God Parents

nadnad

i think a lot of people choose god parents who don't really realise what it is they are for - traditionally to guide the child religiously. to me this is an outdated concept and very few god parents would ever actually do this, it seems that god parents only really are expected to buy slightly better than average presents at Christmas and birthdays! i'm expecting my first child and i am not religious so won't be having my child christened, however I think I will ask 2 people close to me and my husband if they will "watch over" my child if you know what I mean.

Lillibet_2

renowen wrote: »

Can I just say - being a god parent doesnt actual give you any legal right to a child if something should happen to the parents

Children will go into the care of the nearest willing family member, unless the parents stated otherwise in their will, and even then that could be overturned in court!

It just seems that some think asking someone to be a god parent is asking them to care for the child if something happens to you, this is not the case, a god parent is responsible for the childs RELIGOUS upbringing, not their actual upbringing.

Actually, it's worse than this, in the absence of a will leaving direction, children go to whomever social services see fit place them with and this may not be a family member at all but a foster or adoption parent!

I am a preactising christian, my hubby is a Pagan but we both wanted our son baptized in the christian faith.

Our son's 4 godparents are made up of my best friend & her husband, I have known her sincer we were 4 but I appreciate friendships don't always stay the same. His other godparents are my SiL & her hubby, however as they are not religious & we really asked them out of respect for them as people I wanted to have someone who is religious & had a similar upbringing, especially in religion, as myself hence why we chose my freind & her husband (she attended the same church & church schools as myself & has developed similar views to me). For me his baptizm was very much about religion, however my husband is a pagan & although wanted our son baptized due to tradition feels that his sister can, along with himself, back up the pagan side of his Spuds' spiritual upbringing. Although hubby said the same words as the rest of us & fully meant the sentiment, he really had his own feelings & intentions & beliefs behind them. Although shocking to some Christians, this seems reasonable to us as we are both quite happy for Spud to develop & chose his own beliefs as he grows up but wanted to give him every opportunity in this. (Before anyone jumps on me over this, our Vicar is fully aware that my hubby is a pagan who sometimes attends christian services, just as he knows that I am a christian who sometimes attends pagan rituals, and agrees that we can all draw positives from other religions when practised in harmony! We are all quite easy in our own minds over this.)

We both have pleanty of experience of family rows causing long term rifts and of friendships drifting apart but we feel confident that in all cases the duty of spiritual care to our son is a promeninant part of their lives and this would not be overlooked to any great extent.

However, my friend & her hubby are appointed Spuds guardians in our wills in the event of our death, not because they are his godparents but becuase we feel they love our son deeply & their way of living is just much closer to ours than anyone elses so he would fit into their lives with as little upheavel as possible.

full-time-mum

We gave all our god-parents the chance to say no which is why it is so frustrating.

We hoped that our god-parents would show some interest in our children's lives and support them emotionally or practically as appropriate and show them how to lead good lives. We never expected them to be guardians if the worst should happen but hoped that they would share their knowledge of us with them and keep our memory alive.