The Entrance Antiphon says, “ … the children ran to meet him; in their hands they carried palm branches and with a loud voice cried out: Hosanna in the highest!”

Involving children for Palm Sunday can be a really good idea. Children love to get a chance to wave palms and shout, “Hosanna in the highest!” They can form a row leading the entrance procession up the aisle to the altar—and then take their seats with their parents. But it’s rarely done because of the Passion reading—“It’s so long; they’ll be bored and start acting out.” Not necessarily, not by any means.

Children get bored because they have nothing to do! But if the long reading of the Passion is broken up, perhaps with different readers, children (and adults) can sing a song or brief acclamation from memory: “Hosanna Filio David,” “Hosanna,” “Salvator Mundi,” “Laudate Domine, Omnes Gentes,” “Laudamus Te, Domine”—there’s a wealth of material from Taizé that can be easily sung by children. And they can learn the Latin (with its its meaning) in a New York minute.

Children are like Border Collies—they need a job, they need to be part of the action, part of the celebration. Don’t underestimate their ability to concentrate, on a solemn occasion. (It’s usually adults with the attention span of a gnat who can’t bear to turn off their devices.)