Here’s the key:  When we left a service because he wasn’t quiet or sitting, I held him the entire time we were out of the service.  I didn’t put him down and let him run around, because I didn’t want leaving to become a fun escape. I know this probably sounds like child torture, but it wasn’t at all.  It was simply learning a new skill.

Teaching my kids to sit still is the best thing I ever did as a parent, and by sit still I really mean to sit quietly on my lap or beside me with minimal fidgeting.

Let’s face it, sitting still is hard work, even for adults.

This teaching process happened by accident.  It wasn’t a genius act on my part.

We were attending a church with a very small nursery.  They had lots of babies and had to make a rule that all children over the age of one year (you heard me right – 12 months) had to sit with their parents.  The children who could walk were becoming a danger to all the wee-little babies.

Sitting with my child on my lap in church could have been worst case scenario, but it became my biggest parenting blessing.

Suddenly, I had to teach my child how to sit and be quiet for an entire church service.

This did not happen overnight and I’ll be honest, it was hard work.

I mean, how do you teach kids to sit still and be quiet?

This skill was not learned during the church service, but rather at home.

Every day we would practice.  I would make my child sit with me on the couch while I read him a story.  I wouldn’t let him jump around or climb all over me.  We would sit and read.  At first it was one book and then two and three and more.

I often had a house full of toddlers, because I babysat when my kids were small, so I would sit on a chair and have all the kids sit on the floor in front of me and listen to stories.

It can be done.

Then we started listening to stories on CD.  We would sit on the floor and just listen.

My children sat and ate all of their meals at the table without getting up and walking around.  They sat on the floor or at their little Clifford table and ate their snacks.

We did little things all throughout the day in order to teach them this new skill.

We sat in a chair at the table while we colored.

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