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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to ban nativity plays

47 replies

whatkatydidathome · 07/12/2010 12:31

OK I know that it gives the children the chance to go on stage but it seems ridiculous now. Unless you have a lead part most rehersal time is spent being bored. Our children appear to be effectively missing 2 weeks of schooling as the whole place appears to revolve around rehersals, they come home exhausted (how can a 4 year old be expected to put on 4 preformances in a week??) and most of the kids are wearing outfits from ASDA which were probably made by children smaller than they are.

Wouldn't it be better if we just all stuck a tenner in an envelope and posted it to a children's charity and then just got our little darlings to reherse once and then sing a few carols with a bit of tinsle on their hair?

OP posts:
nightmarebeforechristmas · 07/12/2010 12:33

yabu

NoahAndTheWhale · 07/12/2010 12:33

Well I like them.

NoahAndTheWhale · 07/12/2010 12:34

Don't quite understand the £10 comment. Do you mean instead of outfits? DD's Little Star costume involved me sewing tinsel onto black leggings and black top so at least wasn't made by someone smaller than she is.

littleducks · 07/12/2010 12:39

I agree, sort of

Why cant the little ones just do carol concerts or something, where everyone is involved

I think older kids enjoy the practice more

ShoppingDays · 07/12/2010 12:43

YABU. Why don't we all give up doing anything we ever enjoy or celebrating anything and "stick a tenner in an envelope" instead? Sounds like the problem is with the material chosen if most children without a lead part are being bored. It doesn't have to be like that.

ChickensHaveNoMercyForTurkeys · 07/12/2010 12:44

YABU. I like seeing the littlies cock up their lines and pick their noses. It makes me sob publicly.

byrel · 07/12/2010 12:44

YABU its a traditional feature of Christmas

Original poster
whatkatydidathome · 07/12/2010 12:47

Noah but isn't it about what is better for the children? I guess that I just think that they go a bit over the top now.
Re £10 - if parents make the outfits then fine but there are only 2 homemade donkeys in ds class - ALL the rest are in ASDA outfits which, at less than £10 a go, I cannot believe are made by workers paid a decent wage. My 10 year old also hates rehersals as she is bored - she is supposed to be being educated, not sitting around whilst they run through the entire play again and again. The whole focus seems to be on making the school look good rather than on a planned educational activity for teh children (or even a bit of a laugh for the kids - it is just taken too seriously).

OP posts:
redshoes · 07/12/2010 12:47

I agree op. In our school there are 128 children in each 'show' which means most kids can't even actually be seen by their parents, who are all squashed into an overheated hall. I dread these shows.

theevildead2 · 07/12/2010 12:48

YANBU, I mean we already know the ending.

soggy14 · 07/12/2010 12:53

YANBU
Plus of course there are the competative parents with nothing better to do than spend weeks producing the perfect snowman outfit whilst those of us with lives end up trying to cobble together a raindeer outfit at 1am from 2 old pairs of socks and a coat hanger :)
I can see why people resort to the ASDA outfits but I also hate the whole cheap/throwaway-clothes-made-in-sweatshops-and-destined-for-landfill culture. And I know that some children will wear their christmas kangeroo outfit year after year Grin but I suspect that most bin themon boxing day.

kathyb1 · 07/12/2010 12:54

i love the nativity plays - make me all soppy.

you could suggest that the parents donate the costumes to the setting for use next year.
(after all the kids will have grown out of them by the next year.)
you can also suggest that the parents who would like a party could have a nativity party where they make any additional costumes/sets - preferably with mince pies & mulled wine.
this means that all the children will have a fair go, regardless of parental support, and will ultimately save parents money.

i also think it is important for children to learn that they can't always be the lead - that only cooperation will achieve the play, so everyone, regardless of role, is V important.

GiantFanatic · 07/12/2010 12:56

YABU, Naff off scrooge!

At that age 2 weeks to "Learn" a play, a simple bloody play at that aint a big thing.

NoahAndTheWhale · 07/12/2010 12:58

I don't think they have been doing the whole play much at DS and DD's school. Mainly practising just their parts, although performances are today and tomorrow so they did run through it yesterday.

I think mine quite like it tbh.

piprabbit · 07/12/2010 13:01

Get your school to do what ours does...
KS1 perform a nativity-themed spectacle with 1001 narrators - year 6 wrote and directed one memorable year.
KS2 perform a popular stage musical (recent extravaganzas have included Oliver and The Lion King).

Much less boring for everyone as there are only 3years of nativities to be sobbed sat through.

piprabbit · 07/12/2010 13:02

Oooh just reread and I should make it clear that Oliver was a separate production from The Lion King - although combining them may have been an interesting concept.

Ariesgirl · 07/12/2010 13:04

It would be a real shame to do away with Nativity plays, as they are part of the heritage of this country and are the only chance most kids get to hear the Christmas story and learn a few carols. Done well, they give children a real sense of community that some would otherwise never get. I don't get the whole competitive costume thing - in the school I taught in, we had all the costumes in the attic and doled them round the kids each year. If we had asked the parents for costumes, many of them would have had nothing provided at all.

I'm not particularly religious, but would be very grieved if Nativity plays disappeared from schools.

Aims80 · 07/12/2010 13:05

I used to LOVE being in the Nativity play! I was an angel one year (that just involved sitting and singing with all the other little angels, adorned with a tinsel halo), a shepherd another year (again, sitting and singing.. but adorned with a tea towel) and then glory of glory, Mary in my final year at Infant school. It was great fun and we all enjoyed it, I can't imagine that it has changed much.

NoahAndTheWhale · 07/12/2010 13:06

I love the idea of Oliver and the Lion King Xmas Grin

PaisleyLeaf · 07/12/2010 13:07

It must cover loads of learning. Speaking and listening, singing/ music, religion.

thumbplumpuddingwitch · 07/12/2010 13:07

YABU.

ShoppingDays · 07/12/2010 13:08

Agree, Ariesgirl. I think it's a shame that some of the older children are doing "popular musicals" instead of anything Christmas related. It gives the message that Christmas is only relevant if you are under 7.

piprabbit · 07/12/2010 13:12

ShoppingDays, I don't think it makes Christmas irrelevant to the over 7s. They get to see the premier of the KS1 nativity, and many are involved in building sets etc. too.

What about secondary school children who don't do nativities - is Christmas irrelevant to them too?

piprabbit · 07/12/2010 13:13

And the whole school has a carol concert in a local church one evening with parents too.

RockinRobinBird · 07/12/2010 13:19

YABU. If your child's school puts on a crappy show take it up with them.