My child’s school have changed the name of Mother’s Day to special persons day, what do you think?

[Rainbow03]

Have we gone mad or is this appropriate?

i agree. A good teacher will know a child’s personal set up and will advise appropriate ly. There have always been children without mothers and we have managed. At school the teacher will use the term special person, nanny etc.

whats going to happen on Father’s Day? Person with a penis in your life day?

Indeed, I can't read this thread anymore. Brought tears to my eyes all these years later. That is what childhood trauma does. It needs sensitive handling from a young age. Bless you x

Ludicroue and downplays the importance of mothers . I feel the same about maternity policies not using the word mother - it is insulting to women.

You know even with a mother in your life it can be traumatic

Teachers know who in their class is without a mother and will adapt the activity accordingly.

Inappropriate.

School should remember Father's Day, and grandparent's day as well as Mother's Day.

There will be situations in life that others will feel sad and I taught my children to not be thieves of others joy let them enjoy Father's day as they once did, them losing out will not make you any happier.

but the children with a mother can still celebrate their mother who I assume would be the special person they make a card, etc for. It literally won’t affect them, it won’t be “thieving their joy” one iota.

Yep I agree as well. As someone who worked with kids in care and know many kids with absent parents (usually fathers tbh) I think it makes sense as long as it’s applied to father day too.

We have Women's Day and Men's Day where we live. Children often make cards or something but it's for a special woman or a special man in their lives. Obviously in the majority of cases, the children will choose their mum and dad, but it's completely open for children who would rather make something for their grandpa, their aunty, their big brother, whatever. I think it's nice.

My children's school did this because there had been a very tragic suicide affecting children in 4 of the classes. The little boy in my sons class would become so distressed at particular stories etc which seemed to resonate with him and he would have to be taken home.
I suspect the school you mention is doing this for other reasons but some children have such difficult lives that I'm not sure it matters.

And would you happily tell a grieving 5yo that to her face? If you would then give your head a wobble. If you wouldn’t then you’re totally contradicting yourself and your OP is rubbish.

Love the empathy 🙏🏾I only wish more people had this attitude.

It’s a really difficult one.

My DD absolutely hated Father’s Day as her dad wasn’t in her life.

I remember one year she had to write a card for her dad and draw a portrait of them together. She had no idea what he looked like and just made it up and was too young and embarrassed to say anything.

We also have a student who lost his mum this week in very traumatic circumstances.
His dad is struggling and as the boy has high needs due to SEND he is sending him to school as normal.
We have decided to not do anything for Mother’s Day but it’s difficult because so many of them want to make cards etc.

👆👆
THAT.

I get that they want to make it easier for those children Wo a mum.

But I have an issue if they don’t ALSO do it for children who don’t have a dad present in their life. And how they are going to square having children from a one parent family celebrating … what the same person twice? I’m not sure.
Esp because there will be many more children who have little or no contact with their father….

I recently attended an assembly at my son’s school which was heavily focused on Mother’s Day. The children sang a beautiful song about how important mums are. Whilst it was lovely, I was painfully aware one of the little girls had lost her mum recently and it just felt so wrong.

There’s definitely a balance to be had with celebrating occasions whilst being sensitive to others.

Yes. I have had children in my class without mothers and it was quite difficult when we made cards on Mother's Day. I would always suggest another special person usually female but if they were being brought up by their Dad they could chose to make a card for him or for a Grandmother.

My mother died when I was a child. Mothers day is like torture for children who don't have their mum around. Schools should ignore mothers and fathers day.

I don't think we are talking about the same thing.

My children don't have a Father anymore, there is nothing to celebrate much to appreciate about him, I reminded them about his few good qualities, everyone has some.

There is a scene in 'Letters to Juliet' the Grandmother brushing hair scene brought tears to my eyes, she then teaches her Grandson how lacking in empathy he is being, for his two dead parents loved him and didn't abandon him by choice.

That’s a much better idea Imo.
Your school has it right.

I like Mothers and Others as a name for schools to use. It recognises what the day is about while also factoring in the difficulties of the day for some children.

Mothers and Others is perfect.

Exactly. When I taught we had to be careful and often did the make a card for someone special and thst was decades ago. However we did still mention Mothering Sunday.

To be honest I'm sick of all the emails I get asking if I want to opt out of x company's mothers day emails (or valentines, fathers day etc). Political correctness gone mad.

(And I speak as someone who no longer has a mother or father)

That poor little girl. Mother's Day is a hard time for many adults who have lost their mum I can't imagine how hard it must have been for that child.

It's a difficult one. My mum died when I was two years old so the whole 'Mother's Day' thing has always been quite an emotional one for me when making things and cards at school. The only other females raising me were my much older sisters. For me special person is quite apt.

I think the world has gone mad with inclusivity but equally I think the UK primary curriculum is build very much around calendar events. It's too much. Mother's Day wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't made into a whole day of two of crafts etc. Same thing happens at Easter, Christmas, Halloween, any other celebration. It's such a lazy way to teach and makes me sad. It's not inclusive at all. They'll need to rename them all soon.