What makes you ready for baptism or confirmation?
Many of us will make a public declaration of our commitment to God - often believers' baptism or confirmation. How can parents and know that their child or young person is ready for such a step?
In an episode of the Parenting for Faith podcast, Rachel Turner answered a question from a listener about what makes you ready for confirmation – which might also apply if a child or young person is offered a chance to be baptised or take communion. You can listen below or we share brief notes below.
What makes you ready for confirmation is a variety of factors:
- It’s helpful to know your church’s policy. Often a church will have specific age markers and/or preparation courses that happen at particular times.
- If you have been able to create windows and frame confirmation well in advance (see below), your child may now be showing that they’re ready to take this step for themselves. Talking about it, going to others’ confirmations and highlighting it at other milestones (e.g. birthdays) can all be helpful ways of keeping the conversation about confirmation alive.
- Have your own sense of what you want to see spiritually in your child at the point at which they take this step. Do you want to jump on a wave when they’re excited about it and motivated to do it? Or would you prefer to help them to take this step gradually? Do you want them to be a certain age? As their parent, you know your child best.
In an episode of the Parenting for Faith podcast, we spoke to Christie Thomas of Little Shoots Deep Roots who shared helpful examples from her own family’s faith journeys as well as some guidance on how we might know when our own children are ready to make a public declaration of their faith.
And whether your child was dedicated or baptised as an infant, or made a public commitment later on, here’s some ideas from Victoria Beech for celebrating their ‘baptism birthdays’.
You might also be interested in:
- Our free courses for nurturing your child’s faith – whether they are a baby, toddler, child or teen