Please don't misunderstand me: I'm not about to complain, in what I say next. But, for all the supposed joys of parenting (and many, many of them are very real), attending Mass with a 6 year old and a newborn is a lot of hard work, with very little opportunity to participate prayerfully in what is going on. Some days (as today) it is nice to send the wife and the Lad off to Mass by themselves, and stay home with the Lass, and then join the students for their night-time liturgy. The challenges of simply attending, let alone participating, with kids, is enough to drive many people away for the childrearing years, and many don't return. Far better that occasionally we split up, and make sure that everyone participates individually, instead of messing around together.