Sunday, August 19, 2007

Church Fiasco... Grrrrrr.

Joshua is currently going through the separation anxiety phase that most two year olds go through. Every time we pull up in front of the children's building at our church he starts shaking and freaking out. I literally hate the first part of Sunday mornings when we have to drop him off at his classroom. He cries, he clings, he screams, he's well... terrified!

This morning was just like all the rest. He saw we were parking at church and he started chanting "Mommy, I wanna go bye-bye". I cringed and I let Mr. Big know my anguish of dropping him off this morning. Once again, he cried and pitched an enormous fit in the doorway to his room. The teachers are always very kind and compassionate with him which makes it quasi easier on the both of us.

The security at our church is pretty high. When you get to church you scan a card at the front door and it prints out three tags. You put one on your child, give one to their teacher and keep one as a receipt to pick your child up. The 0-24 month old children get a pager when you sign in at their classrooms. This morning after I signed Joshua in at his room, I forgot my pager and left it sitting on the table outside of his classroom. The policy is when you pick up your child without the pager that you have to show your license to the main administrator for the children's program who is never in the rooms, but more like a hall monitor. It's really a huge mess to tell you the truth even though they are trying to be secure. And, these people know us, they know Joshua... yada, yada. We've been members here for 8 years or more. The main administrator walks around the halls and is hard to find.

This morning it was a huge deal because Joshua saw us and when we realized the pager fiasco it was too late because he was dead set on being picked up. They wouldn't let me have him even though I had his receipt, but the pager was sitting there on the table. At this point, he was screaming and terrifying all the other little kids in his room. For the first time I felt helpless in church. I finally picked him up over the gate and stood there with him. Before I knew it I had a lady that I guess was a notch down below the administrator standing next to me like I was a child snatcher. I can't tell you how awful that felt and how weird I felt for the first time at our church. She kept chanting and telling me their security policies. I swear it sounded like muttled noise to me. I just kept telling her that I understood their policies and that I was not going anywhere and would stand right there until Mr. Big went through the motions of letting them release our child to us. 5 minutes probably felt like an hour at this point. The lady would not be quiet either. The WHOLE time Mr. Big was gone and I was rocking a crying Josh in my arms she talked and went on and on. Needless to say, Mr. Big got it all straightened out as he hunted down the administrator. We got our son back and we're all home safe and sound. I guess more than anything it just feels good to vent about it here and get it off my chest. I'm not looking forward to bringing him next week and I know one thing for sure... I will never leave the darn pager sitting on the table again. Ever.

In the midst of this as we were leaving the children's building today they were handing out yellow sheets of paper to everyone. I got home and finally looked at it and it was a sign up sheet for volunteers for the classrooms. I feel the paper was a calling for me to enlist parents that have compassion and feelings. I filled mine out and I plan on turning it in next week.

5 comments:

MamaMiaJacksElla said...

man! how frustrating! as annoying as it all was - at least you can rest secured, no matter how great a liar some scum may be - they will NEVER let your cuties go with anyone but you!
hold on to that pager!
i am BIG on security and helped set up a similar system at our church too - although it isn't sooo fancy!
good for you for volunteering!

Jennifer said...

On one hand I totally love that they are that secure with the children. And on the other, that lady needed to shut up. I would have been rather pissed and might not have acted like I was in church. ;0)

Allison xoxo said...

ugh, how frustrating. I would have been irritated too, even though their ultimate goal was for safety... I think it's great that you volunteered to help though, voice your opinion when you get the chance, until someone's been in that position, they probably have no idea what it's like.

Nolan is going through the same thing right now and does NOT handle sunday school well at all. Breaks my heart.

Sara said...

How frustrating that must have been! Our church doesn't have a Sunday school or nursery because there aren't enough kids.

Kimberly said...

That's awful! Emily is the same way about church. She screams and cries when in the nursery and they always call us to come get her. We had to stop going to church for awhile for now because of it. It sucks!