Why I Bring my Small Children to Mass

Every week my husband and I get our three little girls, ages, 7,4, and 2 ready for Mass. We pack them all in the minivan and we head off to sit in a church with three little girls for an hour.

Some days, they are like angels. The 4 year old and the 7 year old are quiet in prayer, the 2 year old sits on our laps and flips through the books. My husband and I look on with pride, pretending that they are always like this.

But those days are the exceptions. They surely aren't the rule.

Usually, there is a little bit of praying, a little bit of listening, a little bit of reading, and a whole lot of wriggling, throwing, talking, giggling, and tickling all with a few sobs and bumped heads thrown in for good measure. That's just what it is like bringing little children to church.

And since school started, I have started bringing my 4 year old and my 2 year old to daily Mass by myself. That's a whole lesson in patience and fortitude right there. (Hint... the trick is bringing each a very large apple that takes a long time to eat.)

I'll admit that some days I wish I was in a big old mega church where my kids would get to go into a nursery and giggle to their heart's content. Some days I wish I could just sit in silence and absorb the Mass. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother - perhaps my husband and I should just attend different services, and we should leave the kids at home. After all, then we wouldn't be disturbing anyone around us.

But then I realize that those are the days when I'm worried about what other people's opinions are. I worry about the sighs or the dirty looks. I worry about the people who are thinking that we shouldn't be there with our kids.

And then I remember - my kids have every right to be in that church, and the Catholic faith belongs to them just as much as it belongs to anyone else.

Sure, adults get more out of Mass. Their prayers are more reverent; they understand the sacraments; they can ponder the message of the homily. My younger two can't do any of that yet. But if I don't give them a chance to practice from the very beginning, how will they ever learn?

That Church is for children as much as it is for adults. The pews, the hymns, the sermons, the readings... kids might not understand it all yet, but it is their salvation story as much as it is anyone else's. And by sitting in those pews from the very beginning, before they can even make out faces or differentiate noises, that Mass and this faith become a part of their being. It's etched in their earliest and fondest memories just like cuddles and nursery rhymes and favorite stuffed animals are. And since we go as a family, it is intricately tied to their idea of family and their ideas of what moms and dads and kids do.

No, they aren't going to come home one day any time soon with any grand ideas about life or Heaven or any of the big things, but it all will slowly continue to seep into their pores and their souls, becoming a part of who they are.

And so if my two year old throws a shoe at you, I will apologize for her behavior, and I will ask her to apologize too. But I won't apologize that she's there. After all, it's her home too.