Please Don't Talk to My Children at Mass

My wife and I have four small children. As all parents know, attending Mass can sometimes be a challenge!

The kids often want to make noise or move around. We do our best trying to teach them to be respectful, and we take them to the back or outside if they get too disruptive. I can happily report that we’ve almost never gotten negative reactions about our children at Mass – on the contrary, we regularly get very nice comments about them.

There has been one problem, though, that’s been a regular occurrence: adults talking to our children during Mass.

This happens all the time. I’m sure they all mean well, perhaps trying to show that they like the children being there, or find them cute, etc.

But it’s a big problem for two reasons.

First, we’re at Mass, so no one should be having side conversations!

Second, we’re trying to teach our children how to be respectful as Mass. This includes not having side conversations, and these adults are teaching them the opposite.

So while we appreciate the desire to make our family feel welcome, please don’t talk to our kids (or anyone) during Mass. But we’d love to talk to you after Mass!

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!