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?

Yes.

I can see why people might think of is some sort of 'woke nonsense ' but I was involved with a school several years ago where a number of children were in Foster care, or in a safeguarding 'watch list', one child had recently lost their mother to cancer. They did the same for Father's day for the same reasons.
Sometimes being more abstract is better.

The original purpose of Mother's day had nothing to do with parents and now has everything to do with guilt-tripping commercialism.

I think it’s fair enough. Not everyone has a mother and can find this time of year upsetting. We live in a world in which you can opt out of marketing emails for ‘mothers day’. I don’t see why a school should have less of a duty of care than a supermarket. They shouldn’t be forcing it down kids throats.

You want to start everything from year zero?

The point of life for many in contemporary times is happiness, yet poor mental health and unhappiness are at their highest.

Some people have really dismissive attitudes to children from “non-traditional” backgrounds and it shows.

Your child can still write a card to you and address it you as mother and say thanks for being my mum etc . Just like another kid can address it to their gran or aunty or foster carer etc.

The difference is now it’s special persons day instead of Mother’s Day so the ones writing it to the gran or uncle etc won’t feel as if they’re doing something weird.

There are some mothers I know who don’t even celebrate Mother’s Day as they think it’s a lot of commercial rubbish. There are other and better ways of honoring the (good) mothers in your life.

But I guess for some the need to feel shiny and special as a mother/father on “Mother’s Day” or “Fathers Day” by having every part of society filled with the words MOTHERS DAY trumps anything else.

.

I have had multiple emails from companies asking if I want to opt out of Mother’s Day emails to avoid upset. Why is it questionable when that same upset is children? I’m a teacher and always wonder if when I was at school the same amount of students had dead parents/lived with grandparents/were in care as we have now!

Your child can celebrate you at home on Sunday, but it’s not fair to expect a child to come in to school, possibly their safe place and be upset by all the others being excited about something they can’t join in with. This makes a shit situation accessible for students that need that extra care and the extra consideration. If your need for a card saying mother on it is more important than their need to be included then I doubt you are raising your kids with good values.

I know of several children in my dcs school who have lost parents...that's on top of children who are in foster care, whose parents have separated, whose parents are absent for whatever reason.

You have to be a very special kind of arsehole if you think being mindful of a bereaved or traumatized child's feelings is too pc/woke.

It really doesn't indicate anything of the sort.

I don't know why schools really need to make a fuss about Mother's Day and Father's Day, certainly not great to have a Mother's Day assembly etc. if they know they have a recently bereaved child in the school etc. Families, which are all so different, need to work out for themselves how they celebrate, why do we need to the forced participation in schools?

The Christian roots part of it was that you went to your "mother" church on that Sunday, i.e. the church you went to growing up.

Making it about mums is just as made up as fathers day.

Agenda? Oh, another one.

@Startingagainn Too many people do not really give a shit about other children, only their own child.

I'm genuinely so confused by your response. You think if we don't base the curriculum, very heavily around celebrations, kids will be miserable and it means I don't care about mental health? How do you think most kids across Europe learn? Hint, it's not this heavy on celebrations.

Bad things happen in life, people deal with loss all the time, this is one of many and isn't about the loss of a Mother it's about woke ideologies of identities and breaking family bonds like surrogogacy.

It really isn't, and it's not remotely new - we were doing 'special person' cards when I was teaching over 30 years ago. Children who were giving it to their mother could write 'to Mummy' inside, and children who for whatever reason did not have a mother could give it to the person they wanted to. It was to be inclusive and to prevent children who might already be feeling 'different' being left out.

There are battles to be fought without a doubt, but this isn't one of them.

That is a good idea and includes everyone.

When I was at school, a girl's mum died, we were 8. The teacher made us all make mothers day cards. Even as a small child, I was struck by the cruelty. What a cunt that teacher was.

I will add that during my primary school years another girl in my class lost her mother. This little girl was one of six girls, mother died in childbirth giving birth to the little boy she dreamed of adding to her family. So seven children - five in the same school, without a mother, as well as myself within the same class. From then on, days like this were conducted with greater sensitivity, and indeed I would say across the board teaching staff were more considerate and kind. Sometimes things just miss the radar.

Oh for goodness sake. The "roots" of Mothering Sunday have nothing at all to do with mothers or women! The "mother" in "mothering" is the mother church (the church in which you were baptised) and the day was intended for people to visit their mother church. The UK version "mothers days" was actually introduced years after the US one, and really only dates from the 1950's when it was pushed for by, guess what, commercial retail!

Halloween isn't an import - it has been celebrated as Samhain (which falls on 1st November) for over 2,000 years in Europe and All Hallows usurped that date in the 8th Century.

I don't think the school is overstepping anything. There is a positive discussion to be had about the people who positively influence your life, and neither mothers nor fathers are necessarily the ones that should be celebrated. Why should we teach children that there is something special about people who procreate simply because that is what they have done? Half the threads on this site suggest that neither mothers nor fathers are positive influences!

I think it's ridiculous to be honest. I don't have a father, I don't think that other people should be told they can't call it father's day just because I don't have one.

Why not just give the children two days a year to take the time out to recognise someone in their life who has shown them kindness, perhaps someone who needs a little lift. Not all mothers who are around are great also. Why even go so far as to say one man and one women for each day, what does it actually matter. I need no recognition. my own daughter has made a card for her nanny because she is on her own since my dad died and she loves her nanny. It’s not for me and she has a mum but I love her so much for showing such empathy at age 6.

Do you really think your feelings about a quick card your kid makes in school matters than their young class mate who's already lost a parent?

I don't think it is an erosion of women. I think they just don't want to upset children who have absent or dead mothers. I'm not sure I love taking the 'mother' out of Mothering Sunday. I'm sure the children with no mother don't particularly enjoy mother's day and it is good that their feelings are considered.

What a good idea. Take a bow @YetAnotherSpartacus

I agree about your assessment of the teacher.
No adult whose mum has recently died would be happy to sit in a room making a card along with other adults for Mothers Day. But some expect children to just deal with this. It is cruel.

@whattodo1975 Yes, now that I understand it was about church, then I agree our interpretation is ‘made up’. I can get with ‘ Mothers and Others’ , I think ‘ Special Persons Day, is only appropriate if they are going to do the same for Fathers Day.

And nobody is saying you can't celebrate Mothers Day as a family.