I’m gonna make him an offer he won’t refuse.
Had to use a quote from The Godfather for the title.
Do you have godparents? If so, what role do they play in your life? Are you a godparent?
The other day, I was asked to be a godparent!!!!
To my snister’s cat, Dexter.
Dexter and me
Hee hee.
Christina asked if Steven and I would be Dexter’s godparents, in the case something happened to Christina and Will, we would go to Kansas City to get Dexter and take care of her.
I said of course! I also said that I may have to ask Steven’s brother (who also lives in Kansas City) to go get Dexter until we could get there, but that I would be happy to be her godparent. Does this mean I also need to help Dexter on her journey through faith and religion?!
Okay, totally joking about that last part (although Christina said I can take Dexter to church when I take Data, ha ha). But I tend to think of godparents in the religious sense, not the guardian sense. Which is why I think I will never be asked to be a godparent if it’s for religious purposes, because I am not a religious person. But I can definitely be one if it’s defined by wikipedia’s secular definition of a godfather:
The secular view of a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child’s upbringing and personal development.
And I am not trying to make light of the religious definition! Christina asking me just got me thinking about all this.
If you have kids, do they have godparents? What role do you want them to play in your kid’s life?
Themocracy
Miles has godparents – my bro and sis-in-law – in the religious sense as we had him baptized as a behb. We intend for them to be his guardians in the event we kick it but have yet to formally ask/do a will. Growing up in a Catholic family, I have godparents, too, but they didn’t do much in terms of religious guidance. My uncle/godfather did walk me down the aisle and does a lot of life guidance, and my aunt/godmother (sister of uncle) has been a role model, too. I don’t think Miles would have godparents, though, if we didn’t have him baptized.
It is a requirement to have godparents if you do a baptism in a Catholic church, right? I should know… but I don’t!
Do you guys plan to make a will sometime soon? That is something we have talked about a lot… and never done anything on.
You do have to have godparents for the baptism as it’s part of the ceremony. It’s just as much about them as it is about the parents/kid.
We have to do the will. HAVE TO. And that’s what we’ve said for three years. I think you can do it online but we never think of it.
Our kids all have godparents. I don’t really expect them to play a role in my kids’ religious development (altho most have made a concerted effort to be there for all their religious milestones). We chose them more for them to be extra special people in my kids’ lives. We chose non relatives on purpose, making them “non-family family members” and most are present all all our family parties. I like that 🙂
I have godparents, but they haven’t really kept up with me. To be fair, I’ve not been that great at keeping up with them either. They are relatives (aunt and uncle).
I am a godparent! It was a really huge honor to be asked 🙂
Aww, I love that you did that as a way to make non-blood family, family 🙂 As someone who dotes on a non-blood nephew (LOL) I like that idea.
I think my aunt and uncle are godparents too and they didn’t play ANY role for me, other than aunt and uncle.
I think it would be a huge honor to be asked!
My kids don’t have godparents. I am pagan, my husband is Catholic – I wanted them to have godparents in the same sense as you and Dexter, someone to take an interest in them, but it was too religious for my husband; he said if we weren’t raising the kids Catholic he didn’t want to do it. I continue to be disappointed in this though!
That is too bad that it still disappoints you! I wonder if you can have a similar person fill that role without the title 🙂
My aunt and uncle are my godparents, and my aunt was also my Confirmation sponsor and read the blessing at our wedding, so she actually did play a big religious role in my life. I do feel like she’s a little more than just an aunt to me, but I’ve never been really clear on what godparents do.
Before I met Bob, I didn’t know anyone who had godparents who aren’t family – his parents’ friends are his godparents, so I think he has a more special relationship with them, but Bob’s not religious or spiritual in any way (pretty sure he was just baptized to make a grandparent happy), so no one really guided him there lol
I don’t have godparents and don’t expect to choose them for my future children (I suppose that could change). If I did decide to choose godparents for my children I would just want them to raise my kids if something happened to Joey or I.
Hmm. I don’t have god parents, and doubt I would ask anyone to be them for our future kid. I would make sure to have the whole legal guardian thing figured out in case of some catastrophe where the kid outlives L and I.. But no need here for a spiritual guide or anything outside of L and I… Our kid will just have many “aunts and uncles” 🙂
Declan doesn’t have godparents because I don’t believe in baptizing babies. I believe baptism should be a personal choice made by the child/adult when they are old enough. However, I kind of wish he had god-parents. I would have liked to make that gesture to two special people in our lives, not for the spiritual up-bringing part, but just to be special adults to them. I guess though, that special people in his life have come about without a designation as such just by those people loving him and taking extra interest. Maybe that’s better.
It’s cool you’ll let him make his own decision!
And if one of those special people comes along and you want to make them a godparent, it’s never too late… is it?
Congrats, God Cat-Mom!
I was raised Catholic, so I have godparents (I believe my mom’s oldest bro, and my dad’s next-oldest sis) but they didn’t play any more of a role in my life than the rest of my aunts and uncles (hence why I only think I know who they are, based on pictures I vaguely remember from our family photo album).
Aww you’re such a good cat godmother! 🙂
I’m close with my Godmother (my aunt) but she wasn’t involved in any of my religious upbringing since my baptism. She’s been such an important person in my life though, so I’d say she lived up to the task! 🙂
I am Godmother to my cousin’s son and to Kevin’s niece. Again, not super involved religiously, but I try to be a positive part of their lives.
I think you are a positive part of everyone’s life you are in! 🙂
I saw the post title and wondered what the post was about. Very funny/clever! 🙂
A feline Godmum! What an honor! I had Godparents who were wonderful, but they’re dead. My kids do not have Godparents but I am a Godmother to two. I’m good for extra special gifts and going to all their milestone events, including the religious ones.
Good for extra gifts! LOL! It is funny you say that, as one of my cousin’s godparents took a financial interest in them, which I found interesting 🙂
I have godparents…but while they were present at my Baptism, I think they were really meant to play a role in the secular sense. Also, they are not married…is that weird? It seems like a lot of my friends who have kids choose a married couple to be the god parents. In my case, it’s my aunt (mom’s sister) and my dad’s best friend.
That being said, they both have always played a significant role in my life. Actually my godfather and his wife (who I also call my god mother b/c it’s just easier to explain) were the only non-blood relatives that I invited to my wedding!
If people look at it from a truly religious sense (which I know many people do), then Matt and I will likely never be asked b/c we are not religious either. (But that’s a whole other discussion!)
I personally don’t think it’s odd they aren’t married – and that is probably because my godparents aren’t 🙂
And I love that you stayed so close with the non-blood godparents!!!
My kiddo doesn’t have godparents. But we do have a living will that states where he will go in the event something happens to myself and the hubby.
I have godparents, but they didn’t really have anything to do with my upbringing. We moved from Illinois to Tennessee when I was little, so I had little contact with them after we moved.
I’d be a godparent, but I’m not sure if I’d be asked either since I’m not really religious. Oh well. I’d take my brothers kid though! Haha!!
Oh and the people who my kid would go to know…that sounded like they didn’t know. And they are okay with it. Hahaha!!!!
Ha ha ha! I was going to ask about them… 😉
I am Godmother to my niece and nephew and my sister is Godmother to my kids. We didn’t do separate because that was the deal my sister and I made before we had kids. Our Godfathers kinda of dropped off the face of the earth so her kids have her BIL’s as godfathers and my kids do not have Godfathers. My Aunt is my Godmother and she’s my mom’s sister so I still talk to her. Very cute with your sisters cat!
I had a godmother, a neighbor of my parents, but never had any contact with her after we moved around a lot when I was a kid. My kids all have family member godparents, following the Belgian tradtion. All the godparents were present for the christening, first communion, and confirmation. But because the godparents are all family members, most of them don’t do anything different for their godchild than they do for my other children, except my husband’s sister, who is godmother to my youngest – she takes him out for lunch and shopping every year on his birthday, which he loves and makes his two older brothers jealous – ha ha!
I am a godmother too – to the 10-year-old son of a very good friend of mine from college. Unfortunately he lives in Illinois so I don’t get to see him that often (luckily her husband is French so they do come to Europe sometimes to see family and then we do get to see them)- but I try my best to keep up with what he’s doing through his mom, skyping every now and then, and sending birthday and christmas gifts.
Buah ha ha! I love that your husband’s sister does that! Do they have state-side godparents, as well? 🙂
Aww, and I love that you make an effort to be in your godson’s life. Of course you would, though 🙂
V’s godparents are my brothers, maybe I should ask you and Steve to be godparents to our cats 😉
Hilarious! Would you believe that I’ve never seen any of the Godfather movies? I do catch snippets of them here and there when they have Godfather movie marathons on TV, but that’s about it.
You will be an AWESOME God-Cat-Mom!
The first two are actually quite good, imho (the third one is crap! lol!). Let me know if you ever watch them! I love discussing movies with friends 🙂
No god parents here. And, since there won’t be any kids, no god parents to choose, either. Although, that’s a really good idea about asking someone to take care of your pet if something happens to you! I think we ended up with Ashley because her owner died and no one wanted her so she got dropped at the humane society.
I had godparents but rarely saw them because they live/lived in Mexico. My godfather died a couple of years ago but my godmother is still alive.
I don’t have any godparents, I think for similar reasons (my family isn’t religious). We should be each other’s godparents. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE??
Ha ha ha! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Especially if that means I get to be there for all “important” life events!