Five Tips for a Smoother Holy Week
I have no magic trick to make Holy Week easy; it’s just going to be hard. Still, I hope these five tips will help make Holy Week a little smoother.
Lent is long and tiring, but when we come to the end, we’re just arriving at the final sprint. It may feel like we have nothing left to give and how in the world can we go to church again with kids???
I get it and it’s been on my mind a lot recently. I thought of some things that have helped in the past and some things I want to do this year to help areas that have been challenging in the past. I hope you find them helpful too!
1. Recognize that Holy Week is its own kind of week.
Even if you don’t plan on going to all the services, give Holy Week some space in your schedule by dropping something routine. There’s a lot to do to prepare for Pascha and Bright Week, and you’ve just been through a lot with Lent.
For us, we take the week off school. Even though I have yet to go to most of the morning services, this frees up time for me to do other things and prepare for the evening service. It also gives space for the kids to sleep in if we have a late night from a church service.
2. Create a schedule just for Holy Week.
Because we aren’t doing school, and we go to the evening services, I’ve created a schedule just for the week to help things flow better. I still plan to do prayers and a few Morning Time things with the kids, but after that they are free to play. I may have time to get a few things done off my list, but the main priority is to make the main meal for the day.
Normally we have leftovers for lunch that I can just reheat quickly. But because we’ll be leaving at 5:30 every evening, it would be stressful to cook, feed everybody, get everyone dressed, and leave. And that’s not even getting the kitchen cleaned up. So I am going to try cooking for lunch and doing leftovers for supper to make things easier when it comes time to go to church.
3. Be prepared.
The most frustrating thing for me about going to church (tied with actually dealing with behavior at church) is getting the kids ready. It’s a constant struggle to keep church shoes where they belong so that we can find them when the time comes and let’s not even talk about socks. My goal this year is to set out clothes, socks, and shoes each morning or early afternoon (when there’s no pressing deadline) so that when it’s time to change, I can just hand them the pile and assist as needed. For my eight-year-old, I will talk to her about choosing something each afternoon. (I can’t guarantee that she won’t change her mind and still be frustrated, but we can try!)
And same goes for myself. I need to know what I will wear!
4. Prepare Your Kids
My younger kids are definitely not excited about going to so much church. I can’t change that, but I can help them know what to expect. I made a simple calendar type countdown for each of my younger four children so they can cross off each day and see what’s ahead. The younger three will get to put a sticker on each church service they go to. I know they’ll still struggle, but this will give them an anchor to come back to and see the progress — and get excited as we get closer and closer to Pascha!
5. Help them stay engaged in the service and take breaks.
My younger boys aren’t into coloring, and my middle child is too old to do that in church, but if that’s a good option for your child, find some coloring pages about St. Lazarus, Palm Sunday, the ten virgins, the last supper, etc.
Switch out what books you normally take to church for some different ones. If you have a child who can read, or you’re willing to go through this with them, print out this Holy Week booklet to follow along with during the services. I’m going to try it with my eight-year old!
And don’t forget the importance of breaks! It really is okay to be out a lot. Try to take breaks before your kids (or you!) really need it. Go to the same place, give a time line (“We’re going to go back in 5 minutes.”), and let them have some space or, if you can, try to connect with them in some way like playing a silly game, counting out jumping jacks, or doing quick races.
Going to church with young children is not for the faint of heart and the services are not geared toward young children. Yet, everyone gains grace from the Holy Spirit when we are there. The tunes get weaved into our hearts whether we can read the words or not. Our hearts get softened a little more and we grow closer to Christ.
Do your best Mama. Ask Christ and His holy mother to help you and they will! Wishing you all good strength for this journey!
We also helped our 3 and 5yo girls select their clothing, explained the order of each service ahead of time, and offered a filling snack before arriving at Church so that rumbling tummies didn’t deter their presence in the Nave. Additionally we had a paper chain in our dining room for the entirety of Lent that they were responsible for taking apart and also reading a daily card from the Love at Lent series. It helped them visualize the time passing during Lent, and to see how small daily acts glorify God. It was the right speed for their ages and they enjoyed working together.
That’s wonderful! I love the paper chain idea!
A couple years ago I decided we’d have the tradition odd eating sandwiches with raw veggies for dinners during Holy Week. The kids can choose meat or pb. Dad and I just eat the pb. It’s not exciting, but also not a struggle and pretty much no clean up. Wet use to live half an hour from church so some days the kids would eat in the car which made it easy too. This plan also simplifies meal planning and grocery shopping.
That is brilliant! Thank you for sharing!