Kids at adoration?

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Question for you guys.

What are your thoughts on bringing kids to adoration? I’ve been going every Wednesday, and for the last two weeks my 4 year old has asked to go with me. The first week was just an automatic “no” but she was super persistent through the second week. I told her that she couldn’t come to adoration with me until she could sit quietly through mass, and this Sunday she obeyed and was super quiet and still through most of it.

Part of me wants to remember that Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me,” and allow her to come. Part of me wants to encourage that love of the Blessed Sacrament while she’s young.

But part of me wants to make sure that the experience of adoration is a good one for everyone and don’t want to subject them to a potential disruption, and part of me wants to keep that hour every Wednesday for my own personal time at adoration. Is that something you think I ought to sacrifice for the sake of teaching her how to sit through adoration?

Any thoughts welcome and appreciated.
 
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Nurture the desire to be with the Lord! I agree with TheLittleLady to work up to a full hour. This is such a great teaching opportunity.
 
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We have 7 kids ages 14 years to- 2 months. We go to adoration every Monday night. Sometimes there are others there, sometimes not. Because we go every week the kids learn quite easily to be quiet and respectful. Until you get there, just go for 15 minutes or so at a time and work up to an hour. As long as your kids are well behaved, things are going to be fine. Have we have full on meltdowns? yup. But you actively parent them and then it will pay dividends. Most Mondays my wife and I can really pray and be with the Lord, but it was not always that way.
 
Thanks, all! I also emailed my priest and he got back to me way faster than I anticipated. He also recommended starting at 10-15 minutes and working up to an hour over the next few months!
I’ll take all of your advice!
 
In a group I’m in on Facebook, there’s a woman who takes her 2 kids (2 and under) every week. So it can be done! 😊
 
I would take her for a short time. 10 minutes is probably enough.

My mom used to make “visits” to the church with me at that age. In those days churches with the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle were open all day, and Catholics were encouraged to come in to “visit” Jesus for a few minutes when passing the church, and teach their kids to do so.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
My mom used to make “visits” to the church with me at that age. In those days churches with the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle were open all day, and Catholics were encouraged to come in to “visit” Jesus for a few minutes when passing the church, and teach their kids to do so.
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I used to go to daily mass with my mom when I was a preschooler (back in the stone age). It’s something I look forward to doing again when I retire (daily mass).

I can understanding OP’s misgivings about taking a little one to adoration for an hour, so I’d vote for daily mass and smaller increments of time in adoration.
 
Can’t imagine not taking a kid to adoration who asks to go, at any age. Don’t discourage this at all!!!
 
I agree with taking a small child to adoration if they want to go AND know to not disturb others around them.

We have a perpetual adoration chapel. It is small and intimate. When I go to the chapel to spend time with our Lord I go in the chapel because it is quiet and peaceful. The quiet is the main reason I use the chapel rather than the main church.

Please do not jump all over me about how Jesus loves the little ones and we should allow them to do whatever they want. I am talking about the small adoration chapel only, not adoration in the main church.
 
Not going to jump all over you.
My experience, based a rasing several kids and seeing a lot of nieces and nephews, is that if you wait til kids can behave before you take kids to church, then they never learn to behave at church. And I would apply this same logic to a small adoration chapel. A kid wants to go, take them. If they become the least bit disruptive, get up and leave, knowing you might have to come back later for your own prayer time if you can’t settle them down outside. So any disturbance to others will be a few moments, worst case. But you don’t tell a kid no, who wants to go to adoration, regardless of age.
 
I didn’t say not to take them to adoration. I said do not take them into a small adoration chapel until they are taught, possibly in the main church, how to be respectful toward the Blessed Sacrament and others who may be there to pray quietly.
 
tafan2 said:
Not going to jump all over you.
My experience, based a rasing several kids and seeing a lot of nieces and nephews, is that if you wait til kids can behave before you take kids to church, then they never learn to behave at church. And I would apply this same logic to a small adoration chapel. A kid wants to go, take them. If they become the least bit disruptive, get up and leave, knowing you might have to come back later for your own prayer time if you can’t settle them down outside. So any disturbance to others will be a few moments, worst case. But you don’t tell a kid no, who wants to go to adoration, regardless of age.
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This gets 100 likes from me!
 
I realize that’s what you said. No problem, I just happen to agree. As I said, if they want to go, take them, even if it’s a small adoration chapel. And be prepared to take them out if they start to be disruptive.
 
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tafan2 said:
if you wait til kids can behave before you take kids to church, then they never learn to behave at church.
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I love this!! It’s why we don’t drop our babies or toddlers off at the church nursery, too.

As for adoration… I’ve taken my kids (0, 2, 4, 6, & 8 at the time) and we lasted less than five minutes. The tiny adoration chapel was crammed with people and my kids kept whisper-hissing at each other to be quiet (which gets loud 🙈). But when I was a teen and went to weekly adoration at a big cathedral, there was a mom who always brought her preschooler for a whole hour. The girl wandered all over the church quietly & honestly I think that was ideal. If I take my kids back to adoration I want to find a big church where they can spread out and maybe wander around looking at the windows and statues while I pray. No more tiny adoration chapel for us! At least not for more than five minutes.
 
By the way, another thing that keeps me away from adoration with all my kids is the tradition that you can’t leave the Blessed Sacrament alone. Is this still a thing? I remember as a child going to visit my great-grandma (a highly anticipated trip!) and my mom insisting we “pop in to say hi to Jesus real quick. We were all eager to get to Grammy’s but of course in we all went. No sooner had we arrived than the current adorer jetted & we were left there for hours until someone else showed up. It stuck with me. I never go to adoration without being prepared to possibly be there… awhile.
 
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Hummmm, when there is Adoration, there is supposed to be a way for a person to cover the Eucharist if they have to leave and no adorer shows up (or a phone number for someone on site to come and be relief).
 
Jen7 said:
By the way, another thing that keeps me away from adoration with all my kids is the tradition that you can’t leave the Blessed Sacrament alone. Is this still a thing?
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If the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, most certainly it’s still a thing. But if that’s the case, by definition you kids are disturbing no one.
 
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