# How young to start head covering in worship?



## Kim G (Sep 17, 2011)

For those who believe that women should wear a headcovering in worship services, how old should they be when they start? I didn't wear a headcovering until I was 19, so I have no experience with what is usually done with young girls. My daughter is due in less than 6 weeks, and it just dawned on me that my husband and I have some research to do. 

What is typical? What was done in the past? What do you believe from the passage of Scripture?


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## JML (Sep 17, 2011)

That is a very good question! My wife just started using head coverings 3 weeks ago and we have two daughters (3 year old & 6 month old). My thought was that they would start covering once they were able to understand what was going on, thus participating in the corporate praying and prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5). But I would like to hear the opinions of others who have been practicing head coverings for longer than my family.


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## Pilgrim Standard (Sep 17, 2011)

We have always placed our daughter in head coverings from a young age. This has taught her to associate the head coverings of a woman with public worship. I would not say that it is a dogmatic point of age, it is more of a situation of preparation. Virtually the entire congregation does the same thing with their young girls. The Boys on the other hand would therefore not be caught dead wearing a hat or snow cap in church. My wife and I also talk about 1 Cor 11 often so that it is not simply a social matter for them. We want them to grow up understanding why we do this as well.


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## jgilberAZ (Sep 17, 2011)

I'm kind of new to this idea, can you post supporting scripture? I can think of one, but are there more?


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## Kim G (Sep 17, 2011)

jgilberAZ said:


> I'm kind of new to this idea, can you post supporting scripture? I can think of one, but are there more?



If you go to the top right of the page, there's a "custom search" box. Type in "headcoverings" or "covering in worship" and you should see lots of threads on this very issue. If you can't find exactly what you're looking for, come back and ask and I'm sure people will be happy to point you in the right direction.


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## JoannaV (Sep 17, 2011)

Babies don't really have hair and sometimes what they do have falls out, but nor do they tend to pray/prophesy. That's my two cents, but _really_ what I'm saying is that there is no "this is what they _should_ do" answer but your decision will have to be guided by what precisely your understanding of each and every aspect of 1 Corinthians 11 is. If you yourself cover for the whole service then the main question is really whether that should apply to just believers or not. Your understanding of baptism may be relevant here. Of course, there is no harm in covering from birth, if in doubt. (Especially as the weather gets colder, lol maybe we should debate how one keeps a baby boy warm in an unheated church building.)

I wish the thread in the tea parlor was still open.


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## Romans922 (Sep 17, 2011)

I'm still working through a view of headcoverings. But if one held to the use of headcoverings, then it would seem that at the earliest of ages your child would wear one. 

I don't think I'd wait until she understood what she was doing. Am I supposed to hold my son out of worship till he knows what he is doing or is he supposed to worship because God says so? If God commands a woman to wear a headcovering then she should be wearing one at the earliest of ages, just as my son would not wear a hat or headcovering in worship at the earliest of ages.


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## au5t1n (Sep 17, 2011)

Romans922 said:


> I'm still working through a view of headcoverings. But if one held to the use of headcoverings, then it would seem that at the earliest of ages your child would wear one.
> 
> I don't think I'd wait until she understood what she was doing. Am I supposed to hold my son out of worship till he knows what he is doing or is he supposed to worship because God says so? If God commands a woman to wear a headcovering then she should be wearing one at the earliest of ages, just as my son would not wear a hat or headcovering in worship at the earliest of ages.



If it's an issue of decorum, particularly with regard to men and women praying and singing in church (Paul connects it particularly to prayer and prophecy), then it wouldn't necessarily imply that a newborn baby needs to be covered, or that a newborn baby boy couldn't be covered if there were some prudent reason (I don't know, a cold or something maybe?).


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## lynnie (Sep 17, 2011)

I've been wearing a headcovering for almost 30 years but I believe the message of the text is that it refers to wives and the authority of the husband, not all women submitting to all men. ( _head of the woman is man_). The word can be translated wife or woman. It is a sign to angels, not the culture, and I think Paul is clear that married women must wear one, but we cannot demand that single women wear one, or children. 

Yes, women are submitted to male elders authority in the church, and girls to fathers, but I think there are problems with saying it refers to all women submitting to all men, not wives to husbands. The Reformed historical record contains comments using both terms, wife and woman, so it is debated I suppose. That would not make it wrong for an unmarried woman to wear one- legalistic perhaps, and adding to the scripture text to require it- but don't sweat it with a baby. 

If you want your girl to wear one, they have cute hats all over at Easter time. Let her feel pretty and looking like a foreign princess (ie, Di and Kate). Let her feel feminine, not freaky and made fun of. So far we do not ask our 15 year old girl to wear one, but if and before she marries she'll hear our opinion.


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## Scottish Lass (Sep 17, 2011)

We've covered Grace since infancy. While she does not yet understand it, she doesn't understand any/much/most of the worship, but we still expect her to participate. She stands when we do, for example, without understanding the respect that it symbolizes. She'll put her offering in the plate before she fully understands the concept. We see headcovering the same way---she'll understand it as she experiences it.


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