This seems to be another new elitest thing, parents are making their kids wear their church clothes all day on Sundays. Also, no TV at all unless it is the Little House on the Prairie. Have any of you encountered this as well?

Of course. I'm not a big fan of changing clothes multiple times a day. Took off the tie and shoes at home, though.

Not me. My mom knew I was not a nice ladylike little girl so as soon as we got back home she would make me change fast before I could do something to ruin my (much hated) frilly lacy dress! She tried SO hard to change me into a dear little pretty pink princess! And it was a total fail.

We changed into civvies as soon as we got home, but when I was 5 or so, there was no tv on Sundays except for Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom.

Then a few years later she would let me watch the Diznee show.

Then after a while longer we would watch Murder She Hopes.

And the church was right. Before too long, I was doing drugs and having sex in parks.

I didn't do drugs, but the other....

Back in the 1960s, 1970s, many of our family, friends, etc., wore Sunday clothes all day, couldn't watch TV, had to stay in doors and not play with friends, etc. It is nothing new. My mother's sister's family didn't even own a TV until my grandmother died and "inherited" her's. They made it look like they were being holy, but they were more than happy to take her TV.

Thankfully, my parents were never like that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2014 11:03AM by cl2.

My family didn't care one way or another.

My wife's family, on the other hand, stayed in Sunday clothes all day, no TV, and were limited to reading only 'uplifting' (read: scripture or LDS books) works. Also, no games (video or otherwise).

It would depend on what was going on that day -- if there was a meeting in the evening at church I might keep the Sunday clothes on.
We wore pants to choir practice in the chapel.
Yes, most of us changed into casual clothes on Sunday.
It was Family Day for us. Hard to get everyone together when they got older.

We used to have our own family council in the evenings. I would print up an agenda and calendar for everyone and we would go over what was going on with each child that week (activities job schedule, etc) and discuss stuff and plan things. That was probably the most successful thing we did.

Church clothes all day on Sunday is nothing new. I remember back in the 90s and early 2000s, leaders stressed it. We were told that we had to be just as reverent at home on Sunday as we were at church -- the home should feel like the temple. If we worked hard at creating the proper atmosphere, the kids would follow along and would be ever so thankful.

Or not.

I had several small children at the time, and I quickly figured out that white shirts and dresses worn all day would get un-removable stains on them and would get ruined in just a few Sundays. Since my kids were the active type (half of them were diagnosed with ADHD, which their dad also had), keeping them in dress clothes for fourteen hours or so was sheer torture. No long walks in the canyon, no tossing a football in the backyard, no vigorous exercise (which is what helped them with the hyperactivity the rest of the week). Add the "no TV except Living Scripture videos" and "no music except church music" edicts and you have a recipe for disaster, which we did.

They behaved their worst on Sundays, which eventually devolved into a day of weeping, gnashing of teeth, judgment, discipline, and guilt -- especially for me.

Now I love playing frisbee and football in the backyard with the guys (all grown, but we still hang out as a family on Sundays, now that we're all exmos), while we grill or do Dutch Oven dinners in our firepit, listen to punk and metal, and knock back a couple of cold ones.

Like I've said, I.T. ... there should be a section/department for ex-mo singles who want to meet/hook-up, or 'whatever' (wink wink)

This is kind of sick to be preying on emotionally vulnerable people here recovering from exactly the same kind of predatory religion.
Wait until they are vulnerable and then try to take advantage.
Why does this board allow creepy old geezers to use it as their personal craigslist? Go back to the cult where you belong!

I was never a TBM, but my mother still is. She would make us change the minute we got home, so that we wouldn't wreck our good clothes. If we had a family thing, we would go home, & change first.

not an issue at our house

I heard about a missionary who I guess had a nervous breakdown on his mission, and ended up in a mental hospital.

The poor guy would still put on a suit and sing hymns in his room.

He just about drove his gay roommate crazy (or crazier than he was, probably because of what the church did to him).

When I was a kid, I was pretty much stuck in church clothes all day. But that was pre-Church Block days when you would go back and forth to church a couple of times on Sundays.

Once the three hour block came into being, and we were done for the day, nobody could shed those church clothes faster than I.

Not for me, as I always changed into jeans or shorts depending on the season as soon as I got home. For me, it was more for comfort as I wasn't the type who liked to wear skirts or dresses, but did so to blend in at church.

My mom made us stay in our church clothes all day and there was no TV... but we were allowed to play one nintendo game called Bible Adventures. It was so awesomely bad, but man, we played that game EVERY sunday. I collected every single animal to put on the ark that God told me to!

Once home I went straight to my closet.

I was lucky to have Sunday be a homework day so I could enjoy my Saturdays.

No. I got out of church clothes asap when it was over, as di the whole fam damily.

No way. That stuff came off the moment I got in the door at home.

NO. I took off my church clothes as soon as I got home & put on something comfortable.

during my short and awful time at BYU there were whole factions of people in my student ward who insisted that everybody wear church clothes all day. Some even took naps in them. I wouldn't do it and a couple of roommates would give me hell for it. they also gave me hell for buying stuff on Sunday from vending machines in the building where we met for church.

You made a vending machine work on the Sabbath. Where else besides BYU would anyone even think twice about that?

There was a Bishop in Indiana who "encouraged" his congregation to stay in their Sunday clothes all day long. Told them it would increase their spirituality, help them keep the sabbath day holy and get even closer to the Lord...

When I first learned of this, I was in the other ward that met in the same building. I remember going to visit someone from that ward and was surprised to see him still in his Sunday clothes. I was already in jeans after Church. I asked why, and he just said that he was being obedient to Church leaders. (which at the time, as a TBM, made me feel less valiant).

That Bishop later became Stake President.

these Nazi-bishops... think they rule 24/7 alright...

Corp 'never' reins them in as to their craziness either

@ Pathway, what Stake are you in?

This was a thing over thirty years ago. It just makes more work for the mothers with lots of kids(get stains out), and additional expense(wears out nice clothes faster) for the poor families that got to breeding for the lord immediately. It is far too large an expectation for children of most any age to NOT play, to keep an entire day holy??? Well, I can already see a bad case of scrupulosity in my sister's kids, and they are certainly as mormon as they come. I bet the five year old does spend all day in his Sunday best, hoping for blessings.
:(

Heck no. My. TBM uniform would have rotted right off my body if I wore it for longer than the regular 10-hour church day.

why some people INSIST on wearing clothes... I dunno

No way!!!!! As soon as I got home from church I changed into something more comfortable. It seems like the church just keeps
getting more and more controlling and Nazi like. Yikes. Its worse and worse.