Saturday Is a Special Day...
and Other Helps for a Successful Sacrament Meeting
by Kirsty Sayer

Ask any young, LDS parent to tell you about the most challenging hour of each week and sacrament meeting is bound to come up.

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Keeping young kids dressed in all their finery, quiet, in one spot, for seventy minutes? And then for the overachievers, is it possible to make sure the kids come away with happy feelings about that period of silent inactivity, and for extra credit, have everyone come away spiritually uplifted?

“Yeah, right,” you’re thinking. “This woman hasn’t been using her cleaning products in well-ventilated areas.” While that may be true, what if I told you that it is possible to come out of sacrament still wanting to be with your kids through the eternities. It will take some planning, some practice, and a positive attitude, but you’re going to love the results.

Thinking Ahead

Let’s start with what precedes sacrament meeting. Sunday morning and Saturday can have everything to do with how successful sacrament meeting is. Just keep in mind the adage, never put off ‘til Sunday morning what you can do Saturday night.

Make like a fireman, parents included. On Saturday, fill up on gas and put shoes by the door. Lay out clothes, in the shape of the person wearing them if that added visual helps, from tie and socks right down to “hair pretties” and belts. Don’t leave anything out. Never assume there will be underwear and socks in the drawer. Murphy’s Sunday Law says that there will not.

Try to get as much bathing and showering out of the way as you can the night before. Prepare breakfast as much as possible the night before, too. Keep it simple and filling.

Next, the matter of preparing the survival kit—a.k.a. diaper bag. This is going to take place on Saturday, too. Right? Right! Other than diapers and ever-handy wipes, you’re going to need two main categories: snacks and stuff to keep the peace.

Finally, get everyone to bed at a decent time on Saturday night, and that includes the grown ups! When setting the alarm for Sunday morning, plan enough time for even the slowest dresser to get dressed at a leisurely pace.

Snacks

For those who think the matter of snacks can be quickly solved with a Ziploc bag and a handful of cheerios, think again. That innocuous baggie can quickly become a confetti machine in the hands of an exuberant toddler. When thinking of snacks you have three considerations: keep them clean, keep them contained, and keep them quiet.

Keeping them Clean. It’s amazing how quickly an innocent animal cracker can become paste on daddy’s freshly dry-cleaned jacket after a drooling baby has had a bit of a go at it. Don’t experiment with new snacks before you have discovered what your child may be able to do with it, décor wise. Consider the clothes of your child, yourself, and those around you, and also the crumb and mess potential they may leave behind. Emphasizing that we need to keep the chapel clean is a good way to teach reverence for the room.

Keeping them Quiet. Some snacks are just way too exciting for the setting. Sugary treats in crinkly wrappers aren’t going to do anything for the reverence level. Try to keep the snacks as low key as possible or things can quickly degenerate to frenetic diving, noisy tearing, and tragic wailing that Johnny got the last bag of Rescue Hero Tummy Yummies. Filling but boring snacks will hit hunger spots without hyping tikes up.

Stuff to Keep the Peace

Seventy minutes is a long time. No one really expects a young child to gaze with rapt attention at the speaker or be lost in silent contemplation that long. If this is your reality, consider yourself blessed. For the rest of us, read on.

Toys that may be favorites at home often don’t translate well to the sacrament meeting setting. Matchbox cars and little metal trains can create a surprising amount of noise and chaos in a chapel, becoming guided missiles and weapons of sibling/hymnbook/pew destruction. Best to keep them in their little garages and stations at home.

A few quieter ideas: try the Book of Mormon reader and Book of Mormon board books. Take activity pages from the Friend magazine and other LDS websites and compile them in a special sacrament meeting binder for each child. Keep the binder as a novelty that can be looked at only during sacrament meeting. Include pictures from the gospel library kit or church magazines and place in plastic sheet protectors. Kids can trace and color. (Don’t forget a separate bag of crayons for each child.)

For very little ones, felt activity books are great. A friend of mine made beanbags with a thick plastic window sewn in the middle. She filled the bags with beans and small, varied objects that they can “search” for through the window. It keeps her youngest happily absorbed for a long and quiet time. Another friend found a postcard puzzle of a temple for her son to put together during sacrament. Works like a charm.

Remember, as with snacks, less is more here. Don’t inundate your kids with too many activities. Digging in the bag for yet another book or toy is distracting for you and over-stimulating for them. If you keep to just a couple of activities each week you can also keep things fresh and varied from week to week.

Sunday Morning

Many families find that playing church or classical music as everyone is preparing for church helps bring a reverent spirit. Don’t forget to make time for a good breakfast and family prayers. Consider including in the family prayer a request for special help to be reverent during the meeting and to feel the Spirit.

It’s hard, but on the rare occasion we’ve been able to get our family to church on time, it’s made everything go much more smoothly. Everyone needs a certain amount of time to get from hurry-up-and-get-to-church mode to reverent mode. The prelude music is designed to do just that and also gives everyone the chance to realize they are desperately thirsty or in need of the bathroom, or both, before the meeting begins.

During hymns, help little ones conduct. It’s a skill that will serve them well later and something they will love now. Help early readers and even pre-readers by pointing to each word as it is sung. Practice sacrament hymns during Family Home Evening and kids will be excited when they hear a familiar one.

Word search lists keep older kids and even brand new readers engaged. Have them listen for specific words during talks and announcements. Early readers also love to take notes and younger ones can take their own notes in the form of pictures. Give assignments to kids to take notes on different talks, count how many people are on the stand, and how many young men are passing the sacrament. Have little ones draw a church picture. Carry the messages from sacrament meeting into your home by having them share their sacrament meeting notes and artwork in Family Home Evening.

Don’t forget to consistently reinforce positive behavior. Rather than waiting for kids to act up, catch them doing good first. Immediately acknowledge all appropriate behavior with an approving smile and nod, or an affectionate squeeze. Instead of the behave-or-else lecture before sacrament, tell kids how excited you are to see how well they listen and how quietly they will sit in sacrament.

Many families make the rule that the time during which the sacrament is blessed and passed, is activity-free. Kids don’t color or draw at this time but they can look at pictures of Jesus and think about Him.

If your kids do become loud and disruptive to others, it is necessary to take them out. Have them sit quietly or hold them on your lap, rather than running the halls and socializing with fellow escapees. Don’t allow snacks or toys while you are out of the chapel. This will send the message that the chapel is the place to be!

Be patient. It probably won’t all come together in one week and some weeks are just going to be better then others, but your persistence, planning, and positive attitude will indeed pay off.

LDS Living Magazine

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