Church without Crayons: Can it be done?

For the past few weeks, our family has been trying something new: Mass without crayons, paper, books, or snacks. The last category, snacks, should be a no-brainer for us, especially since there are several signs outside the Church stating that there are to be “No snacks, drinks, or chewing gum” brought inside the building! We definitely broke that rule about 50% of the time, bringing a small baggy of cheerios or pretzels for our 2 year-old, but I almost always regretted it when one of the cheerios would inevitably end up crunched all over the floor! The former categories – crayons, paper, and books – were less straightforward, but one day we decided to forego the “church bag” and try our luck without any reinforcements. The result was good, and so we tried again the next week, and then the next.

Yesterday, we were able to take it a step further by arriving at Mass early enough to sit in the front pew of a side section: still easy access to an aisle in case one of us needs to escape with a crying baby or a child that needs to use the restroom, but with a great view of the altar. This was great! Needless to say, we’ll be doing our very best to make it to Mass a couple of minutes early from now on, which has always been our goal but is almost never the reality. Another habit that I’d like us to get into is going through the Mass readings (or at the very least, the gospel!) as a family at breakfast on Sunday mornings. We read the gospel in the car yesterday morning and it sparked some good conversation, not to mention putting us in the right mindset heading into Mass.

How do you “do” Mass with young children? Have you tried something that did NOT work well for you family? What are your family traditions surrounding Sunday Mass?

God bless all of you wonderful parents as you lead your families into this new week! Mary, Mother of divine grace, pray for us!