How to Survive Church with a Toddler:

A few months ago, I desperately asked for your help with any ideas on how to get a toddler to sit through church… we were definitely struggling. Now, Ledger rarely needs to be taken out and Sunday’s are much better! Here’s what took from your comments.

Quite a few people suggested not letting Ledger play at all. They said he will eventually learn how to sit there…This did NOT work for us. Our goal is to eventually get him to go without toys, but for right now, we have to keep him busy. We do try to put off toys as long as we can, our goal being after the sacrament.

I created a church bag, and this is what we packed yesterday. He only gets to play with these items on Sundays, which makes church very exciting for him.

My bag always includes:

Some sort of snacks. I love packing raisins, cheese, or marshmallows because they don’t make a mess. Goldfish or pretzels usually end up in there as well.
His Sippy with apple juice.
Stickers! I found Thomas the Train stickers at Target and he LOVES them. (If anyone sees anymore let me know!)
A coloring book & crayons or his Color Wonder marker book. Color Wonder is great because the markers only write in the book.
Picture books that I rotate, and there is usually a religious one about Jesus.
We bought his Cars magnet book at Deseret Book, and that seems to keeps him busy the longest.
My SIL made this mat for him, and we LOVE it. If sitting on the hard chairs, we put the mat down and it helps reduce the banging. I usually pack 2 cars along with it.

And the biggest HELP OF ALL is when he is naughty and needs to be taken out, we make sure he is never put down. We try to make leaving the room more of a punishment than staying in the chapel.
I hope to make some quiet books in the future. Do you know of any great online tutorials? I’d love to make one before the twins arrive.

One mom said that it helps to let her kids get some energy out before church. With one o'clock church, we decided to give it a shot, and even walked to church in the brisk 40 degrees. I think it helped, and he stayed in the chapel the entire meeting :)