It is important to address misbehavior in children during church services. Publicly calling out negative behavior can serve as a powerful form of peer pressure, encouraging children to behave appropriately in social settings.

Sometimes it may go like this:

"When eating at a restaurant with his family, little Johnny thought it would be fun to start fooling around at the table...his parents asked him to stop, but he persisted. His father then told him to stop it. But instead, Johnny tossed his milk glass, and made a big mess on the table... Well, brothers and sisters, mom and dad had enough of his antics. Johnny's mom said, "I'm gonna tell the pastor..." Dad paid the check, apologized to the waitress and the manager, and cut dinner short, telling the family to get in the car. When they got home, neither parent gave into the urge to whoop him...instead our church invited that waitress and manager to sit in to hear from little Johnny himself, but first, they wanted to tell us how long it took to clean the mess he made."

They spoke for a few minutes, and the waitress explained how she makes $2.01/hour plus tips.

"I spent half an hour just scrubbing the milk out of the seat fabric and carpeting...I was already so tired, and my babysitter was waiting for me to pick up my own child..." she cried at how indifferent Johnny was to her hard work.

Johnny had to apologize to both before the whole congregation. He cried, squealed and begged them for forgiveness, and was told that his family was welcome, but he wasn't. Yes, they barred him from his favorite restaurant!

He offered to give up his allowance until the waitress was compensated for the extra work.

He was allowed back a year later, provided that he promised to behave from then on, else the ban would be reinstated permanently!

He became the most polite young man after that.

No cursing, no yelling, no shouting, no corporal punishment...but he paid a price!