Don't Take This The Wrong Way, But...

"Don't take this the wrong way, but..."
Current mood: bitchy
Category: Religion and Philosophy

...your children are the most distracting, obnoxious children I have ever seen in 50 years of going to Mass. I will definitely pray for you."

-A kind, sympathetic (note sarcasm here) parishoner's comments to The Carvinator after Mass today.

Nice, huh? He was pretty pissed and depressed for about four hours after this, and I wasn't too happy with it, either. NO, our children are NOT perfect angels at Mass. YES, they do act obnoxious in church sometimes, but we either nip it in the bud ASAP or take them out ASAP. But come on! I find comments such as this to be extremely hurtful and wonder what good she thought was going to come of getting her point across to two obviously overwhelmed and frazzled-looking parents.

I almost feel bad for her because she obviously is not looking on this as a "Let the children come to me" scenario. My girls are learning a lot about Mass lately, and I am feeling like I need to squelch that now by keeping them in the cry room, where they won't learn a thing because all the kids just play together in the cry room while the parents sit and talk. I'm not wanting to set that kind of example for the girls right now (parents talking to each other and not paying attention in Mass).

There is a deeper issue here, too, and that is my perception of my children's manners/attitudes/temperament. I have been musing a lot over the fact that these girls are not like other kids. When we go to other people's houses, they just jump in like they're making themselves at home. When we go to the playground, my kids gather up all the children they don't know and make them follow and do whatever they (my kids) say. They fight each other like WWF prizefighters. Each one separately can throw a tantrum nonstop for 5+ hours, and I'm not exaggerating here.

Here's the thing, though, they are both SHARP as TACKS. They pick up on things no adult could ever pick up on. Not only are they accademically advanced for 5 and 3 (if I'm bragging, I don't care), they both know all their prayers forward and backward and pray spontaneously too. After Mass and after Atrium, The Academic will go ask Fr. Joe all these theological questions. The Balerina begs her father to help her say her prayers before Mass. They both ask constantly "NOW is it Jesus? Is the bread Jesus YET?"

So in a way, I do get what this lady is saying. If she was distracted by them, although I don't think they were altogether terrible this morning, well I believe that she was. Sharp as tacks but as high strung as tightwires. I don't want to take away their zeal for Mass, but I don't want to disturb others, either. Even so, I think it was the height of rude for that lady to comment, and obviously it has been a very long time since she has had to deal with children, if ever.