is this inappropriate?

[myermay]

Is it a dreadful thing to let you 6 year old take their ds to church whilst we attend a christening?? Admittidly i don't let him bring it out when we go for dinner as i like us all to chat but is it so bad for an hour long christening service provided the sound is turned off? i would normally take him a magazine/toys to keep him quite anyway, so is this acceptable or rude?

Rude, I'm afraid. The last time I went to a Christening I had a perfectly behaved older child, a five year old with Aspergers and ZERO patience and a toddler. And they were fine-ish... at any rate the Christened child made more noise than any of mine! The singing perked them up, and I did a lot of hissing but it was OK.

I want to wrench those fucking things out of children's hands and grind them scornfully into the ground with my foot.

But the church is not relevant.

I was amazed that anyone would be concerned about their child being bored for a short time.

I am bored out my skull and have been for 34 years. You get teh hang of it.

headphones? why bother taking him then?

I think it's fine

Because lets assume that the family have been invited and not just the 6 year old.

I don't think you should take comics either. If he is a 'normal' six year old he should definitely be able to cope with it.

lol at Nicky

I had a schoolchild tell me the other day that she misbehaved in a certain class because she didn't like the teacher and couldn't be expected to behave when in proximity of someone she didn't like..

Well little lady. Welcome to the world!

I'm sorry, btu I would not enter any place of worship and allow a child in my care to play on a bloody games console.

He is not an infant.

It is very disrespectful.

Why do some people think this is ok? Even the op thinks it is not on!

If my ds can cope, yours can, believe me.

And while on a roo, fell similar about kids who can't go on car journeys without a bloody dvd palyer.

Look out of the bloody window!!!

It would be rude and I agree, why should he expect to be entertained every minute of his life anyway? I'm guessing he doesn't find school assembly that riveting either but they don't hand out ipods.

I had to attend church parade once a month as a brownie, which meant sitting through a very long service wearing a short uniform - and the pew cushions were incredibly itchy. It's character building. Probably.

loving your work moondog

Moondog, there is plenty of room on this soap box for both of us.

What else?

Fucking Xbox, DS wotsits, Wii fits, bin the lot of 'em.

Fuck off outside, run around a bit, get yer shoes scuffed and when you get in, shut up because I'm talking.

Agree inappropriate.

Agree 6 yo should be able to sit there quietly.

In my book, a 6 yo shouldn't even own a ds...

And we wonder why children have short attention spans nowadays

What about telly at bedtime?

READ A BOOK.

(I'm only bitter because ds won't bloody watch tv. If he would i'd be 24 hr cbeebies)

lol moon.Too right.

my dd sat thru a 1 and a half hour service recently although she's never set foot in any religious place before, she joined in the songs and then gazed into space for the rest of the time. I did have to pass her food though now and again!

My aunt told me that when she was littl(ish) my grandmother would boot her and my father out for hours while she sat in the kitchen gossiping with her mates. Aunt has clear memories of tapping on kitchen window blue with cold, mouthing 'Please can I come in now?'.

Joking aside,I'm a salt and you know what the biggest thing we deal with is?

Poor attention and concentration
Attention is of course key to everything. Everything

I have a friend who goes to mass every week and her 2 year old shouts STAND UP to all the old folks at the back who haven't quite made it quickly enough.

Now that is knowing how to behave at a place of public worship.

Oh, don't get me wrong.
we go t mass on Sundays and it is ffar from quiet. It is nice to have the kids participate in their, ahem, own way.

DS machines prevent participation. I'd rather listen to a kid wriggle and whine than the click of buttons.

Exactly Nicky
It's so bloody bovine

Never mind what potential harm you are doing to your child by plugging them into a parallel universe when they could be learning about our own...what about good old fashioned manners?

If you had to give a speech or presentation and someone in the audience sat there on thier DS, what would you think?