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[ilovetochat]

We have been taking our dd to church every Sunday since she was 6 months old and is now 14 months and we all enjoy it, dd kicks her legs to music and plays in creche for a while. The problem is, as soon as we get there, every child in the church leaves their parents and comes to sit by us smiling and waving at dd and playing with her. It is nice for them to be friendly to her but they sit with us for an hour and want to hold her, play with her, and talk to her. I feel like the pied piper with literally 15 kids gathered round us and we can't concentrate on the service as we are monitoring the attention dd is getting incase they get a bit rough as they are all 5+. Should I just ignore this and think at least dd is happy with attention and can be taught to listen to service when older, or should i try and get the kids to say hello to her and then go back to their own families. Maybe i'm being a bit precious but it is ruining my Sunday mornings having all the kids round me constantly asking questions when all i want is quiet time in church with dp and dd.

Speak to a church warden or steward or whatever they call the person who organises things at your church. Those older children should have something organised for them, or they should be supervised by their own parents and it should not be up to you to facilitate that.

there is a club for them half way through where they go and make things and then they come back and show dd everything they make. They are all nice kids but just won't leave dd alone. I don't want to tell them to go away as i will look nasty but i can't believe their parents let them crowd us so much

Where do you sit? Are there seats or are you all stood up?

I'm not understanding this.
Don't the children go back to their own seats to concentrate on the rest of the service after the children's club?

Do they all come into your bench/seats when they come back? Does your dd go to the children's club. Do they all come back with her? Who takes her? If it's you, can't you tell them all to go back to their parents at that point?

i sometimes take dd to creche but if she is sitting quietly i keep her in the service as she loves the music and isn't old enough to join the kids clubs yet. We all sit down but when the other kids come back from clubs they all come to our row of seats and crowd either side infront and behind us showing dd their artwork. They talk to her constantly and their parents never tell them to go and sit with them. I am probably being a bit ott but it's hard looking after 1 kid in church without being surrounded and they like dd so much it would seem cruel to tell them to go back to their own seats. I want dd to be sociable but i want some peace and i want her to concentrate on service when she is older

How old are they?
I'm surprised that their parents let this happen.
In our church the children all go back to their own seats.
I'm just imagining the amount of bustle going on when they crowd round your area. Must be distracting for everybody.
Only other suggestion is for you to tell them all to sit down and be quiet and you can all have a nice chat after the service. Recruit the older ones to keep the younger ones quiet.
Otherwise speak to the parents.

they vary from 6 to 13, i think their parents take no notice and enjoy the peace, i wish they would go back to their own seats as they are very distracting,