connorlevismom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,229
Yesterday I went to my daughters Baptism class and I am so mad about it that I am acutally thinking about leaving my church because of it. This is going to be long so bear with me.
There are several reasons why I am so mad about it so let's just start with the fact that it was 2 hours long. Only 1/2 hour of those two hours was spent learning about what we need to do for the Baptism (what time to be there, where to go in the church) and why we get our children Baptized.
The rest of the 1 1/2 hours was spent as a parenting class. Now, I already have a 5 year old. I don't need a parenting class. If I wanted to take one, I would have signed up for one. There were three couples in the class. Me (with a 3 1/2 month old), a couple with a one year old and a couple with a 4 month old. The parenting class was taught by two women for the church who were older. Not trying to be rude, but one was in her 70's and the other in her 60's. It might be a better idea if your going to make people sit through a parenting class that you have people closer in age to the people who have the children being Baptized. Raising a child in the modern day is much different than when these women raised their children. Furthermore, while they were somewhat current on their information, it was totally information that we are all well past. It was more suited for people who had newborns fresh out of the hospital. Or ever better, pregnant women.
One woman talked forever about how we MUST sing and read to our children. How if we do, they will be smarter and better at most everything. She just kept saying the same thing over and over. Ok lady I get it, you want us to sing to our babies. It was so annoying.
The other lady was teaching us how to swaddle and give tummytime to our babies. Hello, most of us if not all of us are well past the swaddling stage. But I knew I was in for it when she introduced herself. She was a nurse in the OB ward in the local hospital. But more than that, she was a lactation consultant there. Now, I am a mom who formula feeds my baby by choice and I knew that I was going to get an earful about breastfeeding. I was right. She went on about how that is how GOD made us to breastfeed and that is what we are supposed to do. She put up a bunch of slides on tips about breadtfeeding and links and numbers to go to for help. Then she says in a very fast, very disgusted tone of voice, "I am not saying that you can't formula feed your baby - if that is what you feel like you need to do". No, I don't FEEL like I need to do it, I WANT to do it. And again, the youngest baby in the class is 3 1/2 months old. Do you not think they have been fed for the last 3 1/2 months? If someone wanted information on breastfeeding is that not something they would have gotten before the baby was born or immediately after?
Now, my husband was sick so he was not at the class but I am quite certain he would have walked out. These women both kept bashing dads! They kept saying how dads don't spend enough time with their kids and how the kids always want mom more. That the average dad only spends 1/2 hr a week alone with their kids. Really? My husband spends more time with our son than I do and I am quite certain he would have been offended if you told him that he did not spend enough time with his kids. Kind of what I mean by they are to old to be teaching the class. Maybe in their day, dads did not spend enough time with their kids, not modern day.
There are several more things that irriated me. The importance of baby sign language, how to massage your baby....those kinds of things. But basically, I feel like I was made to go through a parenting class and listen to advice that I did not ask for. One lady kept quoting a study that was completed in 1995. Hello, it is 2010! And she argued with me when I told her that my kindergartner has to know how to read. She told me that cannot be true.
So I am seriously thinking of finding a new chuch. Am I overreacting? What would you do in this situation?
Kristine
There are several reasons why I am so mad about it so let's just start with the fact that it was 2 hours long. Only 1/2 hour of those two hours was spent learning about what we need to do for the Baptism (what time to be there, where to go in the church) and why we get our children Baptized.
The rest of the 1 1/2 hours was spent as a parenting class. Now, I already have a 5 year old. I don't need a parenting class. If I wanted to take one, I would have signed up for one. There were three couples in the class. Me (with a 3 1/2 month old), a couple with a one year old and a couple with a 4 month old. The parenting class was taught by two women for the church who were older. Not trying to be rude, but one was in her 70's and the other in her 60's. It might be a better idea if your going to make people sit through a parenting class that you have people closer in age to the people who have the children being Baptized. Raising a child in the modern day is much different than when these women raised their children. Furthermore, while they were somewhat current on their information, it was totally information that we are all well past. It was more suited for people who had newborns fresh out of the hospital. Or ever better, pregnant women.
One woman talked forever about how we MUST sing and read to our children. How if we do, they will be smarter and better at most everything. She just kept saying the same thing over and over. Ok lady I get it, you want us to sing to our babies. It was so annoying.
The other lady was teaching us how to swaddle and give tummytime to our babies. Hello, most of us if not all of us are well past the swaddling stage. But I knew I was in for it when she introduced herself. She was a nurse in the OB ward in the local hospital. But more than that, she was a lactation consultant there. Now, I am a mom who formula feeds my baby by choice and I knew that I was going to get an earful about breastfeeding. I was right. She went on about how that is how GOD made us to breastfeed and that is what we are supposed to do. She put up a bunch of slides on tips about breadtfeeding and links and numbers to go to for help. Then she says in a very fast, very disgusted tone of voice, "I am not saying that you can't formula feed your baby - if that is what you feel like you need to do". No, I don't FEEL like I need to do it, I WANT to do it. And again, the youngest baby in the class is 3 1/2 months old. Do you not think they have been fed for the last 3 1/2 months? If someone wanted information on breastfeeding is that not something they would have gotten before the baby was born or immediately after?
Now, my husband was sick so he was not at the class but I am quite certain he would have walked out. These women both kept bashing dads! They kept saying how dads don't spend enough time with their kids and how the kids always want mom more. That the average dad only spends 1/2 hr a week alone with their kids. Really? My husband spends more time with our son than I do and I am quite certain he would have been offended if you told him that he did not spend enough time with his kids. Kind of what I mean by they are to old to be teaching the class. Maybe in their day, dads did not spend enough time with their kids, not modern day.
There are several more things that irriated me. The importance of baby sign language, how to massage your baby....those kinds of things. But basically, I feel like I was made to go through a parenting class and listen to advice that I did not ask for. One lady kept quoting a study that was completed in 1995. Hello, it is 2010! And she argued with me when I told her that my kindergartner has to know how to read. She told me that cannot be true.
So I am seriously thinking of finding a new chuch. Am I overreacting? What would you do in this situation?
Kristine
It was ridiculous. It was also at lunchtime. So we had 4 hungry children trapped in a room with a few other families making collages. Yeah, like I really needed that class. 
Keep in mind that my kids are close in age. We have baptised a child there every other year! 
