Janie Grace Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 If you go to a church that has small groups (Bible studies, community groups, whatever your church calls them), is childcare provided? Or does each member find a sitter? If childcare is provided, how do you handle it with little ones who are up way past their bedtimes? Just wrestling through some different options and would appreciate hearing of your experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Our small groups meet in homes at different times throughout the week. Childcare has been handled differently in different ones but no one ever hires a sitter, kids are expected to be there. Usually kids participate at least part of the time and then go to another part of the house while the adults have a discussion. Some groups have a lesson for kids with the same adult leader every time, some rotate leaders. Some groups just have a playtime for the kids. A lot depends on the ages of the kids, number of kids, and the layout of the house where the group meets. As far as bedtimes, we participate in groups that allow us to get our kids to bed on time. Right now our group meets from 5:30-7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 Our small groups meet in homes at different times throughout the week. Childcare has been handled differently in different ones but no one ever hires a sitter, kids are expected to be there. Usually kids participate at least part of the time and then go to another part of the house while the adults have a discussion. Some groups have a lesson for kids with the same adult leader every time, some rotate leaders. Some groups just have a playtime for the kids. A lot depends on the ages of the kids, number of kids, and the layout of the house where the group meets. As far as bedtimes, we participate in groups that allow us to get our kids to bed on time. Right now our group meets from 5:30-7. How do you handle dinner then? Do you eat early or is a meal part of the meeting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Our Wednesday night service is 6:30-7:30 at our church building, volunteers teach the children and provide nursery. Mostly this is parents but we also have a Children's minister who oversees it. Adults have separate activities in the building at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 How do you handle dinner then? Do you eat early or is a meal part of the meeting? Big snack before we go and light supper when we get home. My kids are 8,6, and 3. We have been in groups that did supper and have a meeting every week too but that got to be too long for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarasue7272 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Our church provides childcare, an onsite sitter or reimbursement. One group met Sunday's 6-7:30, so that was ok for bedtime. Current group meets Tuesday's 7-8:30. Last year we didn't have childcare onsite and my kids stayed with my parents. This was great because my parents would usually out them to bed at a decent time. This fall the same group has childcare onsite. My kids love it, but it makes for late nights. Which stinks because ds8 is in ps now. i took pjs to change into and ds5 would often fall asleep on the way home. There are many groups to choose from, most with childcare, some without. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TX Native Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 (edited) Unfortunately, we left a large church with in home small groups partly because the church leaders wanted adult only small groups and paying childcare wasn't practical for us. Also, we like to attend things as a family whenever possible. The church members were generally middle class or above so paying childcare to attend a small group was no big deal for most members. We didn't have children until 2 years after we joined the group, so at 1st we didn't think anything of it. The 3 families with children hired a group sitter for all the children. We took all the kids to one house and the adults met at another house in the same area of town. If one family didn't show for sickness or was out of town, the sitter was still paid a flat rate. The attending families for the week had to pitch in the difference for the absent family. The church home groups I attended from a different church before marriage and children would have parents rotate keeping the kids in another area of the host home during the Bible study or devotion portion. There was usually a small time of snacks, fellowship, and singing as a group that involved the whole family. A friend of mine was in a small group from a different church who hired a teenager to keep kids on site for about an hour. Everyone with kids pitched in a couple dollars for the hour they had the discussion time. It worked out to be worth the teenager's time because there were several kids. The teenager joined the whole group for snacks and fellowship time, but was only responsible for the kids for the discussion/prayer time. this is how it works at the smaller church we attend now. When our kids were small, the midweek Bible study was in host home where the older kids put in a video for the few younger kids in the basement. I would discreetly check on my kids midway through the Bible study. Now our kids are old enough to entertain themselves during the Bible study. We eat a quick early supper before we go. We have snacks and fellowship for everybody after the Bible study/prayer time. When the kids were very young, we sent them in their PJs so they only had to brush teeth when we got home. Sometimes we didn't go if the kids had a long day and a later bedtime would have been difficult. Edited January 2, 2016 by TX native Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSmomof2 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Our church does most of its small groups/Bible studies on Sundays at the church during the same time as Sunday school. Childcare is provided by volunteers during church activities other times---meetings, visiting speakers, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Many churches here have all their small groups on Wednesday evenings. There is nursery care for the littles, and school age kids have activities. Most of the churches serve dinner of some sort these evenings, and it is very inexpensive for families, and free for families who need that assistance. The Wednesday evening church activities are so prevalent here that other activities don't happen on Wednesday evenings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 It kind of depends on the small group--that term can mean anything. I used to meet with a group of women--about 30--for a class and then discussion. We asked people to contribute *something* to child-care--something like $5 a week. If they couldn't, no big deal because those who could afford to help out gave more. That was held at a church with care facilities. In-home, sometimes we have hired a babysitter, if there were 5 or fewer kids under age 7. Age 7-ish and older were expected to be able to play on their own without causing disruption; usually, I just set up a Lego room--big box of Legos on a king-size sheet. Yesterday, we had a party with a bunch of adults and some kids. The littles were in the entryway playing with my Nativity Playmobil; the 2-7 crowd, playing with Thomas the Tank in the living room with Looney Toons on the TV, and the elders (7 and up playing with Bionicles in my husband's office. The adults had the rest of the house and we all just kept an eye on things. It makes a difference how well you know the kids and how well they know each other. It was also an enormous help that the kids put away all those Bionicle pieces!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 (edited) We had an issue last year. We had a small group that met twice per month. We would eat potluck as families, and then do the singing together, and then the kids would go off into another room. One boy was very destructive and it was in a nice home, and twice he damaged expensive items in their home. Thankfully they are gone. Now the kids that are there are older and don't need a real babysitter. In the past, we did have some teens come and everyone pitched in for babysitting. Edited January 2, 2016 by DawnM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmvaughan4 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 We've done a it a few different ways. If there are a few members that live in the same neighborhood, the kids meet at one house and the adults at the other. Some houses are large enough that the kids could go to the basement or upstairs playroom. Another option was meeting at the church while the kids stayed in one area and the adults in another. For all options, we would ask teenage church members to watch the kids (number of teens depended on number of kids). Each family would pay $5-10 total. We usually ended small group by 8 to get home for bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 If it is in the morning we have childcare and usually pool at the end to get the babysitter (usually high school girls) a small check and gift baskets and gift cards. Anything in the evening has no childcare provided. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 We have a big Wednesday night and many Bible studies meet then at the church to take advantage of the childcare. We have dinner, choir rehearsals, various Bible classes/studies for all ages, prayer meeting, officer training and sometimes random other meetings. The women's ministry has a Tuesday am meeting with childcare for infants - preK. Everyone else is on their own to figure it out. We used to be in a Sunday night group that included kids. We met in homes where there was a good place for them to play and often hired a teen or two to manage the chaos. We ate, then sent the kids off to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 We meet at our house. Usually between 9-12 kids and about that many adults. One couple had a sitter they hired to come and supervise...mostly the two youngest kids who are five. We meet from 4-7, so no one is up too late. Who ever is there pitches in $10 for the sitter. We have three levels and a few acres, so there is enough space for us adults to talk and the kids to be off playing. It works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Its up to each small group in our church to decide how to handle child care, and we've been in groups that did things a variety of different ways depending on the particular age-grouping of the kids and who was available. In some groups where we had oodles of little kids we hired teen/college sitters and everyone pitched in to pay the sitters. Some groups each parent rotated through taking a turn watching kids in another room. We were in a group for a short time that expected everyone to find their own sitters at home so as not to bring kids -- that was challenging for us (not because of money -- more because of even finding a sitter available every time the group met!). Some groups with mostly older kids we just sent kids to another part of the house/church building and asked the older kids to "keep an eye" on the few younger ones and come get an adult if issues came up. Right now we are in a group where men and women meet separately most of the time (men one week, women the next, with an occasional potluck meal for the whole group), and then the spouse that isn't meeting that week stays home with kids. That isn't our favorite way to do small group, but it's okay for a season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Any thing at the church in the evening included child care. Some churches which have big organized Bible studies during the day usually had child care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Where we used to attend, teens did the childcare. The small group members would pitch in $, and that money would go towards the teen volunteer's activities that year, such as CIY trip, camp, etc. They kept track of the $ and who did how many shifts and it would be divided among those teens. It helps parents who can't afford the big trips, and it let the teens feel good because they earned the money. Even though I didn't have any kids needing childcare at that point (ds's were old enough to watch dd), I always chipped in. I know how hard it is to pay for the summer youth events and knew it would help someone out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 My daytime study background checks every parent and we rotate through as helpers. The teachers meet 1 hour beforehand to have their own study, and parents rotate through their class as well to help with child care, then we switch and different parents take over during class. There are about 100 kids and an equal number of parents in the study. Huh - that didn't sound very clear. Trying again: Kids' teachers and study leaders meet for their own study - parents rotate childcare responsibility, each volunteer works about 1x/yr Classes meet for both parents and kids - Kids have assigned teachers and parent helpers, each volunteer works about 2x/yr The only evening study I went to that really worked for us was a supper study. Everyone took one week to either order pizza, bring a giant crock-pot of soup, or whatever, and we all chatted while eating. Kids were included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) If you go to a church that has small groups (Bible studies, community groups, whatever your church calls them), is childcare provided? Or does each member find a sitter? If childcare is provided, how do you handle it with little ones who are up way past their bedtimes? Just wrestling through some different options and would appreciate hearing of your experiences. I'll answer for both my former church and current one. Former church was larger and had midweek activities at the church on Wednesday nights for all age groups - various Bible studies for men and women, youth group for teens, girls classes, and Royal Rangers for boys (like Boy Scouts). There was nursery for kids under age 3. We always went on Wednesdays and were active in all sorts of places over the 12 years I was there - as youth leaders, nursery workers, the kids grew up going to the classes, etc. Former church had a few things that met other nights - my Bible study, for example, was started by people who were all at that church at the time (we've almost all since left) but welcomed anyone. This met outside the church property, on a separate night, and there isn't childcare. Right now, it's no big deal because DH is home anyway. If he decides to go back to school, I'll still go, but I'll host some, occasionally maybe take the kids with me (only if it's at my SIL's house, because her kids are there already), or get a babysitter (depending on where it is/who is available - one of the leaders of the group lives not far from my ILs, so sometimes I would drop the kids off with them and then go). Bedtimes have never been an issue. Our Wednesday night services at that church were over at 8:30 - we were home no later than 9, which has always been my kids' bedtime, at the earliest (the boys' is 10). I think it's weird when people send their kids to bed super early lol. Pink would potentially be 'up past her bedtime' if what I described above happened and DH went back to school. It's nothing I care about. I don't have little kids though, so YMMV. Current church doesn't have any one night that they have everything. They never have anything available for kids/childcare. One night of the week they have youth group. Another night men's Bible study. Another night women's Bible study. Another night another Bible study. Another night 'junior youth' (which is like, 8-12). It's 40 minutes from where we live and there is just no way. They don't offer childcare for any of the above (youth and junior youth make sense), and it would be so much easier if they'd group things more together. They just built a new building but they didn't think about trying to make it possible to have more than one thing at a time (but they do have some classrooms that the Bible studies could use). But even if they were closer, I wouldn't go to something that didn't offer childcare. If it's at the church, IMO, and they're trying to appeal to people to get them to come, it's a necessity. Granted, I'm not loving this church anyway. So that may color my opinion a bit. If it was something important enough to me, I would go whether there was childcare or not. This place isn't important to me. Edited January 3, 2016 by PeacefulChaos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Our church has groups that meet at the church building. For those there is childcare up to grade 5--either regular children's programming if the group meets on Sunday morning or special group care if it's during the week. The special group care is $3 per class because they bring in an outside agency rather than using volunteers from the church. For groups that meet outside of the church, some welcome children (I'm assuming each specific group either hires a sitter, has teens who watch the younger kids, or rotates families watching the kids) and some are adults only. There is a good mix of both types of groups. We previously attended a church where the pastor constantly mentioned the need for getting plugged into groups but then only a very small number of them had childcare. Most assumed families either had family that could watch their kids or could afford a babysitter. We didn't fit either situation so we never went to a group there. Eventually this issue caused us to seek a more family-friendly church. We attended another church where each home group that needed childcare was given a stipend by the church to pay an in-home sitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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