with a 2 year old.
ReplyDeleteI should have done that, instead, I just tattled.
At least let my kids disrupt mass before segregating them.
I just think the earlier kids can be in the "real" part of the church, the better.
ReplyDeleteAt our church the cry room is small and there are often teenagers in there. Really?
I completely agree. I understand some kids are just not well behaved in mass. But at some point, they have to learn to sit still and be a part of the mass. The earlier, the better. (The old school Catholic in me coming out.)
ReplyDeleteThe problem I have with the cry room is that the (my) kids know it's different. They don't like to sit down in there, they realize that nobody can hear them and don't take mass seriously.
Teenagers? Those moms should be ashamed!