Teacher telling 7yo that Father Christmas not real

I honestly don't lie, definitely not in the way you describe. I also couldn't take anyone to disney because of how hideous I find the whole thing.

I am wondering what you hope to achieve with your complaint? Repercussions for the teacher? For the teacher to stand in front of the class and retract her/his statement?
Seems like a fairly minor infringement to warrant a complaint. Especially since the cat is out of the bag already and won't go in.

Well that was disgusting, evil and in no way acceptable and not representative of RE teachers or any teacher.

The problem is you saying if children don't get presents direct from FC it's because they're Bad. Your children get presents from FC (rather than parents) because they're Good.

I understand some people don’t do the ‘FC/Santa’ thing with their kids and that’s fine. But I really don’t like this ‘it’s a lie’ we don’t lie to our children stance is a hill to die on either!

we actually lie (nice lies) all the time - yes darling your picture is great, what a fantastic song you are singing etc etc, wow you were fantastic as Shepard number 6 in the nativity 😆

i actually think the magic of Santa (I believe is so lovely) is so special and something I remember so fondly from my childhood. most kids figure out Santa isn’t real and despite what some people may say this isn’t traumatising!

we took my kids to Disney land for the first time when my youngest was three. Her face lit up when she met all the ‘real’ princesses. We never said ‘oh don’t be daft they are just random ladies dressed up’ - it’s called magic, make believe and it’s wonderful for kids (again just my opinion), and Disney is a good example of this, as none of the characters are allowed to break character ever and have full back stories for questions they get asked - to me it’s the same as Santa, it’s not a bad lie, it’s fun and pretend and again make believe and magic.

we've been to Disney now many times and my kids obviously are now aware these characters aren’t real but it hasn’t harmed them in any way it’s just part of growing up and how we start to see and understand the world.

RE teachers talk all sorts of shite, mine told me that my brother was disabled because my parents must be evil and God was punishing them. When I queried why God would take his wrath out on an innocent baby I was sent to the head for being disrespectful.

I'd tell your DS that RE teachers don't know everything and let him believe as long as he wants to (despite some people's determination to set an age limit, children tend to believe for as long as they want to and need to, despite any evidence to the contrary they are given.)

I don't think any gods are real.
I don't think santa is real.
I'm not sure why people are assuming the re teacher believes in a god just because they educate about gods.

I teach in a C of E school. We teach about faith. It is NEVER taught as fact. Even in worship it is ‘here is a bible story that Christians believe’, ‘this is a special time of year for Christians’ etc.

And God does not exist. I wouldn't tell religious people that as I wouldn't tell young children that father christmas doesn't exist. Let people believe what they want to. What I don't get is how you can believe in God but state that father christmas doesn't exist.

I knew santa wasn't real at 5.
My own son knew the same at 5/6.

It is the parents who bring buy gifts.

I get what you're saying. I don't categorize into bad/good kids either (because there are no good/bad kids) but I said "children who have been up to no good" in my mother tongue but I can't really translate it well to English. My son knew his muslim friends did Aid so no father christmas. What bugged me was the fact that the older kids found it hilarious to tell the younger ones that father christmas didn't exist.

Happy to learn from this thread that most 7 year olds sill believe, as my 8 year old still believes but he has SEN and I thought I was going to have to tell him to stop him getting teased about it. I will let him believe a bit longer.

He wasn't happy about the idea of being watched though and asked if there was a camera in his room bless him. I have assured him there isn't.

I'm shocked that a 7 year old didn't know that santa isn't real? By that age as kids, we all knew santa wasn't real but that you played along for the fun /to get more presents.

I understand what you meant but to me the idea is vile and is theoretically dividing children into good and bad. Even if those children did get presents you are telling your children that some children don't get presents because they are bad and don't deserve them.

I feel strongly about this as I was a teacher in deprived areas and now volunteer in a Foodbank. There are children out there who have very little and it's not their fault.

By the way, as a teacher, I would never have outright said FC does not exist but neither would I lie about it if asked. I'd return the question- 'what do you think?'.

This was BEFORE christmas so I had no idea what they were getting. The problem was them saying it's the parents and not father Christmas who bring the gifts.

It makes no difference. The children didn't get many (or any) presents for whatever reason and you're telling your children those children must be bad. It's horrible snd cruel.
Even if they did really get presents and you were pretending. It's perpetuating the idea of the 'deserving' and the 'undeserving ' poor.

Same here. I was 6 (1961 for reference) I realised my mum would never let a stranger man come into the house. I pretended for a while but there was no big revelation. Christmas was still Christmas.

Well that is dependant on whether your child is at a faith based school. Hate to break it to you but at a Catholic/church of England school (I’ve been to both) it’s religious faith based lessons not teaching about religion.

That's bad.

I'm a primary school teacher, and whenever I have to teach RE around this time of year, I'm SUPER careful not to blow the myth.

That being said, I'm as atheist as they come, which I make a point of telling the classes I teach. It's not my job to push any religious belief on them. The way I see it, my job is to teach tolerance and understanding of different faiths and cultures.

However, I wouldn't necessarily take the word of a 7yo as absolute gospel.

RE is teaching children ABOUT religion, not teaching religion TO children.

Yes, this.

Religious faiths are usually intertwined with the culture and tradition of the child's family - and often their wider community.

It would be highly unlikely for many parents to urge their children to hold a sincere religious belief that they themselves categorically don't share.

So sorry, I wasn't clear. I was talking about older kids ruining christmas for the younger ones. They were not poor, it was said in a "feel sorry for them". They said it was the parents that bought the gifts so that's why I said that their parents might buy for them because father christmas doesn't come due to them being naughty. This was a longtime ago and my son says every christmas that he wishes to be young again because it was magic with father christmas..

But presumably they became an RE teacher because of an interest in some way about RE. Definitely irony in them dedicating their career to teaching children fiction but then telling a child that a fictional character they believe in is not real.

I didn't mean poor in that sense!!! I meant I felt sorry for them since father christmas didn't visit them. These were all older kids in school (10/11) who liked to spoil the pleasure for the younger ones (7/8).