to ask about church baby and toddler groups?

[CillianMurphysOtherWife]

am considering going to a church baby and toddler group but am really not religious and don't want to be preached to and I don't want them to think i'm being cheeky by coming if it's only meant for their followers

there aren't any non-church ones at a time that works for us

is it a generally accepted thing that the group is just like any baby toddler group, or do they range from "welcoming to anyone and non-preachy" to "downright scary cult recruitment sessions"?

Also Athiest and take babies to a Baptist, Church of Ireland, Elim, Presbyterian group. Sometimes we attend Catholic Church. Toddler groups are welcoming to everyone usually. It's a community thing.

And 2nds, stop trying to provoke a bun fight. OP had a refectory valid question.

Perfectly valid....

The most religious thing we do is snarf chocolate eggs at Christmas

As one atheist to another, I'm pretty sure you're doing that wrong...

I went to a church run group.
There was no religion ever mentioned except at the Christmas party where the santa gave out 'the Christmas story' books as presents.
Which I was fine with.
And the lovely volunteer ladies would bake cakes and biscuits. The council run baby groups weren't allowed to serve tea.
My mum is a church member and runs a church toddler group. They never mention any religion but are there as their Christian duty. They've helped some mums leave their abusive partners. And a lovely bereaved dad who'd lost his wife when their baby was 6 weeks old. They introduced him to friends and to begin with someone would hold his baby whilst he sobbed in the kitchen with tea and sympathetic ears. He said he wouldn't have made it through without them, and he doesn't go to church.

I've been to three separate church run groups. Two were lovely, normal, no agenda etc but the third one! It was really full on, they told bible stories at snack time (insisted on silence from children too) told the children Jesus could bring people back from the dead, made then reenact bible scenes......all of this happened in one two hour session too!!!

We used to go to a church playgroup. It was in the church hall, so a few leaflets around, and at song time there might be the occasional 'Jesus loves you' type song, but that was it.

My mum runs our church parent and toddler group, and has done for the last 12 years.
Although a portion of the parents who go, do attend the church, anyone is welcome. And tbh the only time anything "churchy" is said is at the end of term party each term, where the church leader will do a 5minuite talk/ bible story.,

A mum i know her dc is the same age as mine ran a toddler group for years in a church hall she is a ministers wife i helped out a few times no mention of god or prayer she had a few childrens religious books in the book corner and you could pick up the church news letter on the way out yabu and picky go dont go but its a toddler group not cult recruitment

They'll vary! I've been to a few and helped run a couple too. Occasionally they have a Christian theme or sings but mostly are completely religion free and simply use a church space

I used to take both of mine to a group that was run by the local Methodist church, it was nice, friendly and relaxed, no preaching or religious stuff.
That group was my lifeline when I had 2 under 2, I lived for my Thursday mornings!
Give it a go, you might be surprised 😊

I go to a church one and the religious content is low. They do things like making Easter related things or Christmas related things at that time of year. No church songs or prayers or any thing like that. The exception is the Christmas party where they hire a bouncy castle have party food and you are expected to listen to the minister in the adjoining church for 15 mins tell the Christmas story (very child orientated). You can obviously miss that bit out if you really wanted.

My Mum has helped run a parent and toddler group and is now involved in messy church. She does it because she likes the little ones, and at 20, 20 and 18 (and the 18 year old is well over 6 feet tall) her grandsons can't really be picked up and cuddled any more!

It's a way for her to fill her great granny lust, as none of of her grandsons will be having sprogs any time soon!

I go to lots of church groups and 99% of the time you'd never know it was anything to do with religion.
one group has the phrase 'may gods love be with you' as part of the 'goodbye' song.
Another group has the (minister/vicar? It's CofE) come in at the end of the Easter & Christmas sessions to tell the appropriate religious story. In both cases chocolate is handed out at the end, I doubt the other stuff sunk with the toddlers such is the chocolate based excitement. A couple of people did leave prior to this, no eyebrows were raised.
My experience is no one expects you to be religious, it's usually it's accepted to be a place where carers can get a cup of tea and a biscuit, the (usually) ladies who run it will gladly hold your baby while you drink said tea, and toddlers can run around with peers in relative safety. They kept me sane after my 1st and I'm always grateful to the kind people than run them out of the goodness of their hearts for us mums (dads/nans etc).

I sent both my DCs to Sunday school - although our primary is attached to a church and have a service every term I didn't realise and wanted DC1 to learn about religion and also the place in the community of churches etc. (People who believe and go to church on a local level do mainly just want to do good, help the community and in lots of ways without it we would lose something)
Anyway I'm not religious and was honest about my reasons for wanting DC to go ...they were fine about it, haven't tried to convert me - I've thought about it - I have no faith, I am not going to pretend.
The Christian festival things are mostly cultural in our society now...and we can discuss how they have been tagged onto pagan festivals etc.
DCs both loved going - DC1 went on to an older group - just stopped going at age 14, declares herself as not a Christian. DC2 still goes - I have never forced them to go -they do get a religious message (this is Sunday School!) but they will know about religion and make their own mind up.
The way I look on these things I went as a child - I was informed enough to decide for myself. I trust my children to be intelligent and broadly educated enough to make their own decisions and choices in life. (You can't worry about your children being indoctrinated by something you experienced if you weren't...same as being a feminist and brownies or ballet etc...)

The only time I've been offended was when I tried a local one in a Catholic Church hall.

I felt uneasy when I walked in as the whole place went quiet and they all turned round. I really didn't like it when registration forms came round for church services. But what really pissed me off was when the priest arrived for a chat. He got to me, introduced himself, I introduced myself and the children....I have an unusual name. His response was "Oh I'll never remember that, I'll have to call you something else!"

I've tried many other church/non church playgroups and never had an experience like this!

I've been to one run by Mums that was just using the church as a venue, one that was run by lovely church ladies who were really good at taking a crying baby for a walk or reading to a clingy toddler and one that we sang songs from Junior Praise at the end. But never any preaching or praying.

I went to one once because a friend's Mum was running it and apparently they wanted new members. I'm an atheist but was willing to give it a try. About 50% of the session was spent singing hymns and reciting prayers, and then there was 'coffee and free play' during which the church staff were trying to politely get me to come along to other church activities like Sunday school. They were very friendly and welcoming but it was too 'religion heavy' for my atheist tastes and I didn't return.

They are all different though so I'd go along to your local one and see how you find it.

Although not Catholic, I took my youngest son to a Catholic church toddler group, years ago, It was run by nuns, in black and white with hair covered etc, but no religious theme at all. He loved it and called all nuns he saw Finbars, after sister Finbar, who made a big fuss of him

Our favourite group is run in a church. It's run by the (older generation) ladies of the church. They obviously love seeing all the kids and put lots of effort into welcoming everyone. They put up a poster of the family type services and the times. And every term put the church newsletter on the prams that are stored in another room. They do a craft on a theme but it's whatever takes their fancy and the story and songs are not religion based. Try it you might like it.

I've been to a few in my area. Unfortunately the one that's best organised and has the best facilities is also a bit cultish, but thankfully the church volunteers aren't too pushy! They have free play and at the end there's a sing-along which is about 2/3 kiddy hymns and a short amount of kid-aimed sermon stuff. I'd be concerned if my toddler were old enough to understand it but he's still pretty young.

The other church groups I've been to have ranged from no religion at all to a small amount - just leaflets on a table and handing out bible story books to the kids who are having a birthday.

Unfortunately there don't seem to be any groups that aren't church-based in my area. I think it's just a case of finding one you can stomach if you're an atheist! :)

The one I go to is nearly two hours of free play, hot drinks and cakes for the adults, squash or water and biscuits for the children and five to ten minutes of nursery rhymes at the end. The older children request most of the songs and as some of them attend church there's the odd Christian song sung, but that's about it. Mostly is row your boat or wheels on the bus!
I tried another that was very nice, basically lots of soft play in a church hall. Unfortunately it was too far to go to make it regularly but they had a ball pit! Other than the fact it was held in a church hall, there was nothing remotely religious about it.
Try a few. If you don't like one, don't bother going back.

I have run a church toddler group for the last 20 years, since my own were toddlers. We mention special church activities for families occasionally in notices or on our information sheets for the term; we might occasionally do an Easter-themed craft (chicks and bunnies rather than Good Friday, crosses and tombs!) and the only overt Christian element is a single "Thank You" song at the end of song-time ("Thank you for the world so sweet...), where I encourage people to be thankful for the nice things they have enjoyed about the day, or the craft (thankful for dads and granddads etc on Father's Day, or thankful for insects if we have made pretend ladybirds etc)

I'm an atheist and I attended the local Baptist church baby and toddler group every week on mat leave. It was my favourite group, welcoming and friendly. No-one tried to convert me