WFMW - Reverence Chair

Works for Me Wednesday
Reverence Chair

Last week I accompanied Michelle's high school chorus at their MPA concert. That stands for Musical Performance Assessment and it's an opportunity for all the choirs in the county to get together and sing for each other and some judges. Let's just say it's a big deal and they spend months preparing for it. Part of the adjudication score they receive comes from their deportment as they move from room to room (auditorium, warm-up room, stage, sight-singing room, back to auditorium). They're told to be absolutely silent. Imagine 50 15-year-olds trying to be quiet. Even though it was only for 5-10 minute stretches at a time, they couldn't do it. I was amazed. So, next year I may suggest to the choir director that they "practice" being silent. It worked for us.

Easter Sunday 1997
We go to church as a family every week, and expect the kids to be quiet and reverent during the meetings. We learned very early that telling them at church wasn't enough. So, we instituted the family practice of "reverence chairs."

Here's how it worked (I think - fortunately it's been a while since we've done this, although resurrecting the practice has been mentioned once or twice in the past few months): If you couldn't sit reverently in church - no talking, no poking, no making faces, etc. - then it was evident you needed practice at home. So, immediately after church the "offending" parties would have to sit next to each other on a kitchen chair with the timer going. There could be absolutely no talking or noise until the timer buzzed. If there was, the time started over. Ignoring your brothers was in your best interests. As I recall, each "warning" at church equaled five minutes at home (age and ability were taken into account). Another minute was added for each time the timer had to be restarted. For the first month or so, this "practice" took place daily, because obviously once-a-week reminders weren't working. In addition, we started calling family scripture study a "church meeting." That seemed to help our young children see the correlation between sitting still and listening at home with being reverent at church, and gave them "extra practice."
Check out We Are THAT Family if you want more "works-for-me" tips and ideas to help your family.

Comments

jubilee said…
Now, this is a great idea. It's so much better to teach what is expected before it's needed than to wait until someone "gets it wrong" and they get into trouble. We may have to acquire a reverence chair in the Jubilant household.
Beckstrand7 said…
You should have heard me just now, guffawing my love of this plan - I can't wait to try it at our home! The kids around me are wondering why I'm gloating....;>
Harlene said…
We did this too! Only they had to sit on the piano bench in the middle of the room.

Then we tried the, "If you cant' sit reverently through our meeting, then we'll just attend another one." We only had to do that once.

The fav has been the 3 scoop rule. # scoops to start, one taken away with each shooshing. None if you get taken out.

Currently we have to get creative to keep them awake!
Sharon said…
I need to institute this. My 11yo daughter is the noisiest of all the kids during sacrament meeting. Even our ADHD son isn't as noisy/disruptive as she is. We also need to work on the "keep your (insert body part) to yourself".