The role of an amazing godparent has a religious significance. A godparent is responsible for a child’s spiritual development and well-being. However, a couple doesn’t have to be religious to elect a godparent. These days, godparent has become a flexible term that can fit anyone who acts as a role model for the child, guiding them and spoiling them all at once!
Has the gay couple you adore requested you to be a godparent? There’s no need to be anxious. Let us guide you through a few essential qualities that will make you the most amazing godparent ever!
An Amazing Godparent Plans a Baby Shower
There’s usually a pretty long gap between the adoption application getting accepted and the baby finally coming home. If you have already been picked as a godparent, you could surprise the couple with the coolest gay dad baby shower ever! Try to incorporate decorations that are catered to their interests, arrange lots of delicious food, bring up fun party games, and maybe crack open a few cold ones? And remember, no baby shower is complete without adorable baby shower gifts!
An Amazing Godparent Prepares the Home
Baby-proofing the house is a Herculean task. As a soon-to-be role model, the godparent should help the parents make the home safe and fit for a child to live in. Put all sharp items out of reach, help get baby-proofing equipment installed, and prepare the child’s room. You could also get a few toys to make the child feel comfortable in their new home.
Know to Give Important Gifts
Of course, the most precious gift you can give a child is your time and undivided attention. But for stable relationships, giving thoughtful gifts is also a mode of communication. Your duties do not end at buying the best baby shower gifts. You could start with a trendy new dad diaper bag when the baby first arrives, but then you have to show consistency by turning up at every birthday, holiday, and other important occasions with meaningful gifts that will show the child that you deeply care about their wishes or interests.
An Amazing Godparent Strikes a Balance
A godparent is required to act somewhere in between a parent and a friend. It’s a very tricky zone to navigate indeed; we won’t sugarcoat it. You have to know when to laugh with them and when to inform their parents about their behavior.
This requires fine judgment. If you are too strict and inform the parents about everything the child shares with you, there will be no trust in this relationship. On the other hand, if you see the beginning signs of anything remotely dangerous like an addiction, you can’t turn a blind eye. There are books that will guide you in this matter. The rest of it comes from experience as the days go on.
An Amazing Godparent Provides a Safe Space
Your home must be a safe space for the child, both physically and emotionally. It’s the place where the child should be able to stay if their parents have to go somewhere urgently. It’s also a no man’s land where the child takes shelter if the parents are having a hard time with their relationship.
You must keep an extra pair of essentials ready for them so that they don’t have to pack huge luggage every time they come over. You have to distract or entertain them depending on the situation. For babies, keep a diaper bag ready for quick outdoor plans. A custom diaper or a removable liner diaper bag can be easier to manage. For teenagers, movie plans, amusement park trips, or game nights might be more suitable.
Even though times are changing, gay couples still face a lot of stigma, and the child might become a target for malicious comments. You have to be prepared to offer appropriate emotional support to the child and enlighten them with a better understanding of the LGBT community so that external comments do not influence their relationship with their parents.
An Amazing Godparent Provides Reliable Advice
If you have successfully created a safe space for your godchild, you have to be strong when they start coming to you for advice. Instead of dictating what to do, you have to learn how to ask the right questions to help them navigate their own problems and reach the best solution. This way, you are not only making sure that they follow the right path in difficult times, but you are also handing them a map of how to solve their own problems when they don’t have anyone immediately around to guide them. Be prepared to deal with anything from cute dating questions to serious mental health issues.
Finally, They are Present
Don’t wait for the child to come to you always. Be involved in their life as much as possible, check up on them often, find out what new hobbies they picked up, and be there when they need someone other than a parent. Your involvement and actions should show them that you will be there to help them out as they grow up from a toddler to a teenager. Whether it’s asking for a pick-up after getting too late at a party or planning a surprise for the parents, they should know that they can count on you. You will be the adult that they look up to, so words of advice won’t be enough. You have to show them how you choose to be a good person every single day.
Taking care of all these factors will give you a pretty great head start, but remember that it’s a two-way street at the end of the day. Things will not always go according to plan but have faith that you will always find a way out. You will learn from the child as much as you teach them. The child will change your life as much as you change theirs. In the process of trying to be an amazing godparent, don’t forget to have fun with your godchild and make plenty of beautiful memories.
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Previously Published on ecknox.com
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The post How to Be an Amazing Godparent for a Gay Couple’s Baby appeared first on The Good Men Project.