A Witch's Responsibility to Her Children

This article was recently posted to the Wicca subreddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/wicca), and it got me thinking about children and our responsibility to them.  That is to say, do we, as pagans or Wiccans, actually have a responsibility to our children when it comes to religious education?  I know many pagans and Wiccans are strictly against evangelizing or "indoctrinating" their children, and so will not teach them about Wicca or any other religion until they are of age.  It seems the other half choose a more open-minded approach, where the household is openly Wiccan, but makes allowances for friends and families.  In any case, the rise of the "Wiccaning" (a Wiccan naming ceremony for children and infants) can only suggest that more and more parents are choosing to set their children down the same path that they walk.  But is this truly wise?

First of all, it should be noted that the Wiccaning ceremony is leagues away from baptism.  From what I understand, never having attended one myself, during a Wiccaning, a child is presented to the gods and given a magickal name, one that he may choose to keep or discard as he gets older.  There is little obligation on the child to actually become Wiccan, or follow Wiccan beliefs.  Baptism, on the other hand, could almost be described as a violent process--the competentes (also called the Elect, those who have put their name forth for baptism) are said to experience a full spiritual death from which they are reborn as Christians.  The person who they were is dead, and the one who now stands in her place is obligated not only to follow the Church's teachings, but to spread those teachings as well.  I feel I should also mention that baptism is for life.  What has been done cannot be undone; even if one should choose to leave the faith, the sacramental seal (that which confers God's grace) remains in place.  Think of it as a stamp that cannot be wiped off.  If you were baptized as an infant and now feel somewhat violated, you are not alone.

By exploring the differences between these two parallel rituals, it is evident that Wicca leaves something of an escape route for our children, should they choose not to continue practicing.  The same option is present for Christian children, but they may find that the entanglements that Christianity imposes on a family are difficult to shake off.  That is not to say that Wiccan parents do not place expectations on their children, but there seems to be some leniency there, too.  Parents may suffer the same disappointment when their child chooses not to be their little witchling anymore, but this is just a part of watching the child grow into their own person.  If a child questions the world, the gods, her own nature, then the parent has done a good job.  A child who thinks she has it all figured out is heading for a rude awakening.

So, by all means, make your child's childhood magical.  Just don't be too put out when that line of hereditary witches you wanted to start peters out before it even began.