Baptizing my 3 year old

  • Thread starter Thread starter taylorjenee
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Yes, we do this in our house.

Our parish provides candles and a baptismal garment for infants, and older children/adults wear special robes after they are baptized at the Vigil. I’m not sure what they do for toddlers and preschoolers, but I’m sure something because many are baptized at that age. You can check at your parish. 🙂
 
There is nothing in the Rites that call for candles, although the Mexican culture does it.
My former American pastor permitted it so as to not upset the people (they pretty much got riled up about it) but my current Colombian pastor said flat out no, it’s not part of the deal.
 
JanetF said:
All great responses so far. I just wanted to mention to keep the baptismal candle as you’ll need it later for First Holy Communion and Confirmation!
Click to expand...
No, it definitely isn’t needed for those! It’s not unknown for families to leave them behind after baptisms. or for them to be burnt down at anniversaries or just lost. Where did you get that idea?
 
JanetF said:
40.png
pianistclare:
??? what?

Why?
Click to expand...
They didn’t light them for FHC, the parish had all the kids holding them for their FHC pictures. Then for confirmation they were lit again. Undoubtedly local customs involved.
Click to expand...
That seems a tad bit cruel and insular to children who had moved, had their candle melted, lost, or confused with a siblings. Are you sure they don’t pose with a “stock” candle–like you pose with a stock gown for graduation?
 
Last edited:
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
That seems a tad bit cruel and insular to children who had moved, had their candle melted, lost, or confused with a siblings. Are you sure they don’t pose with a “stock” candle–like you pose with a stock gown for graduation?
Click to expand...
When our youngest was confirmed he was expected to have his baptismal candle for Confirmation and it was lit for the renewal of baptismal promises. Those who didn’t have their original candle were provided with a taper for the purpose, in the same way we are provided with tapers at the Easter Vigil.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
Could you imagine a horde of 7 year olds with candles? It’s hard enough for them to walk in a straight line without kamikazing into each other or a pew.
Click to expand...
We had battery operated candles for the kiddos at the Easter Vigil for that very reason. They were actually very pretty!
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
That seems a tad bit cruel and insular to children who had moved, had their candle melted, lost, or confused with a siblings. Are you sure they don’t pose with a “stock” candle–like you pose with a stock gown for graduation?
Click to expand...
I’m sure other arrangements were made for any lost or missing candles. My sister told me to hang onto the candle so I put it in my daughter’s memorabilia box so I would be able to find it. I don’t remember there being a hug issue with lost or missing candles, but then I wouldn’t have necessarily known about it. As for being confused with a siblings, how would anyone even know, the candles don’t have their names on them.
 
Phemie said:
When our youngest was confirmed he was expected to have his baptismal candle for Confirmation and it was lit for the renewal of baptismal promises. Those who didn’t have their original candle were provided with a taper for the purpose, in the same way we are provided with tapers at the Easter Vigil.
Click to expand...
That’s still a bit ridiculous. I guess I’m coming from a position of someone who lived in an area with many people who lived in the area no more than a few years…it seems very “Townie” minded.
JanetF said:
I’m sure other arrangements were made for any lost or missing candles. My sister told me to hang onto the candle so I put it in my daughter’s memorabilia box so I would be able to find it. I don’t remember there being a hug issue with lost or missing candles, but then I wouldn’t have necessarily known about it. As for being confused with a siblings, how would anyone even know, the candles don’t have their names on them.
Click to expand...
The whole thing just seems kinda special snowflake to me. And if it’s supposed to be a special reminder of that child’s Baptismal promises it seems kinda mean to be, “Oh well Suzie, can’t find yours, just use Billy’s.”
 
It’s not in any of the those sacramental rites.
They shouldn’t be doing it.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
The whole thing just seems kinda special snowflake to me. And if it’s supposed to be a special reminder of that child’s Baptismal promises it seems kinda mean to be, “Oh well Suzie, can’t find yours, just use Billy’s.”
Click to expand...
Seriously? Why would a mom, even say that to the kid? Why not just go find one of her kid’s candles and hand to the kiddo to use without commenting on whose it is? I don’t understand the special snowflake aspect of it, so I’ll have to leave it at that. My sister merely mentioned that it would be used again, so I kept my daughter’s candle in a safe place until I was asked to provide it. I wouldn’t have mentioned it to my daughter if I couldn’t have found it, I would have made arrangements to get a new one without involving her…
 
I sort of smiled at this. In the military we always had (and still have!) good intentions of keeping items of sentimental value. My mother would carefully pack them and instruct the movers to place them in separate boxes, with the hopes that if one box disappeared, it wouldn’t take everything with it. 💕💕 When things from our childhood appear, it’s sometimes a borderline miracle. Sometimes we lament the things that disappeared along the trail we left across the US.

Many times we heard “use your sister’s/brother’s” because we still had whatever it was. (Examples elude me at the moment.)

We become experts at exactly what you’ve mentioned, and it becomes a fact of life. So your post made me smile and remember all that.

Unpacking at your next duty station when your household goods were delivered was always a “wait and see”…and I can remember jumping up and down when I’d see my bike or MY boxes from my room come off the truck. “MY STUFF IS HERE!!” LOL I still do that now - especially when every box showed up from South Korea after four months of waiting!
 
Last edited:
Pup7 said:
Unpacking at your next duty station when your household goods were delivered was always a “wait and see”…and I can remember jumping up and down when I’d see my bike or MY boxes from my room come off the truck. “MY STUFF IS HERE!!” LOL I still do that now - especially when every box showed up from South Korea after four months of waiting!
Click to expand...
As far as I’ve been able to tell the only thing lost during moves was my charm bracelet and I figure that was wrapped separately and was tossed with the wrapping paper.

The move that I remember best was the second to last when the movers poked a hole in the upstairs ceiling of the Q, with the bed frame we assumed. They argued that they hadn’t done it that they were always very careful. Withing minutes we heard a crash and discovered a sheepish-looking guy gazing down at our microwave stand smashed to bits at the bottom of the basement stairs.
 
Holy smokes.

Overall we were lucky - I have heard stories of entire shipping containers ending up at the bottom of the Atlantic/Pacific or the moving trucks catching fire. A few lost boxes after a grand total of 35 years of military life (in my case) is pretty amazing to me.

We did several cross-country and overseas moves (Hawaii is considered overseas). The worst was the garbage they packed when we went from NJ to CA in the dead of summer. It took four days for us to find where the smell was coming from. 😂😂
 
Pup7 said:
Many times we heard “use your sister’s/brother’s” because we still had whatever it was. (Examples elude me at the moment.)
Click to expand...
-bike
-coat
-lunchbox
-backpack
-boots
-towel
-sheets

…
 
Those things we replaced and our beds weren’t the same size. Not quite what I meant.
 
Pup7 said:
Those things we replaced and our beds weren’t the same size. Not quite what I meant.
Click to expand...
I’m speaking of things I know that those in my town who had families who had to move every few years often had to borrow a siblings. We knew better than to even playfully tease the kid who was dragging around the Barbie backpack as a 6th grader (guy or girl).

In the 90’s before Walmart came to town it wasn’t easy to get to a store that sold dry goods.
 
Last edited:
Oh Lord, Walmart would’ve been a blessing. We went to the base Exchange and put up with whatever they had on the shelf (it was sometimes hard back then in the middle of the school year to scrounge up a backpack or other stuff like that - this would’ve been the late seventies to mid 1980s). And of course no Amazon LOL! Military kids these days have no idea how good Amazon makes life. 🙂
 
I went through the same thing. We got the candles from the church and kept them unlit until the right time in the mass . After we got to keep everything that was given to us my church had a total of thirty (30) people who were baptized and three that were baptized in another faith, so a total of thirty three (33) people who came into the church this Easter.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top