What did you do with your kids this Rosh Hashana during shu?

Marion

Sun, Sep 20 2009, 11:27 pm

We went just for shofar. They sat quietly in the lobby until it was time for the tkiot (we got there around shlishi), with their books. DS#2 went in to Abba for shofar and DS#1 came with me. They were both very, very good. They got a small treat afterwards, but I hadn't promised them anything.

Isramom8

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 12:18 am

Youngest, 3, is very well behaved. I got to daven more than since I ever had kids, without help. (For the past three years, I did have help, but since my uncle passed away, his health care aide is no longer around.) My 3 year old walked in and out of shul, sometimes sitting and looking at a machzor.

He kvetched a little just before shofar, and thank G-d I carried him out - because he spent the entire blowing exclaiming, "I think we are hearing the shofar! We are hearing the shofar!"

6 year old played outside with other kids, and it wasn't wild. 8 and 10 year olds davened part, and played part.

Teen daughter and her friends stayed in shul and davened the whole time - not like last year when they chatted on a bench downstairs.

I brought a shopping bag of lollipops, chocolate wafers, bear cookies and bamba, and cold water.

cubbie

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 12:21 am

I took them just for shofar blowing, we stayed in the lobby, they brought some toys and nosh and played with their cousin, I went next to the entrance for the brachot and then stayed in the lobby where I could hear the shofar, davened as much as I could.

chanchy123

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 12:30 am

I clicked went to shul with them only for shofar. The first day I took them at musaf time, they played out side nicely with friends and I sat next to the window to the men's section and actually got to daven I sent DS (almost three) to DH at Hayom hayom.
The second day was cold and rainy, took the kids for shofar, most women brought their children and they all behaved except for DS who said he wanted to go to Abba the second the baal tokea said the brachot, I had to take him out of shul and missed the first few. Of course then he went to abba and sat nicely until after tkiot. I came back to shul for the last set of tkiot and both kids sat so nicely with DH and then went outside to play (the rain had stopped by thern).

sgr

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 12:46 am

We Move to shul Every Shabbos and Yom Tov,It's too far to walk,we take the maid with B"H I am very lucky and blessed to live where we do and have the help.Anyway the big kids wre in shul and she watched the little ones outside,I could see them through the window from where I was davening.Og course I kept going to check on them.There were lots of other kids well as children service so all in all they were well taken care of and I was able to be in shul and daven!

natmichal

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 1:04 am

6 y.o. DS davened next next abba most of shaharit - either he was actuallly davening /following or sittin quietly and reading books. (SOOOOOO proud of him!!!)
4.5 DS came with me with books and game. was quiet most of the time, said "teshuva tefila, tsedaka" and such with me, and went out a bit to play with other kids .
I davened!!! (which is good since I usually spend YK lying on a bed...)

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 1:07 am

when I was going to leave the house to go for the 30 first tkiot it started to pour, so I never made it for the shofar, but the first day we got to shul and my daughter was just making way too much noise and so we left after 10 mnutes. it was not worth it.

Inspired

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 1:21 am

Didn't go to shul either day. Second day toddler had a fever was up many times at night in my bed, had a terrible night. Opened the window when dh told me it was time for shofar and listened to shofar from bed- bh shul is next door.

Mrs Bissli

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 2:06 am

Did the first part of tefila at home (as usual), got to the synagogue just in time for kriat haTorah. 7yo happy to see her friends. Thought 4yo will be bored, but he saw his best friend (8yo girl) who kind of looked after him. Children's services 11-12 followed by snack, then kids back to respective friends. A few adults were keeping an eye on them, herding them in time for shofar. Blessfully we had a lovely weather and the shul was not as tight packed as I thought (thanks to overflow minyan having more comfortable chairs).

We all went to tashlich, walked back to the shul. Quite nice to see so many women at mincha maariv. The only tough bit was feeding them dinner and putting them to bed (school starts normal time today)

mandksima

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 3:20 am

After reading these replies, I am so happy that our yishuv has a program instituted for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur so mothers can daven. We use the maon next door and whichever mothers want to join (we had about 25) come and help watch with a few other mothers at a time, for an hour and 10 minutes for one time during the 2 days of R"H and once during Y"K. The rest of the time, your kids are in a group maon that has babies and up to age 10 or so.

mominisrael2

Mon, Sep 21 2009, 3:32 am

Apparently there was a pretty great kids' program at my shul -- usually when I send DDs to shul by themselves they daven with DH for 10-15 minutes and then either go to the playground or bring their friends back to our place to play, but they stayed out this time for over two hours Smile

DD2 came up to get me at the end for women's shofar blowing...

EvenI

Thu, Sep 24 2009, 5:02 am

mandksima wrote:

Our community does something like this, but it doesn't work out to always be good for everyone all the time. In fact, a lot of mothers end up not using it or using it very partially, because their kids aren't happy there or are only happy there for a short time. It's a bit of a balagan, with one room for all kids and with the helpers changing every hour and not knowing much about each kid's needs. I'd be interested in any tips you have for making it run more smoothly and keeping the kids happier. Ours is just a room with toys in it and 4 volunteers each hour to watch the kids. The kids are mainly babies and toddlers. Older kids usually play outside, if the weather is good.

Ruchel

Thu, Sep 24 2009, 5:39 am

I stayed home. Especially since our shabbes key seemed to be non functioning.

DH blew the shofar for me - but it wasn't necessary since some time after a neighbour did it and I heard it all again Wink