I had an interesting conversation with my mom a while back. She told me that she participated in baptisms for the dead when she was nine years old! Currently, children need to wait until they are 12 years old. My mom said that a child simply needed to be baptized back in the day. Why do you think the age has changed?
Baptism for the Dead at 9?
Wheat & Tares 
I don’t know anything about ages in the old days, but I understand that the Church has changed and standardized ages for different things over time as a matter of administration. I’m fine with that.
Without thinking about it too much, I assume at some point after they started ordaining young men to the Aaronic priesthood they eventually decided to line up the age based on that age (12).
See a good recap of the change to ordaining young men to the priesthood on mormondiscussionpodcast.
it now seems like more youth do temple baptisms than adults do. Maybe adults do the other temple ordinances, so this allows the things youth can do.
It seems to work, so as a part of a church being organized, it just becomes policy. It is one way to do it. It has a purpose. 12 yrs old and some rite of passage feeling to it.
I’m not sure I see a good reason “why” 12 vs 9…it just has become that way, and it seems to work ok.
I heard that at the time reverence and maturity were cited, and that was decades ago. I think children today spend LESS time on doctrinal instruction and are less conformist (including reverent), so I think the older age is an appropriate shift. on the other hand, it is a testimony builder, and many young people stop going to church when they turn 12. Perhaps temple experiences would be grounding. I’m surprised that SLC hasn’t considered it along with the lowered mission ages.
Primary presidencies might not relish the thought of organizing temple trips. And then there’s the worthiness interview – minimal, but still there. Another thing for bishoprics.
But maybe it would be a good thing.
It is easy for parents to feel that their child is special and mature and deserves to do temple work early .. And even be baptized before the age of 8. By setting minimal age standards, there are no longer any arguments about whether an extremely young child is ready.
OTOH, by setting minimal age standards, the church has turned baptism into a ritual that is tied to age and not readiness. Essentially, all LDS children are baptized at age 8. There is a bishop interview, but it is again tied to the age of the child and not to spiritual readiness. Exceptions are rare.
Personal temple endowments are tied to missions and marriage. I see personal temple endowments as very similar to a nun or priest taking vows. One promises to put God and the LDS church first in every way. I wish that promise was separated from missions or marriage. I wish it stood alone. One can be ready for a mission or marriage and not be ready to take out their own endowment.
@LittleRedHen
“Essentially, all LDS children are baptized at age 8.”
Not any more.
“…tied to the age of the child and not to spiritual readiness.”
Unfortunately, whether or not a child is spiritually ready for baptism at 8 (or temple work at 12), the culture is such that a child will likely be forced to stick with the program as soon as they hit the minimum age. I imagine there are many children (or adults) who aren’t really spiritually ready for these undertakings.
When Protestant neighbors talk about their children choosing to be baptized, it is truly a choice. The child decided. We have lost that within the LDS church. We have an efficient conveyor belt of ordainances that are performed, but individual choice and initiative has been lost.
I think part of the reason for the current hemorrhaging of members is that lack of choice. They didn’t get a real choice as a child. They are baptized as members without real ability to choose that. As an adult, they can choose. They choose to leave.
Suffice it to say that we are over-thinking this, and that in decades of another era, the LDS population & logistics were different. Simply in NUMBERS available, schedules, modern transportation, communication, etc.
Today we do not go on 3-5 year Missions, and have plenty of clean & worthy pre-teens, not to have to rely on 9 year olds, nor over-tax the shortages from among the Adult sinners. The answer for this would require a topic paper.
overthinking what?