My 8yr old dd want to be baptised but i am not Catholic?

[alittletreat]

Should my dd be baptised only because she wants to? Dd is at a Catholic school so most of her school friends have been already baptised as baby or at a very young age. The main problem is that I myself is not religious and do not go to church. Although my mum did go to church! Tbh I don't even know what I have to do to prepare her for baptism or how to approach the priest on this subject? Please advice or comments.

godparents are to guide before they can guide themselves. If she is taking communion she is responsible for her own faith and needs no godparents.

if she really wants some tho, how about a gran or auntie?

My DD goes to a Catholic school and I am not Catholic. In Scotland, a Catholic school can be your nearest catchment area school, and our nearest 'non-denominational' school was over a mile down a busy road. DD's school is actually fantastically diverse because the faith element tends to draw people of various ethnic and religious backgrounds.

I was clear in my own head that she could make her own decision about joining the Catholic Church as she went up the school. In the end, she has chosen not to, though she goes up for a blessing now that her friends take Communion. But to get to the point of the OP, one of DD's friends was baptised around age 8 and I don't think there was an issue at all with it.

To the godparents question, I would think of someone who you would like to guide your DD in all the kind of life matters you might not be able to, as well as religion. So, I tend to think rather morbidly, if I were not here, who would DD turn to for life matters etc., and make sure she has those relationships, iyswim. I don't think that answers the godparents question, really, but it is the approach I am taking generally.

Glad you are speaking to the priest. Sure he will guide you and your DD through it.

Could your DD choose her Godparents as they do sponsors for FHC? Is there a teacher or family friend who is RC who she is close to who would be willing? I don't believe a Godparent bestows authority as such but it should be someone who can help and guide her spiritually and on her faith journey.

Sponsor for confirmation I meant.

I think 8 years is far too young to be making a decision like this.

OP you are the parent and you have chosen to have your child indoctrinated like this- even despite having no faith. I would take this as a huge wake up call. The Catholic church is a powerful and manupulative organisation. Do you really want to send your child down this path?

That is a load of ignorant nonsense. The only person able to judge whether the child is able to make this decision is the op as she is the one who knows her child. For what it's worth I am in the exact same position as the op except with three children. Two of them are about to be confirmed and make their first holy communion. One of my daughters in particular has been asking to be baptised since she was 6/7 and no it wasn't anything to do with the white dress. In fact she doesn't particularly want to wear a dress. The priest actually thought my daughter was catholic when he first met her as he was so impresses by her knowledge. Incidentally my husband and I are not catholic although I attend mass. I find the suggestion that my daughter has been indoctrinated hilarious. She is one of the most strong minded children I know. All my children have decided this for themselves and the local parish have been so lovely and welcoming especially in light of the fact that the girls recently lost their older brother. I find it interesting that when people say they knew they were atheist at a young age then that is accepted without question but not so much the other way round.
Op I wish you and your daughter the best of luck whatever you choose to do. I hope you have the same support we have.

but not so much the other way round

To be fair the god the child professes to believe is invariably the god of their culture. Not many children in the UK spontaneously want to dedicate their life to Vishnu. Whereas when you don't believe in any god the god you don't believe in doesn't, by definition, have any attributes. You only have to look at statistics to see how powerful indoctrination is.

I never went to an assembly where we sang songs about god not existing.

It makes sense that atheism despite indoctrination would be believed though. Surely it takes quite a bit of confidence in your own stance to state that you don't believe when that is at odds with what all of the adults round about you are telling you and often at odds with what your friend profess to believe as well.

Small child believes figure in authority is not exactly the same thing.

I am not so sure how the current way this thread is developing is helping the OP to support her child. We have few facts so are not aware of the age of her DD, or any exposure she has had to other faiths or philosophies.

The debate over indoctrination and influence over children is a valid one. As parents our beliefs, decisions and approach to life inevitably has an effect on our children, but I am not sure this is the place for the debate at least not in an abstract way but rather helping the OP to explore with her child whether this is the right decision for her now. It seemed from the OP later posts that she felt she had done this as had moved things forward and spoken with the priest and was more concerned with some of the practicalities.

Sorry pressed post too soon. I don't want anyone to think I am trying to prevent debate. I have expressed my faith views on here many times and appreciate they are very different to others and it is interesting and gets you thinking when you hear others articulate views but was just conscious that there is a fellow parent looking how best to support her child.

Not meaning to offend or obstruct debate in any way.

OP I hope that you are working it through with your DD and wish you good luck.