I know that part of the cermony for an infant involves holding them over the baptismal font, but this seems like it would be difficult to do once a child passed a year or so old, given their weight and their strength to fight to get away if they’re so inclined. Do they do something different when they baptize older toddlers, children or adults?
I don’t know how they’d do toddlers, or children not old enough to behave, but those who are older (adults, children of the age where you can expect them to listen), they have you bend over the font and the priest pours water over your head. At least, that’s how I’ve seen it done.
Visit a Catholic church during an Easter Vigil Mass. They’re very long (almost three hours), but the music and rituals are just gorgeous, and usually that’s when they’ll do some adult baptisms.
If you’re going to go out of your way to show up anyhow, try going to a basilica or cathedral. Show up real early, too. Those places pack quick and you won’t be able to see a thing.
Our kids were six and four. They used a standard step-stool to let them stand up next to the font and lean over it.
Those aren’t the only denominations that baptize. My stepson was baptized in the Lutheran church this year, pretty much as Guinastasia describes. Baptists don’t as a rule do infant baptisms but they do older children and adults all the same way, just as John did for Jesus by full immersion in a fiberglass jacuzzi tub. 
All kidding aside the Baptist church I went to when I was in high school had a large fiberglass tub near the pulpit. It was raised above eye level, camflaged by paneled walls and had a curtain over the stairs so no one in the congregation could see anything until people had actually stepped in the tub. One wouldn’t have suspected there was even water until after the soaked baptizee stood up again.
In the South I have seen several spring-fed outdoor adult baptismal fonts.
More or less the size of the tubs in Padeye’s post. Stone paved lips. Smooth pebble bottom. Flows outward to a nearby lake, river or pond.
Used to be one in a city park in Waukesha, Wisconsin, too. Near the grape arbor.
My friend got baptized here just yesterday. The stage has two big panels that come out of the floor, and under there’s this big turquoise tub about 4 meters wide by 1.5 across by 1 deep with stairs going down from the left and right.
He’s about 27, and was last of three people about the same age to do it. Five or so minutes on the mic about why they’re choosing to re-affirm their faith, walk down one side, “I baptize you in the name of the father, son and holy ghost”, lean them down backwards, sploosh and they’re done.
I know, but they’re the ones I wanted to know about. I’ve seen baptists baptize adults, so I know how they do it. Thanks, though.
Something like this
I was christened into the Church of England when I was seven. (My dad was an atheist when I was born, but later changed his mind.) As the others have said, I just bent over the font and was baptised that way. I’m trying to remember whether I took part in the ‘against flesh, the world and the devil’ responses – I think so; even though my godmothers and father said them as well. I also got to wear a spiffy dress and got a proper cake and everything. (Much like a First Communion, I suppose.)
I was baptized in the Episcopal church last year (I’m 41). I asked an older gentleman that has been a lifelong member of our church to be my sponsor. During the ceremony, I made a proclamation of faith, and my sponsor promised to assist me in my life as a Christian. I then bowed my head over the baptismal font and had water poured over my head while the Rector performed the service. We then proceeded the front of the church where all those in attendance who had been baptized reaffirmed their baptismal vows. BTW, the font is over 300 years old.
The Rector later told me that it was not uncommon for adults to go through a private baptism, but that he liked it more when they went through the public. I told him that I wanted those in our church to know of my committment and that I couldn’t think of a better way to do that then having a public service.
There isn’t one universal answer. I’ve seen a delightful Roman Catholic church in Chicago with a large baptismal pool at the entrance to the worship space; about ten feet across, I’m not sure how deep, with the entrance curving around it so it’s a visual focus for the church. For a baptism there, the priest and the person being baptized (many of whom, in this congregation, would be likely to be adults) would step into the baptismal pool. The whole congregation would be able to see them quite readily.
Sign: No Speedos In The Baptismal Font.
The idea of “holding the baby over the baptismal font” is practical, not theological – you are pouring water over the kid, and it’s a good idea that the runoff go back into the font, not onto the carpeting, hardwood floor, or whatever. An adult or older child will merely lean over the font while water is poured over him/her while the baptismal formula is recited. It’s my understanding that a person of the age of reason may opt for total immersion if he or she prefers; the one time I’ve seen that done was at a parish’s summer picnic, when the priest, dressed in swimtrunks and stole, stood waist deep in the St. Lawrence River and lowered the catechumen into the water to baptize her. (He consecrated the river for use as a baptismal font, so you Montrealers live alongside holy water! ;))
IIRC, the Episcopal church’s Book of Common Prayer provides that the baptizee can request either the sprinkling or dunking mode of baptism.
There’s always the dunk-backwards into the ocean. That’s how I did it.
Congregations following the New Testament pattern of doing things:
The candidate is asked, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God?”
The candidate answers in the affirmative.
The candidate and another Christian go into the baptismal waters.
The candidate is completely immersed by laying over backward and currently by squatting and bending the head below the surface while the Christian says: " I baptize (Immerse) you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’
Spingears gives here the classic “Believer’s Baptism” by total immersion, used by Baptists and several other Protestant groups. It’s debatable if this is the New Testament pattern, though it was clearly the preferred way of baptizing adult converts, since Acts makes reference to the baptism of entire families, which would of course usually include babies or young children. But the proper age for baptism and what it signifies are matters for Great Debates.
Both Mr. Kiminy and I have been Episcopalian since birth, and both of us were baptized as infants, with no memory of the actual event.
Our daughter was baptised as an infant, during an Easter Eve service. My recollection is that she was the only “baptizee” at the service, and the rector asked if we could baptise her then, so that they would have at least one baptism for Easter, but I can’t guarantee that there weren’t others. This was also nearly 14 years ago, and memory is not reliable after such a long period.
Our son was baptized when he was six or seven. The Episcopal Church has actually moved toward baptizing children at older ages, when the child is old enough to be aware of what’s going on, and our son was with a group of other children and adults, all of whom were old enough to at least stand up at the font, and none of whom were small enough to be carried up and down the aisle. The priest poured the water on their heads over the font, with the font acting mostly as a sink to catch the dripping water.
The BCP does not specifically say that the candidate can choose, but it does indicate that either method is appropriate. At the bottom of page 307:
Page 312 also contains these instructions, which would apply to either sprinkling or immersion: