When pronunciation issues go wrong!

We all know that there are more than 1 pronunciation for various names. So I was at church this morning and helping with the kiddos. The parents can’t see into the rooms from the counter where they drop the kids off and pick them up. Some parents came after service and told me their daughters name ([name]Lucia[/name], pn loo-sha) and told me what room she was in. I went back to the room and asked for [name]Lucia[/name], pn it like the parents did. They tell me “There’s no one in here by that name.” So I checked another room. She wasn’t in there. I went back to the first room and asked if they were sure they didn’t have her in the room. Their response was “No. But we have a lou-cee-uh (aka loo-sha).” I responded with “That’s the rights kid. It’s pronounced loo-sha.” Got her and took her to her parents. (Mind you, this was the 2nd time I went to get a kid and was told they weren’t in the room when they actually were. Frustrating morning for the parents and myself!!)

Different pronunciations can be a pain sometimes!

This is off topic, but I find it highly disturbing that modern churches expect attendees to drop their children off for nursery/SS with complete strangers for care givers!

At my church everyone who helps with the kids has a background check done. And after once or twice (many are perfectly fine starting at their first visit) 90% of the kids are used to the people there, and the parents see that the children are comfortable with the people that are taking care of them when the children are being handed over to the caregivers smiling. If for some reason the child isn’t happy, the parents get paged after a very short amount of time to come get their child. We don’t hold the children hostage until they get used to us! [name]Nor[/name] do we force every parent to take their child to the nursery or ban children from the service. The parents are also given the choice of temporarily signing up as a volunteer (background check and all) and staying in the room with their children until the child is used to the area and other people. It’s each parents’ prerogative whether or not they want to take their children to the nursery or not. [name]Just[/name] because YOU don’t choose to do so, please don’t judge others that do. (Because, really, that’s what you’re doing.)

That’s ridiculous! [name]How[/name] do you not know that loo-sha and lu-see-a are the same
It’s like asking someone for soda and they say “We don’t have any…but we have pop.”

My church uses members so they aren’t strangers
Churches that use outside people hire them just like any other employer. They need a resume with references and a background check

Can’t really think of any instances where pronounciation issues have caused troubles, but I’ve never heard of anyone pronouncing [name]Lucia[/name] loo-sha! Round here it is usually loo-chi-ah or sometimes loo-see-ah. Interesting.

Exactly!

Everyone that works with the kids at my church are either members of the church or have been attending for quite a while and just haven’t gone through the process of becoming members. They still have the background check regardless of their membership status. And they [name]LOVE[/name] children, or they wouldn’t be volunteering to work with them. And kids have a sixth sense for knowing when the person they are with like them and/or are good with them.

Our church doesn’t “expect” people to drop their children off at nursery but they provide it for those that would like to. I also don’t find the caregivers to be strangers as they’re members of our (relatively small) church so we do know them.

I didn’t know that loo-sha was an accepted pronunciation of [name]Lucia[/name] until a few years ago. I thought it was only loo-see-uh.