I came across this classic Stuff Christians Like post in my Facebook memories: Not Knowing How to Drop Your Kid Off at Sunday School. Can something from 2009 be considered a classic? 

Anyway, he has great advice that all parents should know. The childcare drop-off is NOT a simple affair, and too often parents are uninformed of the pitfalls and tricks for a successful drop-off. Acuff’s advice should be included in the visitor brochure and be required knowledge for members. There will always be kids who have a tough time being dropped off. And quite frankly, I totally relate to those kids! But parents can make it a whole lot easier on both kid and worker by adopting good practices. Every nursery worker knows that tears are more contagious than the common cold and that all it takes for the entire morning to go pear-shaped is one disconsolate child.

This drop-off advice is excellent, but it’s just a starting point. Once you get your kid through the door, there’s a whole host of other landmines to avoid. As a nursery worker for a ridiculously long time, here are my addendums for a pleasant church nursery experience.:

Don’t send your toddler into the nursery with her favorite toy. Her favorite toy quickly becomes everyone’s favorite toy, and toddlers get vicious when protecting their property — and when stealing other people’s property.

Tell big sisters and brothers (and older friends) to stay the heck away! Some 10-year-old comes to chat up a toddler, and the toddler thinks big brother has come to bust him out. When he’s left in his prison, he starts a riot. Or a crying chain reaction, which is pretty much the same thing.
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LABEL YOUR KID’S STUFF! Nothing fancy; masking tape works great. This is especially important for cups. Kids have no respect for personal belongings or cooties, but if the childcare volunteers can at least spot the cup-swapping, we can keep the germ-exchange to a minimum. (I try to label as they come in, but if you get a crowd at the gate, stuff gets missed.)

Speaking of stuff: Find the happy medium. Some people drop off their kid with enough stuff to outlast a nuclear winter. Some people leave their kids with nothing at all. Babies do need a fair amount of gear, including a change of clothes for the inevitable leak, but all a toddler is going to need for those 90 minutes is a diaper. Yes, even if she “never goes in the morning.” Poop happens. A cup is optional, but realize that cups are frequently swiped and slobbered on. If your kid has a food allergy and must eat at certain times, then a separate snack is understandable, but you should realize that snack will likely get swiped shared by the other kids. (And label both the diaper and the cup!)

Drop your kid off before church service starts. A lot of parents want to keep little Joey in the worship service with them, and I can see a lot of great benefits: learning about corporate worship, meeting other church members, losing their hearing. Tons of benefits. But like Jon’s rule about breaking the plane, if you take Joey into the sanctuary with you, he thinks that he gets to hang with Mom and Dad. And 9 times out of 10, when you try to drop him off in the nursery, he cries the cry of the betrayed. In our church, it’s also the time that the big kids are released to their classes, so that time is already chaotic. Betrayal and chaos are never a good way to start their nursery imprisonment, er visit.

The reality is most kids hate being dropped off at childcare but are having the time of their lives within ten minutes. And even the kid whose parent breaks all these rules eventually adjusts. But do yourself, your kid, and your friendly neighborhood nursery worker a favor and learn the art of the good drop-off.

What do you think about this list? What would you add? What do you think is impertinent nonsense?