Shouldn't church nursery workers be in the nursery to keep babies on Sunday mornings?

Question

My church has a nursery worker listed in the bulletin, but he/she is never in the nursery.
No one is. The parents use the nursery to change diapers, give the kids moving room, etc. but they have to stay in the nursery with their own child. This doesn't make sense to me. Who wants to do that?

Answer 1

Talk to your pastor or deacons and let them know that whoever is suppose to be in the nursery hasn't been doing what they volunteered for. Maybe suggest that he say at an appropriate time "we can excuse the children for children's classes and john is in the nursery today for the little ones." for instance. Sometimes people just aren't aware there is a need for someone to be there or that it is their turn in the nursery. You could also start a thing with the other parents to take say one Sunday each and take nursery duty then start all over again when all willing parents are done with their Sunday, that is how we worked it at my church so that people only have to do it one Sunday every two months. It works out really well and the parents get to hear the service instead of a dozen people being in the nursery missing the sermon.

Answer 2

I am the church nursery director. Basically, the fancy title means I make sure someone is in the nursery physically every Sunday till the song service is over. After the song service and no babies, then you can sit in the back to keep an eye out if a mom slips out of the church w/ a child needing care. Talk to your minister about this situation, and how it fustrating to not have anyone their for the youngest church people. Unless I desparately need people I try not to schedule new moms to the nursery. They need a little break. I've had a few volunteers give me the slip. I let parents know they can always page me in the service (we have a pager system, and I show the parents how to use it) an I will come back to fill in in the room. communication is so important.

Answer 3

Is the nursery used a lot? If so then I would see why they have a nursery worker advertised but no worker. Call the church office.

If the parents are staying why don't you organize a schedule so you do every other weeks.

At our church we went through spells where no one would ever use the nursery so we stopped having volunteers. They still kept the nursery available for parents to take their babies. Many kept the baby in church for as long as they could and then had to leave before it was over. It was nice because the intercom allowed the parent to still hear the sermon.

SD

Answer 4

my church has nursery workers on a volunteer basis. Basically if you want your child to be kept in nursery you should be willing to volunteer one sunday every two months or so. Our nursery is mainly for K and under kids. (0-5yr) We currently only have one newborn, but several toddlers. On my nursery day I bring a snack and juice. All the others moms do the same. Every now and then the teenagers (older teens) volunteer as a group to watch nursery so all the moms get a free day at the same time. Our youth director posts the nursery schedule every Sunday in our bulletin and it always covers the next eight sundays to make sure no one forgets and every one has enough time to prepare.

You should speak to your church's youth director about this. Speak to the other moms about it as well. Organize yourself if you have to.

Good luck and God Bless

Answer 5

im going to guess that you go to a somewhat small church our church has like 20 different nursery workers that rotate usually 6 or 7 a week but there are also about 20 kids in each age level sometimes more.
if my assumptions about it being a small church are correct there probably not enough kids in the nursery to really justify it being worked by a nursery worker and if someone is going to sit in there with just 1 kid or 2 it will usually be the parents because who wants to do that? really maybe it would be in both you and your childs best interest to join a larger church with a better youth program if enjoying church without your child is important to you plus as the child gets older these types of churches have so much more to offer kids to strengthen their love of our lord and keep them from getting bored with church

Answer 6

Exactly. What is the point of going to church if you have to just go into the nursery with your child. You can do that at home. I also had the same thing in my church several times and it really upset me, because Im there to listen and pay attention to the preacher. The nursery worker should really be there since that is what they have the nursery for.

Answer 7

Sounds like you go to my church. LOL. Before I started attending with my daughter the nursery was empty. Now that my daughter in there every Sunday the volunteers actually have to tend the nursery. Just tell the greeter when you get to church that you'd like to use the nursery and ask them to notify the volunteer on duty that week.

Answer 8

My religion is Lutheran. We hired a catholic to work in our nursery Sunday morning, so there is a constant adult. Then parents are assigned to be assistants about once every 2-3 months. Most of the parents do not mind, because they appreciate the help they get when they want to sit in church. Also, if parents do not complain to the scheduler, counsel or another person in charge, they may not think this is a problem.

Answer 9

Most churches depend on volunteers to do that job. If the parents want someone working the nursery, then they should be willing to take their turn. Everyone wants to be able to enjoy the church service so it's only fair that each parent works their share.

Answer 10

If a church offers a nursery for children and infants, I would certainly expect it to be staffed! I've honestly never seen a church that had a nursery that didn't have someone scheduled to be there to watch over members' children during the services, and I've been to LOTS of churches.