DEAR ABBY: I have seen so many letters in your column regarding people who are concerned about children in weddings. My sister insisted on having a 3-year-old as her flower girl, so I quickly came up with a "bored child" safeguard.
While the little girl stood next to me during the rehearsal, I crouched down and showed her where her mommy would be sitting -- in the front row on the end. (We'd put her there for this reason.) I then told her that if she got tired or bored, it was OK to walk over to her mommy.
Sure enough, halfway through the ceremony our little doll was bored. So she quietly turned and walked to her mother and sat and worked in her coloring book (crayons were at the ready). After a while, she wanted to be part of things again, so she walked back and stood next to me again, and I gave her a little hug. It was a complete success -- there was no disruption. -- MAID OF HONOR, MILAN, MICH.
DEAR MAID OF HONOR: Congratulations. You planned ahead for a method of dealing with the child's short attention span before it created a problem. Your clever "insurance" paid off. And that same planning should be done when small children are included at dinners in restaurants so they are occupied and out of harm's way.