My kid and mass

[xmydreamsfadex]

he seems, he’s 4 btw, to always need to use the bathroom during the consecration of the bread and wine so i have to take him to the bathroom. obviously i’m disrupting others around me and so when i come back is usually right before communion starts. i feel like since i wasn’t totally there i shouldn’t have excepted the Eucharist. then again, i feel that’s it’s not my fault and that Jesus understands.
any other parent go through this and talked to a priest about it?
writing this, i think it is silly but i would like to know.

also, i take him to the bathroom before we leave to go to Church. when we get to Church too so i won’t miss any of Mass to no avail.

 

[kage_ar]

Does he drink in the hour before you leave for Mass? If he does, there is a chance that he has a small bladder and really does have to go.

I’d suggest preemptive measures. Soon as the offetory begins, take him to the bathroom. That way, you are back in for the Consecration.

 

[kyria]

Christ loves children and somehow I think he would be ok with you having to take your child to the toilet.

 

[His_little1]

I agree. It is great just to see young people in Mass. The children are the future of the Church. I don’t think Jesus minds a bit.

Besides, that’s how “Roamin’ Catholics” grow up to be Roman Catholics. I have 2.

But if you still feel guilty, try using that time to explain to them what’s going on right now. You might explain that “something pretty awesome is going on and we’re missing it.” And make that a teaching moment to talk about Jesus with your child. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much they absorb in these little lessons.

God appreciates you as a caring parent.

 

[xmydreamsfadex]

this past sunday, right during the “it is right to give Him thanks and praise” he was said he had to pee. so i asked if he could hold it and he said yes. during the “this IS My body” he said it again and i told him to hold it for a minute and he said “i have to go before i pee in my underwear.”

i dunno. it was funny.

 

[His_little1]

Well, in his defense, I do remember a time when I was younger when I thought for sure Father said (at the end of Mass), “The Mass is ended, let us go and pee”, instead of “let us go in peace”.

 

[Spirithound]

he seems, he’s 4 btw, to always need to use the bathroom during the consecration of the bread and wine so i have to take him to the bathroom. obviously i’m disrupting others around me and so when i come back is usually right before communion starts. i feel like since i wasn’t totally there i shouldn’t have excepted the Eucharist. then again, i feel that’s it’s not my fault and that Jesus understands.
any other parent go through this and talked to a priest about it?
writing this, i think it is silly but i would like to know.

also, i take him to the bathroom before we leave to go to Church. when we get to Church too so i won’t miss any of Mass to no avail.

You are not sinning at all by receiving Communion in this case. Trying to work your son’s “schedule” sounds like a good idea.
Peace

 

[SeekerJen]

Maybe you could take him out during the preparation, while the ushers are taking up the collection and there’s a bit more going on. But that’s really just so you don’t have to miss the consecration. Either way, you’re okay to receive. The Church permits parents to miss Mass altogether to care for young children if necessary. I think it’s okay for you to step out for a few minutes to ensure that you don’t have to clean up a puddle later.

 

[KathleenElsie]

I agree. It is great just to see young people in Mass. The children are the future of the Church. I don’t think Jesus minds a bit.

Besides, that’s how “Roamin’ Catholics” grow up to be Roman Catholics. I have 2.

But if you still feel guilty, try using that time to explain to them what’s going on right now. You might explain that “something pretty awesome is going on and we’re missing it.” And make that a teaching moment to talk about Jesus with your child. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much they absorb in these little lessons.

God appreciates you as a caring parent.

Hi and welcome.

 

[KathleenElsie]

he seems, he’s 4 btw, to always need to use the bathroom during the consecration of the bread and wine so i have to take him to the bathroom. obviously i’m disrupting others around me and so when i come back is usually right before communion starts. i feel like since i wasn’t totally there i shouldn’t have excepted the Eucharist. then again, i feel that’s it’s not my fault and that Jesus understands.
any other parent go through this and talked to a priest about it?
writing this, i think it is silly but i would like to know.

also, i take him to the bathroom before we leave to go to Church. when we get to Church too so i won’t miss any of Mass to no avail.

Don’t know how you church is laid out. But, ours has a restroom near the cry room so we can see the door. If you have this at your church you could let him go by himself. On the other hand if you can’t see the door then you need to go with him.

A question. Does he go this many times when at home in an hours time? As the mother of many and the grandmother of only six I know that when children are sometimes bored and restless they take any reason to distract themselves. When we sit in the front pew our kids don’t seem to be as restless and needy as when we sit where they can’t see what is happening at the altar.

 

[EasterJoy]

Don’t know how you church is laid out. But, ours has a restroom near the cry room so we can see the door. If you have this at your church you could let him go by himself. On the other hand if you can’t see the door then you need to go with him.

A question. Does he go this many times when at home in an hours time? As the mother of many and the grandmother of only six I know that when children are sometimes bored and restless they take any reason to distract themselves. When we sit in the front pew our kids don’t seem to be as restless and needy as when we sit where they can’t see what is happening at the altar.

Yes. If a child of four who has avoided drinking too many liquids recently really can’t go an hour without using a bathroom, that could be a real medical problem.

It may just be a habit…he gets to a certain point in the Mass, and his body just thinks “time to go” or else his mind starts getting bored and he starts thinking of anywhere else in the world he could get to.

It may be that if he associates being able to get through Mass without using the bathroom with sitting in the front, though, he might be willing to work on the issue. He may also need a bit more education on what is happening in Mass. If you can’t see what is happening and wouldn’t understand it if you did, Mass is not nearly as interesting.

 

[SMHW]

No advice really. Just empathy.

I’m just flashing back a “few” years to when I was around nine or ten years old. I was the one designated to take my little sister (she was six years younger than me) to the restroom during Mass since Mom and Dad were busy with the boys. It seemed like she always needed “to go” right before the Consecration.

In my black and white, legalistic child’s mind I was always horrified to think I was required to leave the main part of the Church during such a sacred time. I remember asking one of the sisters in my Catholic school about it and her response (my sister should have gone before Mass) did nothing to ease my conscience. In retrospect I realize accompanying my sister was exactly the right thing for me to have done in order that my parents could be there in Mass.

And as someone who’s bladder just seems to be naturally programmed to need frequent emptying in the morning (but not later in the day) I have a great deal of sympathy for anyone, child or parent, who has difficulty scheduling restroom visits around the Mass, school, meetings, or any other event. Being a choir member with mild asthma doesn’t help since I need a lot of water in the morning to clear my lungs.

 

[kage_ar]

This reminds me of a lady I worked with, she is young, in her late 20’s? She told me how on the day of her First Holy Communion, she got a nosebleed. One of her Cathecists, a Sister, took her to the ladies room to care for the nosebleed. The lady I worked with was shocked, until that moment, she did not know that Churches had bathrooms!

 

[paperwight]

. The lady I worked with was shocked, until that moment, she did not know that Churches had bathrooms!

I am wondering whether you’ve put your finger on the problem!
In other words, if children know there’s a restroom, they are more aware of the signals that their bladder is giving, particularly if they are bored and see no reason to hang on.
i can truthfully say that after several years of taking our three to church from the when they were two years old, I was surprised to find that our church had an accessible toilet, and that was only because I was faint one Sunday. Until then, I’d assumed that the only one was in the priest’s house, and wouldn’t have dreamt of taking any of mine to ‘go’ for that reason.

I don’t remember it ever being a problem. They just accepted they had to hang on, just the same as if they were on a bus.

 

[ethelzguy]

Well, in his defense, I do remember a time when I was younger when I thought for sure Father said (at the end of Mass), “The Mass is ended, let us go and pee”, instead of “let us go in peace”.

Does your little one kneel during the consecration? Perhaps kneeling, or being around everyone else kneeling during consecration causes some form of anxiety for him?

Years ago, my son would always seem to “have to go” (making us think he had a bladder infection) whenever my mother came to visit for a couple of weeks. When she left to go home, the problem went away. It may just be an issue of being anxious because of the kneeling, bells, etc…