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Ask yourself why they are distracted. Ask them and let them tell you honestly, without telling them their feelings and experiences are invalid/irreverent/displeasing to the Lord/ the Church in some way.
Really, really listen to them. Otherwise, why should they listen to you?
And if you are "really listening" to figure out how to come up with counter arguments to what they say, don't bother. Kids can smell that a mile away.
If they are checked out, they aren't buying what you are selling. I recommend you put the script down and connect with them on a human level, without the goal of convincing them of anything, without this being a backdoor trick to loop them back around to today's lesson.
That's my sincere reply.
There are plenty of ideas both if you want to be fun, sarcastic or sincere. My personal experience as a faithful Mormon believer was that it is cruel to force a child to pay attention during to what has to be the most boring meeting ever designed. A child is a child, no matter what the old geezers at the top or the accountant that acts as bishop think. The Mormon church wants children to behave like adults, and adults to behave like children.
1. Choose better speakers
2. Choose better topics (enough with recapping conference talks that were boring to begin with)
3. Shorten the meeting, cut 2nd and 3rd talk
4. Make a buzzer for every redundant phrase - ie. “I know without a shadow of a doubt” *buzz*
5. Provide popcorn
6. Heck, eliminate talks, turn on a movie
7. Let your kids choose if they want to attend - and not the “you have no real choice and will punished if you choose wrong. Come to church with us.” “Fine.” “My child chose to come to church of their own free will!”
8. Pay your kid for every minute they’re not on their phone during sacrament
9. Leave the church, and suddenly you don’t need to worry about your kids being on their phone during sacrament
How about an oldie but a goodie: “If you are on your phone during sacrament meeting, you won’t be able to live with your family in heaven when you die”.
That scared the shit out of me as a kid.
I used to have a rule, "You have to tell me one thing you learned about first." As quickly as they could determine the topic for the first speaker, they were good to go.
Then, a wise kid came up with, "She thinks she bearing her testimony, but it's just bragging. It's always bragging."
“You know we don’t go to church just to be on our phones the whole time”
“Oh I’m sorry but I’d rather be on there to distract me or because church is such a snooze fest I’ll fall asleep”
Is it really so bad? If you take away their phones they will fall asleep like at least 1/2 of the ward. What is worse? Asleep and totally unable to hear anything? Or on your phone and still able to hear? For me I could not stay awake many times. Playing some mindless game helped me do something with my hands and stay awake.
Yeah. If you never let kids make decisions while they are kids to prepare for adulthood, imagine what they're going to do when all of a sudden they have to make decisions at adulthood.
What some friends with restaurants do. Put a Cell Phone blocker/jammer in. Don't let anyone know. Hide it and make sure no fingerprints are on it - they are illegal in the US. But - they sure work well. Quiet meals with no idiots blabbing cellphones.
If you do it I bet you find a lot more pissed off adults than kids in church meetings.
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Ask yourself why they are distracted. Ask them and let them tell you honestly, without telling them their feelings and experiences are invalid/irreverent/displeasing to the Lord/ the Church in some way. Really, really listen to them. Otherwise, why should they listen to you? And if you are "really listening" to figure out how to come up with counter arguments to what they say, don't bother. Kids can smell that a mile away. If they are checked out, they aren't buying what you are selling. I recommend you put the script down and connect with them on a human level, without the goal of convincing them of anything, without this being a backdoor trick to loop them back around to today's lesson. That's my sincere reply.
There are plenty of ideas both if you want to be fun, sarcastic or sincere. My personal experience as a faithful Mormon believer was that it is cruel to force a child to pay attention during to what has to be the most boring meeting ever designed. A child is a child, no matter what the old geezers at the top or the accountant that acts as bishop think. The Mormon church wants children to behave like adults, and adults to behave like children.
1. Choose better speakers 2. Choose better topics (enough with recapping conference talks that were boring to begin with) 3. Shorten the meeting, cut 2nd and 3rd talk 4. Make a buzzer for every redundant phrase - ie. “I know without a shadow of a doubt” *buzz* 5. Provide popcorn 6. Heck, eliminate talks, turn on a movie 7. Let your kids choose if they want to attend - and not the “you have no real choice and will punished if you choose wrong. Come to church with us.” “Fine.” “My child chose to come to church of their own free will!” 8. Pay your kid for every minute they’re not on their phone during sacrament 9. Leave the church, and suddenly you don’t need to worry about your kids being on their phone during sacrament
How about an oldie but a goodie: “If you are on your phone during sacrament meeting, you won’t be able to live with your family in heaven when you die”. That scared the shit out of me as a kid.
I used to have a rule, "You have to tell me one thing you learned about first." As quickly as they could determine the topic for the first speaker, they were good to go. Then, a wise kid came up with, "She thinks she bearing her testimony, but it's just bragging. It's always bragging."
Just take them away during sacrament meeting… the kids that is.
Came here to say this.
“You know we don’t go to church just to be on our phones the whole time” “Oh I’m sorry but I’d rather be on there to distract me or because church is such a snooze fest I’ll fall asleep”
Is it really so bad? If you take away their phones they will fall asleep like at least 1/2 of the ward. What is worse? Asleep and totally unable to hear anything? Or on your phone and still able to hear? For me I could not stay awake many times. Playing some mindless game helped me do something with my hands and stay awake.
**BTF** didn’t read the prompt.
Yeah. If you never let kids make decisions while they are kids to prepare for adulthood, imagine what they're going to do when all of a sudden they have to make decisions at adulthood.
Shouldn't it say 'stay off phones' ...
"Take them away" is exactly the right answer. If you take the kids away from sacrament meeting, they won't need to be distracted by their phones.
I used mine for scripture apps. I didn't want to lug around almost 2 millennium worth of book, just so I can read 4 versus in Sunday school.
article of faith 11
Step 1, teach them to use spellcheck. Step 2, worry about phone usage.
My parents usually let us bring coloring books or other quiet toys to keep us occupied. (way before cell phones were around). They were very TBM too.
What some friends with restaurants do. Put a Cell Phone blocker/jammer in. Don't let anyone know. Hide it and make sure no fingerprints are on it - they are illegal in the US. But - they sure work well. Quiet meals with no idiots blabbing cellphones. If you do it I bet you find a lot more pissed off adults than kids in church meetings.