Is it unusual to have no godparents?

[windmills88]

Do your children have godparents and if so, who are they and how many? Do most kids have godparents or is it quite unusual these days?

I wasn't planning to have any for our first child and wasn't going to have a christening either, but DH is keen - even though we're not religious.

I'm just wondering what most people do really!

We have Odd Parents as we are not religious so we had a naming day instead of a christening.

DD and DS both have an Odd Father and Odd Mama.

We all had a great time and the Odds have been fantastic in their roles as extra Auntie/Uncle type people.

To have God parents and church christenings when you're not religious is nuts and quite rude/disrespectful to those who are religious I think.

My children aren't christened, neither am I, ergo no godparents here.

Godparents are a religious thing so if you're not religious and having a christening, why on earth would you have godparents?!

My children obviously do have significant other adults in their lives - uncles, aunties, my friends etc who fulfil the same sort of role.

We're not religious at all - I'm atheist, DP is agnostic. DP is christened, I am not. Neither of our two DS are christened and no godparents.

I haven’t read all the replies so apologise if I’m repeating anyone else.

IMO you should not have your children christened if you don’t go to church and are not religious. What’s the point? Tradition?

My husband grew up in a very religious family (think Brethren but similar). Although I went to sunday school as a child and church at xmas, I am not really religious. And so therefore we did not have our children christened as we felt it would be hypocritical. We had a naming day for each of them. Dressed them up, invited close family and friends and celebrated the fact that we had a gorgeous, healthy daughter.

So they don’t have God parents, but while making wills we nominated close family who would take the girls if the unthinkable happened.

My sister and her husband who are religious, had dedications for their children as they beleive it is their choice whether to get christened when they are older. Her children are all adults and only one of them has been christened as an adult.

*Also the Odds are named guardians if anything happens to me or DH.

If you're not religious it's pretty reasonable not to have godparents. I do judge parents who are not religious and don't attend church who get their dc christened... it's attention seeking, hypocritical and grabby.

I have 4 god parents as it was the 'done thing' to have babies christened in the local church back then, I know who they are but have no relationship with any of them. I've never been religious so it's not important.

I was at a christening last weekend with parents who don't attend church, they were very blatant that it was just about presents and attention.

My kids have guide parents rather than godparents. It's basically the same without the religious bit. So special adults who they can turn to for advice and guidance throughout their lives.

I'm not christened, neither are my parents or my children or most people I know, so none of us have god parents.

My children have no aunts or uncles either but we have a good friend named as a guardian and she loves them very much.

I can’t imagine how any child who is not christened has godparents.

When DD3 was christened there were no godparents (it was in the neonatal unit). I’m christened and have three. I think it’s fine to do what you want.

@runoutofideasnow is that a new thing, or are they called something else? I'm Church of Scotland too and I have godparents!

No, neither of ours do, neither were christened (we aren’t Christian). I didn’t either and have no idea about dh. But it’s a ridiculous thing to do if you aren’t religious. Just have a party if you want.

Church or Scotland tradition is that the congregation of the church takes on the 'godparent role' - hence the vows the congregation agree to during the christening. Lots of parents nominate what they call godparents to stand at the front with them during the tradition but the Church of Scotland doesn't ask them to take any vows or recognise their role officially.

I was never christened so have no godparents. My children weren't christened either so neither do they. I don't see the point if you don't have a Christian faith tbh.

My grandpa was a Church of Scotland minister.

I am not christened and neither are my 3 children.

Because we are not Christians.

I am however a god parent.

My two children were Christened in our local village church as part of our wedding ceremony. They were one and two years old at the time. The vicar said we didn't have to have any godparents if we didn't want to, so we didn't.

I wasn't christened and neither were my children. Seems like a lot less kids are christened now so don't think it's that unusual not to have godparents.

So to clarify obvious making someone a godparent doesn’t give them any legal standing but when I ask my friends to be godparents we discussed what the role meant for us. I said I wanted adults who I trusted to support my child spiritually (not in a particular belief system). We chose an atheist, a Buddhist and a Christian, each people who will take special interest in DD and whose out looks may interest her. I guess that’s not a traditional version of the role but it’s what my godparents were to me and so what we did.
Probably also really relevant is that DD WAS christened, though I now regret it. DH and I were lapsed Catholics who had huge issues with the Church (have since decided to have nothing to do with it) but at the time it was a part of our identity. Only grandparents and godparents were present and there were no gifts for those wondering
OP of course it isn’t necessary to have any godparents. Just do what works for you. I just mentioned what I did but clearly it was far from normal!

My son has 6 godparents, non of whom will have parental responsibility if we die, but they are there for my son for support and help.
They will also help with the religious aspect of his upbringing should he choose to follow that path.

My kids were baptised, which I regret now, but what's done is done. They have godparents, one each. If they weren't baptised then they obviously wouldn't have required godparents.

Same as @sheerplums. I'm an atheist with no religious background; my DH was raised RC. We had a Humanist naming ceremony for each child (I felt strongly I wanted to mark and celebrate their arrivals), and chose "goodparents". The idea is they're special people who will help our children live good lives (Humanists believe it's possible to live ethical and fulfilling lives without any religious influence). In terms of who would care for our children if we died, we've specified legal guardians in our will.

I don't have any and nor do my DC. I'm not religious and think its hypocritical to have church ceremonies if you aren't religious.

My children have godparents... but that is because we are religious.

My husband was never christened/baptised and therefore neither are our children. I was and have 3 godparents, 2 of which could literally walk past me in the street without either on us knowing the other!

My dc aren't christened so no godparents. We had a thanksgiving service for each of our dc when they were babies. Dc1 chose to be baptised last year and we hope that the younger ones will chose to when they are older.