Children & Religion - my views
I've recently moved house and have just located my nearest Catholic church. Guess I'm going to have to start attending mass on Sundays if I want to baptise my son. He's soon to be 4 and with school starting next year I would like him to attend a Catholic school. To be honest my only real reason for the choice is that Catholic schools tend to be the better ones in London, according to my mediocre research. Usually the ones rated best by Ofsted happen to be Catholic.
Religion doesn't play a massive part in my life but I do believe in God and I do pray. I consider myself a Christian but I was baptised a Catholic before my mother embarked on a spiritual journey to find what she felt was the right religion for her. She tried and tested almost every religion whilst my sister and I even had a year of not celebrating Christmas or birthdays as my mum became Jehová witness - That failed.
I respect my mum for making her own choice as to which religion to follow. After all how do you know which one makes sense to you if you haven't understood the others? Saying that, it was difficult as a child understanding why I couldn't have a holy communion like all the other kids, I think for that reason also, I want to baptise my son. I don't want him to feel like the odd one out. If it wasn't for the school choices I wouldn't baptise him at all.
Most religions encourage you to take your children to church and follow their bible. In my opinion I don't think children should be dragged into the religious choices of their parents. Yes kids have no choice if their parents go to church then they will have to follow them, but if religion is as important and as serious as most people believe then shouldn't we at least be able to make the choice on our own.
I personally think a lot of parents baptise their kids because it's become some sort of norm: You have a baby then you baptise it. Does every parent even know the true meaning of a baptism? I would have liked to give my child his own choice when it comes to what he believes, but with so many factors influencing religious beliefs from such a young age it will difficult. I like that catholic schools follow the bible so they usually have strict rules on behaviour and how to be a good person, but I also like that non religious schools represent the world by having a variety of beliefs and children from different religions and cultures.
Parents will always influence their kids massively at the end of day, even if it's not purposely done. It's a shame that I feel that I have to baptise my son because I want the best education for him. Maybe my findings are wrong. All I know is that my mother never forced any religion on me, and we ended up believing in the same thing anyway. I will openly talk about religion to my son when it comes to it, there are so many different beliefs, I would like him to always be open to understanding them. We are so limited in our choices in this world, even if we don't really know it.
We live in a world where people knock on our front doors to tell us what to believe in. I want to try my best to give my son an open mind.
Religion doesn't play a massive part in my life but I do believe in God and I do pray. I consider myself a Christian but I was baptised a Catholic before my mother embarked on a spiritual journey to find what she felt was the right religion for her. She tried and tested almost every religion whilst my sister and I even had a year of not celebrating Christmas or birthdays as my mum became Jehová witness - That failed.
I respect my mum for making her own choice as to which religion to follow. After all how do you know which one makes sense to you if you haven't understood the others? Saying that, it was difficult as a child understanding why I couldn't have a holy communion like all the other kids, I think for that reason also, I want to baptise my son. I don't want him to feel like the odd one out. If it wasn't for the school choices I wouldn't baptise him at all.
Most religions encourage you to take your children to church and follow their bible. In my opinion I don't think children should be dragged into the religious choices of their parents. Yes kids have no choice if their parents go to church then they will have to follow them, but if religion is as important and as serious as most people believe then shouldn't we at least be able to make the choice on our own.
I personally think a lot of parents baptise their kids because it's become some sort of norm: You have a baby then you baptise it. Does every parent even know the true meaning of a baptism? I would have liked to give my child his own choice when it comes to what he believes, but with so many factors influencing religious beliefs from such a young age it will difficult. I like that catholic schools follow the bible so they usually have strict rules on behaviour and how to be a good person, but I also like that non religious schools represent the world by having a variety of beliefs and children from different religions and cultures.
Parents will always influence their kids massively at the end of day, even if it's not purposely done. It's a shame that I feel that I have to baptise my son because I want the best education for him. Maybe my findings are wrong. All I know is that my mother never forced any religion on me, and we ended up believing in the same thing anyway. I will openly talk about religion to my son when it comes to it, there are so many different beliefs, I would like him to always be open to understanding them. We are so limited in our choices in this world, even if we don't really know it.
We live in a world where people knock on our front doors to tell us what to believe in. I want to try my best to give my son an open mind.
This is my safe space and speak of only my thoughts and opinions. My intentions are not to offend anyone in anyway, I'm still a newbie so what I write may at times not come across exactly as I would like I to.
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