Families And Children


The Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg heartily welcomes families and children of all ages to our Sunday services. Children are invited to join our Religious Education classes (ages 4+), play in the nursery (ages 0- 4), or remain in the sanctuary with their family during Sunday service.

Nursery Care (ages 0-4)

Infant and toddler child care is available from 10:30am - 12:30pm. Additional hours are available with advance notice if parents wish to join discussion groups, choir rehearsal, or other gatherings around the church.

Religious Education Classes (ages 4+)

For children attending Religious Education classes, Sundays usually follow this pattern:

Everyone gathers in the sanctuary for the welcoming, lighting of the chalice, church covenant, and musical message. Children then gather at the front of the sanctuary for the intergenerational Time For All Ages, typically led by our Careena Cornette, our Director of Religious Eduction. We then sing the children out as they go to upstairs to their RE classes.

Every first and third Sunday, the children also help collect food during the offering before going up their classrooms.

Parents may remain in the sanctuary for the rest of service, although they are always welcome to join us in the RE classrooms. After service, parents come sign out their children from the RE teachers upstairs in Conway Hall.

Our UU Principles For Kids

We model and discuss with children principles based on UU's Seven Principles:

  • Every person is important and valuable
  • All people should be treated fairly
  • Our church is a place where we accept one another and learn together
  • Each person is free to search for what is true and right
  • All people have the right to speak out and vote on things that matter to them
  • We work for a peaceful, fair and free world
  • We take care of the earth, the home we share with all living things

Safety

Children are taught and supervised by volunteer church school teachers who must complete background checks and training before working.

There is no childcare available (except in the Nursery) before or after each service. Parents may bring their children to the play yard to play but must supervise their children themselves. At the end of the church service, parents are expected to meet their children in the play yard or classroom and to provide care for them from that time forward. For safety reasons unsupervised play is not allowed.

Children and youth are expected to follow these rules at all Youth Religious Education activities.

  1. Be respectful of yourself, others, and church property.
  2. Participate in activities and clean up
  3. Be safe and report any unsafe activities to the DRE, teacher, or childcare provider.

Get Involved!

We welcome volunteers in our RE classes. Those interested should pick up a volunteer form and return it to Careena Cornette, the Director of Religious Education.

More Information