Godparents-presents for godchild's siblings?

double_mummy

im agnostic i thought i would throw that in there as it seems most god parents these days arent religious my son has 2 sets of godparents and my daughter has 1 set none of whom are religious in the slightest and have varied backgrounds (israeli, bangladeshi, english and french)

DigForVictory

I'm a dreadful godparent - I forget All birthdays.
That said, I never expected godparents to give a tinkers for anyone other than their designated godchild - as children we were rather pleased at the attention from "my" godparent...

TTC40

I'm Godmother to 2 out of 3 siblings.

They are the children of my best friend & therefore I would buy them a present regardless of whether or not I was Godmother.

Therefore all 3 get the same amount spent on them for Christmas & birthday.

Personally I think they should all get treated the same for 'regular' birthdays (although I accept maybe for 18th etc you do something different).

Carl31

andygb wrote: »

I have two Godchildren - yes me, an atheist:eek:

I tried to get out of it both times, but the people were very insistent.
We used to get cards and a small present, but then it all went "Pete Tong", when the parents decided that their other children should get something from us as well, because they were feeling left out.

Well now they are all left out - sorted;)

Do people expect god parents to show special attention on their children?

I've been asked to be godparent to 2 children this year. I can't stand the idea of christenings and the idea of godparents, but after lengthly consideration , j have decided to play along with the idea, expecting the idea to die a death after a while

Not sure I like the idea of having to shower their child with gifts or whatever, doesn't seem very 'christian' not that christenings are these days

whitewing

My children don't have godparents. I don't really understand the purpose of godparents, I always thought part of it was that they were supposed to be 'reserves' if anything happened to the natural parents. In which case, I'd want to children to be together and so have the same godparents.

sulkisu

Carl31 wrote: »

Do people expect god parents to show special attention on their children?

I've been asked to be godparent to 2 children this year. I can't stand the idea of christenings and the idea of godparents, but after lengthly consideration , j have decided to play along with the idea, expecting the idea to die a death after a while

Not sure I like the idea of having to shower their child with gifts or whatever, doesn't seem very 'christian' not that christenings are these days

Why play along? Why not just say 'no'? Some parents take it quite seriously and I would much rather a prospective godparent just said that they didn't want to do it, instead of [STRIKE]patronising [/STRIKE]humouring me, by agreeing just to shut me up.

happyshopper

TTC40 wrote: »

I'm Godmother to 2 out of 3 siblings.

They are the children of my best friend & therefore I would buy them a present regardless of whether or not I was Godmother.

Hurrah, I agree with this. I'm (g)oddmother to one of a very good friend's 2 children. The other child doesn't have any godparents, so I consider myself the next best thing. I treat them the same re presents, outings, attention, etc. They are both ace and I love them equally. I couldn't imagine buying a present for one and not the other.

happyshopper

Mojisola

whitewing wrote: »

My children don't have godparents. I don't really understand the purpose of godparents, I always thought part of it was that they were supposed to be 'reserves' if anything happened to the natural parents. In which case, I'd want to children to be together and so have the same godparents.

Godparents are people who should help the children develop their spiritual/religious life. It's got nothing to do with who will take care of the children if the parents die.

I don't understand how non-religious people can make the promises involved with becoming a god-parent.

elsien

Mojisola wrote: »

Godparents are people who should help the children develop their spiritual/religious life. It's got nothing to do with who will take care of the children if the parents die.

Technically correct, but people do ask for that reason. I was godparented because of getting the child if anything happens to the parents. And then they had the proper denomination godparent for the spiritual side of things - as a non-catholic I apparently didn't really count in the promises side of things anyway even if I had been a believer.

FBaby

Godparents are people who should help the children develop their spiritual/religious life. It's got nothing to do with who will take care of the children if the parents die.

I don't understand how non-religious people can make the promises involved with becoming a god-parent.

The same way you raise your children to grow to be someone you don't forcibly agree with but respect.

I made it very clear to the parents of my Godchildren that although I did not share their religion (or any for that matter), I had no issue encouraging the children to grow to develop their own spiritual life. I totally appreciated my role as such and considered it seriously before saying yes.

Isn't it in the true spirit of any religion that you should not discriminate? Isn't assuming that someone atheist not to be capable of supporting a child to grow and respect their religion discrimination?