Pay a visit to the 'Wobbly Room' this Advent

I came across the term 'Wobbly Room' on a Catholic Primary School website.

"Bless me Father for I have wobbled"

It refers to a room where the teacher sends the child that is bad or disruptive.

Having grandchildren, I do know that the current trend is to banish children who misbehave to the 'naughty spot' or to the 'naughty step' (at the bottom of the stairs).
This appears to work quite well; it allows a cooling off period when feelings run high and it gives a chance for the child to reflect and to, hopefully, step up to the mark and say "sorry".

I guess that the 'Wobbly Room' works in much the same way but I would much rather that they called it the 'Naughty Room' because that is what it is.

Wobbly Room is just a shade too Children's TV-ish for me.

Catholic adults have access to a Wobbly Room in the form of a confessional box; a visit there also causes us to reflect, examine what we have done or failed to do and to say sorry and resolve not to be naughty again.

I do not like going to Confession which is daft because, afterwards, I feel as if I am floating on air.

But I have to screw my courage to the wall to go.

A close relative told me that she does not go as often as she should because her parish church has done away with the Wobbly Room Confessional and you now have to sit face to face with your Confessor and he, inevitably starts proceedings by saying something like:

"Have you seen the latest Bond film yet S......?"

This, frankly, gives her the heeby jeebies. She yearns for the dark of the Confessional box and for the small amount of false anonymity offered by the grille.

And also, when you have struggled to recall all of your sins and to mentally list them in descending order of seriousness, you do not want to have to give your view on Daniel Craig's performance or the result of X Factor.
That is what Mike my builder calls "naff" and we already have enough "naff" issues to worry about in today's Church.