new to you friday–a promise

I hadn’t been blogging very long when I posted this one, and it got more comments than almost anything I’d written to that point. Apparently people have very strong feelings about this issue; several wrote amens to my post while others urged more grace toward parents doing their best.

I get that it’s easy for someone without kids to be judgmental, but really I’m not forming opinions about your parenting. Raise your child as you see fit…..but when Junior throws a fit, please remove him quickly from the auditorium.

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No matter how much I want to be there, and no matter how convinced I am that the rest of the world adores my three children ages two through five, I will never bring them to a Good Friday service and allow them to cry, talk, and loudly announce they “have to potty” while the minister dramatically reads Matthew 26.

There are just some things you don’t get to do if you have small children, and I promise to remember that after mine arrive, even if every other parent in this country does not.

I will not take them to movie theaters to see anything that is not animated (and maybe not even those until they’re school-aged), I will not lug them to Disneyland and force them to miss their naptime and then punish them for being cranky in the Happiest Place on Earth, all while annoying hundreds of other people by running my stroller into their ankles, and I will not take them to weddings since there is at least a 50% chance the bride and groom will only do this once and do not want the primary memory to be a baby crying.

If there is a nursery, I will review the safety practices in place and then leave my child there during the church service, as hard as it might be to accept that the tot will be able to handle an entire hour out of my presence (and might even enjoy it). If for some reason I must keep the child with me during the service, I will step outside the instant the inevitable crying/ whining/ whimpering/ screeching/ squealing starts, rather than expecting the kid to suddenly be quiet because I look at him sternly or move him from one side of my lap to the other.

This is my promise to you all.