to be upset school taught my 4 year old about the crucifixion

[littlemslazybones]

It's a CoE school, so I knew that this would come up at some point.

But he's 4!! And he is understandably upset and a little confused that someone would be tortured and nailed to a cross. In the bath, he was pointing at the palm of his hand and saying "and mummy, they just hammered it in, right through here".

And if they are going to do it, shouldn't they attempt to do it in an age appropriate way? My son came home with the impression that the crucifixion was some elaborate terrifying naughty corner. He was telling me how, once nailed to the cross, Jesus decided to be good. (Even as an atheist, I'm baulking at the blasphemy). At the very least, they should allow them to ask questions afterwards, right?

I'm dreading what might come today. My Dad died this time last year and I don't want to spend the Easter hols explaining how people can not come back to life. AIBU to ask the school to be more gentle with this stuff?

Oh, those damn Gays with their legally enshrined rights to tell other people that they must also be gay. Oh hang on, that's you lot again.

The religious are not oppressed, quite the opposite. Christians have had it all their own way for centuries, can you not see that it is unreasonable for the children of non-christians to be expected to conform to worship?

actually MinouMinou ,there has been some pretty rude and condescending stuff said about religion here; that's fair enough because folk are entitled to their own opinions.....but dont say you haven't seen it.
Dreaming has made a reasonable point

Plus, people don't generally choose to be gay, they do not proselytize, they do not proclaim that non-gays are to be condemned according to a single verse in a special book. The don't tend to be obsessed by what other people do with their genitals and reproductive systems, and they don't get to have 27 of their number in the House Of Lords based purely on their sexual orientation.

I think the parallel doesn't really bear close examination.

Crunchy that's a pretty good point you made [12:06:18]

Hang on, Demi, let me have a read through again.

applauds crunchyfrog

My son is also at a CoE school and confused about the Easter Story. He called Angels 'Fly People' and then looked confused as I laughed my ass off.

I was imagining Jeff Goldblum from the fly telling them that Jesus was alive.

I don't see why the 'Easter Story' can't be taught in an age-appropriate way to very young school children, just as you'd expect anything else to be taught to them in an age-appropriate way. You wouldn't expect to submitt a 4 yo to a particularly graphic news report which included very precise and gory details, so why tell a 4 yo about 'hammering nails in'?

I think it's pretty indefensible, TBH, regardless of whether it's a faith school or not. And a hell of a lot of us have no option about whether we choose a faith school for our DC or not - we live in a village surrounded by other villages. ALL the local schools are CofE (and a smattering of Catholic). The local village school is no exception - it's a very good school and we hope DS1 will get in there, but I know we're going to come up against some religious education that we wouldn't necessarily choose to give DS1. I'm not too worried about it, I think it'll make for a well-rounded and hopefully tolerant child, but I'd be horrified if he came back from his reception class talking about nails and crucifixions.

And yes, it's very confusing for such small children - all the coming back to life, not to mention that so far, DS1 thinks of Jesus as The Baby Jesus (preschook having filled him in on that a bit). How on earth do I tell him (he's already rather fixated on death and dying) that they killed the baby Jesus?

Good thing the OP's son is fortunate enough to grow up here and not in countries where kids are tortured or made to join the army, then.

It's not all childhood and fluffy bunnies in the rest of the world.

Sorry, should have read thread. Oh well, I'm not going to win the MN Award for Week's Most Original Post then!

Re the OP's point about over-graphic Easter detail - YANBU

If a Reception class had been shown scenes or told stories of graphic torture and violence in any other context than a religious one, many more parents would be rightly shocked.

People who don't get this are either being wilfully obtuse or are hard of thinking ime.

"It's not all childhood and fluffy bunnies in the rest of the world."

Really? Let me down gently why don't you.

I can't see any bashing. Give me an example or two. It's possible it's going under my radar.

the thread was about whther it was acceptable to tell a 4 year old about crucificion

I am C or E, but I dont think its acceptable

BUT, its turned into a rant about religion being shoved down young peoples throats......

I actually dont like religious schools as its turned into a fucking mess TBH, people go to Chruch for wrong reasons, people choose school as its best even when not C or E. etc etc

But it does actually hurt my feelings when people despise my religion, funny that

I think people despise extremists, Porca, not decent people who want to do good and spread compassion.

But Porca, that is because within the current legislation for education, it is not only acceptable to tell a 4 year old about Easter, it's required.

It's a very small part of the wider problem.

Plus all the people who always pop up on these threads saying "don't choose a church school," utterly failing to notice 1) areas where there are no choice and 2) unless the school is breaking the law, there is no such thing as a secular education in this country.

I can't understand why it hurts your feelings. What does it matter what I think, when you by definition believe that I am wrong?

To be honest, I'm always surprised when I read about so many kids getting so upset about these things nowadays.

I went to a Catholic school and I can honestly say there wasn't a kid amongst us who got upset about anything like that.

Religion was bloody boring and we mostly stared out the window wondering what was for lunch.

Then again, we were brought up with Fairy Tales such as Hansel and Grettel, The Pied Piper, The 3 Little Pigs etc...so perhaps we were made of tougher stuff?

On the other hand, perhaps the parents get more upset about these things than the kids actually do?

I'm quite sure most of ds's friends will be blissfully unaware how upset he was Worraliberty.

It's the first time he has heard about torture. I thought I'd save that little nugget of joy for when he is older. Maybe I should tell him to man-up? Next lesson, water-boarding?

Worra , I think you have a point there....and poss SOME parents almost work their kids up about this stupid teaching, instead of downplaying it and reducing it's imprtance to the kid

"Then again, we were brought up with Fairy Tales such as Hansel and Grettel, The Pied Piper, The 3 Little Pigs etc...so perhaps we were made of tougher stuff?"

Well at least these are presented as fairy stories, not 'lessons by which to live your life'. And schools do have a responsibility to think about what is age appropriate. Not all children are the same, yes some might relish gory detail but you can't assume that all the children will, so WHY inflict it on them at an unnecessarily young age?

ps I meant your final point

I haven't worked him up about it because he has never heard about it. I just didn't get round to it. I thought we had plenty of time. The first I heard about it yesterday afternoon he was crying about it.

No, they were presented as lessons by which to live your life...that was the point of the moral of the story.

Hansel and Grettel = Don't wonder off into the woods alone

The Pied Piper = Don't go with strangers

The 3 Little Pigs = Work hard and don't cut corners or you'll get eaten by wolves

Kids today must be confused because they tend to get bubble wrapped at a very early age...and then 'let loose' on the internet playing all sorts of violent games a few years later (even if they do it at a friends house)

I really do think much of the offense and fear is more on the parent's part than the children when it comes to religious stories especially.

crunchy, but there is telling and TELLING

like it or not easter is a huge cultural festival in most of western europe. do you eat easter eggs? uhu I bet you do. we cant just whitewash out major cutlural festivals because they are linked to religion.

My DS also learns aboour chinese new year and ramadam, I went to a Cof E primary and I distinctly remeber learning about hinduism and islam too

learning about something thats a major part of cultural life is not the same as ramming down throats

Well, why not take the Reception class for a stroll through a city centre at 11.30pm on a Saturday night. They might have to dodge the flying bottles, fights and vomit, but they might as well get used to the harsh realities of life early, eh? Might even put them off abusing alcohol when they're older?

(And yes, I do know that many small children, here and in other countries, live with far worse.)