I’ve had crazies calling the sitting Bishop a fallen man and described how the Government was out to get him….for 45 MINUTES…..compared to that, I guess a couple kiddos is better. Shouldn’t have to have that false choice, but in my experience silent reverence of no one getting up freaks out the masses….so we end up with craziness in all it’s forms.

On the subject of of youth praying in sacrament meeting, it’s never happened in my ward to the best of my knowledge. However, as I have commented to my husband after some over-long prayers in church, a prayer is /not a talk/, so I think inviting a youth member to give one would be a great way to involve them in the meeting and would not lower the level of discourse at all.

We all have our gospel hobbies and little things that peeve us (mine is bowties passing the sacrament) but I’ve never felt the spirit while being all “tight” about some point or another of the cultural process. Kind of a Romans 14 thing here. There’s no need to rain on someone’s parade when they’re not actively following a path that leads away from salvation. A gentle notice at some points, maybe, but there are bigger deals to focus on like pornography and the atonement, which we do spend proper time focusing on.

Should parents force their kids to bear testimony? Nah. Is it wrong for the kid to be like “Can I do it too?” and the parent to help them? Nah. I don’t really care to get all frustrated at kids trying to follow a positive or semi-positive example. This is probably why leaders don’t do much to stop it. The “brainwashed” kid can learn to think later, and its not like anyone gets through the teenage years without some serious testimony-adversity anyway.

For my experience: I see little children bear testimony once every few months. Usually its cute. Its Mormon-y, even, what with our love of families.

You can pry this bit of folk religion from our COLD DEAD Hands.

Sure, it’s annoying. Sure it’s against the handbook and the doctrine of the age of accountability and makes no sense.
But, gosh, kids are soo cute. Who are you to look at the most adorable bambi eyes and tell them to STOP it? You are all a bunch of politically correct humbugs.

Perhaps you haven’t considered the “pluses” yet.

1) You get to show the world that you are raising your children to do churchy things, without needing to say “hey! Aren’t I a righteous parent in Zion???? Look at MEEEE and my cute kid!”

2) You might be a weekend parent who does precious little with your little kiddos during the week, but you will feel like you are dad or mom of the year when you make, er, um, “see” your kid do something so righteous.

3) You get to show off your little rug rat.

4) You get extra points in heaven for each member of your family that bears their testimony. (Take THAT sisters with less children or the childless godless people out there!)

5) You are training your little boy- your little angel to be the next Prophet, the next GA, the next Bishop. (Can’t you see we’ve also dressed little Joseph up in a charcoal suit and tie even though he is just three?)

6) You are training your little girl to be the next Molly Mormon and righteous wife. Besides you spent a month sewing her a little conference dress to match your own. It’s time to show it off little Eliza.)

7) Grandparents love it!

8) It burns up time that you don’t have to speak.

9) You have an excuse to stay up there (while your kid squirms) and bear your testimony.

10) You can show the Primary Presidency that your little darling should be star of the next Primary Program.

See, it’s wonderful. Hush bitter and angry bloggernacle. Hush.

The eight to twelve year olds follow after the littlest kids, and maybe or maybe not an adult will get up before the meeting ends. But when there are ten kids waiting in line, the adults often will not even get up so the whole meeting can be children.

Now, I appreciate that when children see other children doing something they want to join, and I appreciate that parents think it is cute, and I even appreciate that people want their children to learn to talk in front of a group and that learning what to say in a testimony is important. But sacrament meeting is not the place for children to copy other children or for parents to show off their cute child. It is not even the place to learn to speak in front of a group. And it is not the place for children to recite the five sentences of the testimony glove like it is a catechism. Sacrament meeting is supposed to be for worship, reverence, and partaking of the sacrament.

I hate to sound like a crotchety old lady, but it feel like I am in primary when the whole meeting is nothing but children. And truthfully, it makes me feel crotchety.

If I ask for help with a math problem, I don’t want you to just tell me “I know the answer is 7.” I want you to explain how you got to that answer, so that maybe I can get there too. And yet, so many LDS think bearing a testimony is just saying “I know the answer is 7.”

But I will push back a bit from the notion that sacrament meeting must be “adult focused.” If the church expects little children to be in the meeting (and not being cared for elsewhere, as many churches do), then I think it is perfectly appropriate for at least some of the meeting to be directed at them. I appreciate when speakers attempt to engage my kids (so very few do) and I like an occasionally song from the Primary Song Book. Heck, if they can sing songs from the Primary Song Book in General Conference, I don’t see why it is inappropriate in sacrament meeting once in a while. A sizable portion of the congregation in many wards is children. Why wouldn’t we want to engage them to the extent we can?