Friday 29 August 2014

The godfather

Master S and L were baptised last weekend and their godparents officially appointed. It was a beautiful day with a simple ceremony and little party back at our house.  Everyone brought a plate of food, the sun was shining, the children were happy...all stress free fun.

Having just had to choose four new godparents, I've been thinking a lot about what this means. For me, regardless of religion, I think the beauty of godparents is that they provide an alternate adult for children to bond with.  I don't have any parenting expertise but I definitely believe that it is important for children to have adults in their life who they respect and who influence them, besides their parents.  

During the party on Sunday, I happened to notice Miss 2 in her room playing catch with her godfather.  She was loving the individual attention and whilst as a good friend, he would always be a part of her life, if he wasn't the official godfather I don't know whether he would have made the effort to play with her like this.  I think by appointing the godparents, it sort of gives permission to make a real effort.

It's a bit like having a mentor programme in the workplace.  Ideally, a young professional will create their own networks and mentoring type relationships will just develop organically. However, there's no guarantee this will happen and there's certainly no harm trying to match people up to give them a head start.



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