Our cry room is up front. There is a partial screen to keep from making it a circus display, excepting the big window that looks toward the altar. It is much better than putting the room in back. The only drawback is that this is where the children’s “Liturgy of the Word” takes place on Sundays…the adult homily isn’t piped in except during the summer, on Saturday nights, and on major feast days such as Easter and Christmas.
The problem I had with the cry room was that most of the parents in there just let their kids run around. Our twins started to think church was a place to run around. I finally decided to leave them home with their grandma for a time, and then brought them back into the main church when they were older. (I’ll not get into why “making them behave” wasn’t an immediate option. Just trust me on that one.)
Everyone has suggested putting the kids in the front pews, which is a good idea. Another group that should sit there, though, are the easily distracted. If you’re distracted easily and don’t know the parents in the parish well enough to say something to them, then you might try to get to church early and find a seat in the *very *front. At least the visual distractions will be fewer.
Of course, “bouncing Mom” will sit right behind you and her kids will grab your hair during the epistle and make personal comments about you in a 50 decibel stage whisper, but that’s life.
It is a vale of tears.
