Children’s Church [PREACHY]

 I saw a meme the other day that told people to bring their children to church because how else will they keep the pews full. While it isn’t an invalid argument, it isn’t the first one I would make to bring children to church. I can think of many better reasons.

1. If you don’t take your children to church, you aren’t making it to church either. After having each of my children, I didn’t got to church for a few weeks. I know how irresistible those newborn faces are and I know that people can be sick without knowing it. I wasn’t taking that risk with my tiny hobbits. Of course, I could read scriptures and watch talks from General Conference to feel the spirit, but it isn’t quite the same as gathering with people who share my beliefs, whether we see eye to eye or not.
2. Children need to be reminded that they are welcome in the Lord’s house. He wants to see them there and even some of us old grouches enjoy their little voices. As I have rambunctious children of my own, I have seen the eyes turned toward us and the necks craning to see who is making all that noise. I also know that I turn to look at tiny babies who are cooing or crying at their moms. People aren’t always judging you, sometimes we just want to see the cuteness attached to all that noise. I even had a mom apologize to me today as her son tried to climb over the top of the pew. Little did she know, my daughter would spend most of that hour of church trying to crawl under that same pew. Should we really be apologizing for kids being kids?
3. When you take your children to church and model reverent behavior, they get to learn from you. Even if you feel embarrassed leaning over to answer the awkward questions of your spiritual scholar, you should answer them. And feel free to start the conversation again at home. Our homes should be a house of God, too, don’t you think?
4. Children will value you what you value. My grandmother loved God and made sure to tell people about it. My mother told me about a song reminding us not to let dust gather on our scriptures. I still carry those bits of testimony with me and they help me feel closer to both of them even though they have both passed away.

And those are just the first four reasons that popped into my head. Why do you take your children to church? I know it isn’t so they can scream out something mildly embarrassing during a prayer, but we take that risk anyway.