Initiation

Sunday we are having Sophie baptized by our minister, who also happens to be one of our very good friends.

I know that by typing that sentence, I have probably unleashed a huge can of HOW DARE YOU worms, but yeah, we’re totally doing it. White dress (the one my mother and I wore for our baptisms), water, appropriate religious hymns/prayers, buttercream frosted sheet cake, the works.

Maybe you think we shouldn’t be forcing our religious beliefs on our kid, and that is fine with me. In fact, I force a lot of things upon my child already at five months old.

I force her to take a bath every night.
I force her to wear clothes when we leave the house.
I forced her into having a name that we gave her no opinion in choosing.
I will be forcing her to go to school one day.
And until we decide otherwise, I will probably force her to go to church with us on Sundays.

The truth is, Sophia can choose to practice whatever religion she wishes. But is it really that wrong to bring your child up according to a particular faith?

We go to a small church in town, one that I actually think is pretty sweet. We help people in the community. We accept everyone regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity (not many churches can claim that). We’re pretty gosh darned laid-back, yet still unified in a common belief. It’s a cool place that I’m happy to be able to bring my daughter to on Sundays to be a part of.

And maybe one day she’ll scream her head off at me and hate me for one day, when she was five months old, putting her through a ritual at church on a Sunday in October. We’re not doing this to be mean or oppressive. It’s not a YOU MUST BE INDOCTRINATED kind of thing. But it IS a special day for us, and for her. It’s our way of saying, “Welcome, Sophia, to our little church family. The people are nice, the potlucks are tasty, and we all care about you very much.”

Plus, I’m the mom and I say so. What, that argument doesn’t work?