How Does Your Church Handle Nursery/sunday School.

In the most recent church attended children stayed with their families until they were 18 months old then they went to nursery during the Sunday school hour and some other meetings. During the church service all kids are with their families.

At our church families attend the worship meeting (sacrament meeting) together. So, children from birth on up attend. Crying or unruly children can be taken out into a lobby area just outside the chapel, where there's a speaker connected to the microphone, so you can still hear the meeting inside. Meetings are about 1 hr 10 min, with occasional meetings going for 2 hours.

Sunday school classes are right after sacrament meeting. Adults, teens, and children all have their seperate classes. Children under 18 months old stay with their parents (yes, attending the adult Sunday School class). Children 18 mo-3 yr go to nursery. Children 3-11 yrs go to Primary, where they have a group meeting and singing time, then split into classes by age. These meetings go for an additional 1 hr 50 min, so total time at church is 3 hours.

My church encourages families to worship together. Parents and children sit together. This is how we teach our children to worship. Some of my best child memories and mommy memories are of the cuddling that happens between parents and children during the seated portions of the service (sermon, readings, etc).

Christian Ed classes (Sunday School) happen before the worship service.

We have a nursery for infants, up to age 2 or 3, I think. But I see lots of families with their infants and toddlers with them. Hearing the babies coo and the kids learn to whisper their quesitons to their parents is music to my ears!

All children sit with families for the 1 hour 15 minute hour sacrament/sermon service. After that for Sunday school and class time, children under 18 months stay with their parents. Children 18 months to 3 years go to a nursery. Children 3 years and up go to their individual age group classes. I have taught in the nursery, the 3/4 year old class, 9/10 year old class, 5/6 year old class, 16/17 year old class, and am now the current teacher for the 7/8 year olds.

We bring quiet toys, baggies of cheerios, coloring books to help during the long sermon for the younger kids, and we work with them on sitting reverently and listening. If the child is screaming or uncontrollable, we take them to the foryer to calm them down, then bring them back into the meeting room.

The church I attended had a separate rm for families w/ young children. It was a room w/ full view into the church and the sound was heard over a speaker.

I work at my church in the 4-5 year old class. We have a class for every year up until 6 and then they go to a room for 6-10 year olds, the 5th and 6th graders go to a class and when the graduate from 6th grade, they attend regular service with the adults. It works really well, but requires a LOT of volunteers.

my church has classes through high school. My daughter is 7 and my son is 4 and they both happily go to their class. I would never expect them to sit through church with us. They would be bored to tears and they wouldn't understand anything anyway.

One church we went to had classes/sitting set up for all children. It was routine to check your kids in their perspective classes. However, there were people who brought their children into the service and before service they would politely ask people to take your children to the classes.

At age 6, our daughter started asking if she could come to church with us. We allowed her to a few times and those times we sent her to the classes she did so reluctantly. She finally asked if we could go to Catholic mass.

The church we are now at, children are welcome. Religious education is offered during school or during the week after school for those who don't attend school there.

I grew up sitting in the adult service after sunday school. These days they have children's church. It depends on how involved your children's church is and what they teach - entertainment versus the values you want.

I actually work in my church nursery. Our nursery takes infants to age 4. At age 4 they get a "graduation" letter from the church nursery. We will take kids over 4 as a special exception for a particular reason or if we aren't busy with a lot of little ones, but we like to see them move on to church school or the service. Church school starts at age 3 with a parent and age 4 without a parent so depending on where the birthday falls in the school year a child at our church could go straight from the nursery to attending church school during the service. At our church every family is different as to how they choose to handle it or whether they like their children to sit with them. The sanctuary also has book bags available for children with board books, crayons and paper and some small toys. A children's sermon preceeds the sermon and there is a children's bulletin so it's a fairly family-friendly service. I had very active boys so they pretty much went straight from nursery to church school and sat with us for holidays and when church school wasn't in session.

Our church starts with contemporary worship songs (4), then a hymn, then announcements, offeratory. All that takes maybe 35-40 minutes. After all that's done, they children who are in 5th grade and younger are called up to the front of the church, prayed for and then sent off to their Sunday School classes. The sermon lasts maybe an hour or a little more. So by the time the kids are in 6th grade, they are expected to sit through the sermon. My daughter has always been very good in church, but she has always had a good attention span. She's 12 now and she happily sits through the service, although she sometimes crochets while she listens which the Pastor doesn't mind.

my daughter always was in the sermon part. they dont learn to be quiet if you dont teach them by taking them in. my daughter is 5 and will sit through the sermon just fine. all i do is bring a coloring book for her.

There is no nursery care at the church we attend. We sit on the side where it is easy to get up and go to an area where my toddler can run around. There is a crying room (where you can sit so you are not disruptive), but the priest does not like when anyone is in there. He says that we are all part of the congregation, even the little ones who can't help but make some noise! Sunday School is for school age children and is after service. Once in a while, we have to leave early . . . usually if I am with the baby by myself.

I used to work at a church where nursery care was provided for birth to age 3. From preschool on up, the kids were released to Sunday school classes after a certain point in the service.

We changed denominations when our oldest was 6 and youngest was 3. My husband also worked Sundays, so it was just me and the two kids. They never went into a nursery at our new church.

At the church we were at prior to that, our son was never in a nursery past about 1 1/2 yrs old. Our daughter only was in a nursery until she was about the same age, perhaps age 2.

By the time my daughter was 4, she was reading, so she was singing the Liturgy with us during the Divine Service, straight out of the hymnal. Along with the hymns. Our services are very structured, and normally last a TOTAL of about an hour. Including Holy Communion. (It's a small church). When we were at a slightly larger church, it took about 60-70 minutes, total.

Our pastors (all the ones I've every sat through a sermon by, in the Lutheran church) have formal sermons written out and/or memorized. They know how long they will be in advance, and generally seem to have a "window" or timeframe they stay within every week. Usually around 20-25 minutes for just the sermon.

ETA: At neither of the Lutheran churches we have regularly attended (though not all are this way) there is no nursery during the Divine Service. There is a "cry room" where a parent can go out with an unruly child or crying baby if necessary, and usually only for a few minutes, but it is not staffed/attended. Everyone is attending the service. Children are with their parents/families for the service.

My daughter was able to be reasonably quite in church by 3.5. Listening to the sermon, well now, thats a struggle even at 20.

My church has a nursery for kids up to 3 & Sunday School during the entire service for the 3/4s & Pre-K kids. Starting in Kindergarten, the kids start off in the service & leave about 1/3 way through (after the "children's sermon"). I have brought my kids (3 & 5) to church (sat through whole Christmas & Easter services) on occasion & bring crayons & paper w/ me in case they need help being quiet. They do like seeing the choir or instrumentalists perform & enjoy standing up when the congregation sings.