From a reader:Father Z
My wife and I this year were going to attend Midnight Mass this year. My father was going to stay at our house to watch our 2 and 1 year olds since they will be sleeping. Are we obliged to then go to Mass Christmas morning with the children so that they attend? My thought was that when the kids get to be 4 or 5 years old (and will a> understand the Mass and b> not throw a fit every time the organ wakes them up) that at that point we would bring the older children with but leave the wee ones at home to sleep. We bring the children on all Sundays and feasts unless they are sick. Someone on my blog commented “Did not Christ specifically request ‘the little children’?” which I agree, but… did he really want those sleep deprived children screaming during Silent Night?
Kids that young do not have an obligation to fulfill. You are not obliged to take them so they can fulfill an obligation they don’t have.
For the rest… this is a parenting question, and parents with children can chime in with their views.
You have to decide how to expose your children to the celebration of the sacred mysteries.
That said, I do not mind it at all when people leave their infants and very small children at home (in the care of an excellent sitter) rather than bring them to Midnight Mass.
“Squeakers”, by the way is a term used for the ship-board children in the Aubrey/Maturin books. Which it’s a term of endearment, ain’t it?
Thanks Father!
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