Becoming a parent is a significant and exciting life milestone. As a parent, you have a legal and moral obligation to care and provide for your child until they can be on their own. But life is full of uncertainties and, sometimes, you may be unable to fulfill these roles. And this is where guardianship comes in.
A guardian is a person you designate in your will to assume your parental responsibilities in the event of incapacitation or death. Given the importance of this decision, how do you pick a guardian for your little one? Here are two questions that can help you decide:
How well do your child and the prospective guardian get along?
To ensure that your child will be comfortable in the new placement should something happen to you, it is important to appoint a guardian who gets along well with your child. Does the child enjoy the company of the prospective guardian? How often do they (the prospective guardian) meet the child? For obvious reasons, you do not want to designate a stranger or someone who outrightly does not like children for this role.
Does your prospective guardian share your values and beliefs?
Ideally, you want a guardian who shares the same life philosophy as you do. In other words, you want to be certain that the prospective guardian would raise your child the way you would want them to be raised. Thus, their moral values, lifestyle and spiritual/religious beliefs are extremely important.
No one wants to think about someone else raising their child. However, no one knows what tomorrow holds. Designating a guardian for your child can give you peace of mind knowing that someone you approve of will take care of your child in the event of death or incapacitation.