5 year old's baptism - how to explain it to them after my first attempt brought on tears and an "I don't want to be baptised!"?

[prettyinpunk]

My 5 year old DS is being belatedly baptised in a couple of weeks. My first attempt to bring it up had him in tears, exclaiming he didn't want to be baptised.

He's not used to attending church (Christmas, Easter and a few regular times when he was 3) & his reply to my asking why was that he didn't want to be 'at the front of the church'.

I think he remembers this from last Christmas when the children were encouraged to go forward to look at the crib (this he did with no problems as he was with a friend).

He can be very sensitive and lacks self-confidence/is unsure of new situations.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can prepare/explain/avoid tears on the day??

Thank you!

And, to use a vaccination analogy, do you delay your child's immunization for 5 years because you happen to be in a Spanish speaking country?

Using a vaccination analogy? - dangerous...

For as all good mumsnetters know vaccination is a BAD thing that will harm your children. All hail Wakefield...

Baptism=vaccination=bad? I wonder what the homeopathic equivalent of baptism would be?

[runs away and hides taking large wooden spoon with her]

Homeopathic baptism is obviously walking past a locked church on a weekday. The air has memories, you know........

OMG some of the posters here are so rude - of course a 5 year old can't decide whether to be christened or not - that's why 5 year olds have parents and don't live alone to fend for themselves.
Anyway, take him to a baptism at another church next weekend and he'll see that its nothing to be scared about.
You can also get some nice colouring in pages and explainations of John the Baptist online which will help.
Hope you all have a lovely day

AIBU to think that the tone of this thread is a bit..um...overly beligerent considering the subject matter and the context?

these kind of threads do annoy me. let your child make his/her own mind up, make an informed choice as an adult. IMHO baptism shouldn't be forced onto anyone.

having read the whole thread I am not going to comment on the OP (who I think has gone to bed anyway) but on the general subject of levels of commitment I do think that there is plenty in the NT which suggests that to be a member of the church you do have to make some general efforts regardless of how inconvenient it is - the man who wanted to follow Jesus but needed to bury his father first was told to leave it and follow now, the disciples all upped and left their homes and in the later books there is plenty about the fact that being a Christian means DOING certain things, not just saying you are one or vaguely believing in God. To those who say "who are you to judge what is Christian?" I would respond that it is not about judging but applying certain criteria that is in the NT, or the RC / CofE etc tradition. Also, this is a discussion forum and so people have posted what they think. It would be a bit pointless if they didn't.
I should add that I am an atheist RS teacher and do get into this discussion fairly often. I have on occasion spoken with children who say "I am a Christian but I don't believe in God or anything". I think there does have to a minimum level of commitment and it can't just be whatever suits each individual or it becomes meaningless.
Constructive discussion and replies eagerly awaited. (apologies if we've gone too far off topic also)

lol at wanting to smack folk, not v Christian eh; a Zombie thread too

Mommy how on earth did you manage to drag this thread up? Day a bit dull was it?

PMSL laughing at 'homeopathic baptism'.

the issue to me is not meaningless chucking water about, it is making a child the centre of attention when he said he doesn't want to be.

I only hope this child will be allowed religious freedom. Which includes the right to say 'no, I don't believe'.

oh no, zombie thread! Well, hopefully the child is now part of a pagan cult. :-)

I still think 'homeopathic baptism' is deserving of more mention.

Let him choose, I was an atheist at 5 and I'm still one at 45.

Lots of people, teens and adults are baptised at the same time they are confirmed.

Zombie thread revived by a first time poster. Must be looking for things to be "outraged" by

Holy Moly I was reasonable 3 years ago!
Who'd have thunk?

Good lord people have been very righteous and unhelpful to the OP.

OP I would try to make it a fun and exciting thing for him. Does he have cousins the same age who have been baptised? Maybe talking about them might help. Maybe the priest would let you visit with him and would walk your son through the process when the church is empty? I would go as much as possible before the baptismal service to get him used to the church environment.

I lived abroad too and even the churches of my own faith were a bit too different , odd feeling, for me there. I know a lot of very religious people where I was who didn't go to church the whole time they were abroad as it just didn't feel like church for them. It's none of anyone's business if you do or don't go to church, nor your reasons why.

If he' not happy with it, wait. get yourself to church as a family when you can, go to another child?s baptism if you can, and wait a while. Once its not a "strange unknown" thing he may be more willing to be baptised.

I'd be very wary of "forcing " a 5 yr old to be baptised if they are unkeen, 5 year olds can be very vocal about not wanting to do something.

Zombie thread- sorry.