Sometimes when I'm at church, babies cry.  They're known to do that, so it's not that big of a deal.  But how long should a mother wait before she leaves the church service because of her crying baby?  My lack of children (and understanding) forces that number to be about 10-15 seconds.  If the baby doesn't stop crying or making noise in that amount of time, the parent (not necessarily the mom) should leave.  And lots of churches have "crying rooms", which are sound-proof booths that have a view of the pastor and speakers piping in the sound.  Unfortunately, many parents have a different point of view.  They try their unsuccessful techniques, like saying "Shhh shhh", rocking the baby back and forth, or forcing objects into its mouth.  Most of these techniques fail because the baby knows it'll get what it wants if it just keeps making noise.  It's worked in the past; it'll work again.  So the parent waits around for a while and hopes that these noises will stop. 

I hate to sound selfish, but I pretty much am.  When babies make noise, it's distracting both for me and for everyone in the room, including the pastor.  I suppose some people can block out this noise, but like I mentioned, I lack children and understanding.  So I think the parent should take the baby out of the church service for the benefit of everyone else in the room.  Maybe it's just not a good idea to have young children in church services.  Or maybe these people should take advantage of the almost always prevalent "child care".  Whatever the case, the number is 10-15 seconds, and that's what I'm sticking with. #religion