If the couple in the pew behind you, who talked throughout the entire Mass, tells you how well-behaved your children are, can you take it as a complement? Or can you just assume they have no idea of what they speak?
If the couple in the pew behind you, who talked throughout the entire Mass, tells you how well-behaved your children are, can you take it as a complement? Or can you just assume they have no idea of what they speak?
It's hard to make your children behave in Mass when some grown-ups behave so badly — been there. We talk about “what not to do” afterward.
Take it as a compliment because those people surely know better than to talk during mass and recognized good behavior when they saw it, even if they were unable to model it themselves.
Being more cynical than the rest of you, the only reason they thought your kids were so well behaved is that the kids did not distract them from their conversation. Bless you for holding your tongue. I would have been tempted to say “Thank you very much for the compliment. It is hard to get children to be quiet when others are not.” (My Viking temper sometimes gets the better of me.)
One of my biggest pet peeves!
Angie K
Is it better or worse than expecting small children to remain perfectly quiet throughout a High Mass (90 minutes)? We went yesterday thinking it would be Low Mass (45 min) and that they would need Will to serve. It only takes 1 cranky old lady to make a snarky comment to make me feel that it isn't worth the effort, stress, and missing school…