Gadgets, Children, and Church

As “The Gadget Geek Dad,” I do occasionally experience the need to use my gadgets in raising my children. Sunday was one of those times. I was sitting in church with Joshua. My wife was organizing the pantry and had Caleb with her downstairs. Yes, she sometimes sits out the church service in other areas of service to the church. I don’t think she missed much, but that’s for another blog entry.

Joshua is now 4, and if you’ve ever tried to keep a 4 year old quiet in church, you know where I’m coming from. Some churches have things for the children to do during the entire service. Ours doesn’t. We have a “Kids for Christ” program that picks up during the sermon, but for about half the service the kids have to sit in the auditorium. That has led to some interesting moments.

Joshua, understandably, didn’t have his attention kept. I found out later that we now have children’s bulletins, which they can draw on, but I didn’t know that when service started. Joshua got bored and unhappy. To be honest, and I might explore this in another post, I was doing they best I could myself.

I finally got the idea to use my iPod Touch. I installed a free “Jawbreaker” clone, and I know Caleb enjoys “popping balls,” so I figured Joshua might as well. Sure enough, it did help, although he kept needing help and when he popped a lot of balls he had to let me know as loudly and excitedly as he could.

Of course, I had to spend a few moments thinking that a $500 gadget has been used at the level of keeping a 4 year old quiet in church.

 

Technorati Tags: Church,children,iPod Touch,gadgets,keeping children's attention