to be pissed off at school for telling DD (5) about Baby Jesus?

[Kalemu]

We don't want religion anywhere near our house, one of the main reasons we chose to send our DD to state school instead of a CoFE school. Imagine my surprise when she came home with a Baby Jesus picture book and singing about the Baby King. This makes me very mad - it's not like we want to keep her in a bubble, but I wanted to have told her the different religion when she was a bit older.

Thinking of writing to the headteacher to let him know our thoughts, and to demand that we're informed next time they plan to talk about religious stuff in class. Do you think AIBU?

This is a joke no? What the frell did you expect the school to say about Christmas?

There is no separation of church and state in this country and I'm pretty sure there is a compulsory (for the school) act of worship in UK schools anyway which you can withdraw your child should you choose to.

If you want to keep your child away from all religion home school or you will be unable to.

Oh YABU and

FFSIt'sNotLikeTheyBaptisedYourChildTiggaxx

This comes up a lot on MN. All schools are obliged to have worship in a broadly christian manner - there is no such thing as. Secular state school.

This is a major reason why we HE. We probably do more about bible stories than most schools tbh, but in a 'some people believe' way.

At school, there is absolutely nothing to stop your child being taught religion as fact, alongside maths and science.

It is a bloody disgrace - everyone should be allowed to worship or not as thy see fit.

Have you asked Santa for a grip?

It's Christmas!

The schools are bound to teach the basics of it.

Just like they'll probably teach a little about Hanukkah, Eid etc

How do you explain Christmas to your dd?

Yabu

massive load of x-posts in the time it took to type that!

No, it really isn't.
It's just a name for a celebration that has been in existence for a very long time.

Some people call it winterfest, yule, whatever.

It's called Christmas because of the influence of religion, and is generally accepted by that name by most people in the West. But it doesn't have to be about Christ at all and lets face it, Christianity is on the decline

Ha e you told the school your feelings about being religious free.

All schools look at religion. DDS current topic is Vikings and they have learnt about their gods.

Religion is part of the curriculum for secular schools.

Yabu as you feel strongly but not bothered to find out if it is taught in schools.

You can not hide your dd from religion.

Seriously

Teachers don't plan their lessons around the whims of hysterical parents.

You really should consider home education.

erm CHRISTmas tends to need to be about CHRIST ...just saying

FWIW I call it Christmas and tell my name where the child came from. I also tell him about winterfest, yule, saturnalia, the origins of the tree, crackers, presents etc..

Most of what happens at Christmas does not stem from religion.

Nothing wrong with teaching children about religion.

you do know that state schools in UK are not secular but are supposed to have daily acts of worship that are broadly christian, you do have the right to remove your child though from assemblies and all religious education if you wish

learning about Jesus is par for the course at christmas ( literally christ's mass)
while the origins are a mixture of pagan ideas of mid winter festivals as well as christian symbolism; you surely can not be surprised that there is an explanation of such things in school

it will be the same at easter devali eid, etc it is just part of education

lots of schools have carol services in local churches, do nativity plays

learning "away in the manger" etc is normal for small children in school

tell my child where the name came from

Sounds like you need to get a bit more proactive about your child's religious education.
Schools will talk about a variety of religious festivals throughout the year.
There is still a legal requirement for state schools to have some form of collective worship everyday. They may well have the local vicar visit in assembly, or go on a trip to look at a local church.
Given that it will be near impossible to prevent your DD hearing about all this, you need to get in first so that she understands the beliefs (or lack of) of her own family.

YABU

You do realise that this is a Christian country and state and religion are not separate yeah?

If you want religion nowhere your precious snowflake then HE.

You sound weird actually. Surely you can use this as a learning experience talking about different beliefs. You can't just pretend religion doesn't exist.

What are you doing over the CHRISTMAS holidays then? You know, the birth of Christ? And Easter, the resurrection of Christ?

How have you explained Christmas to your dd?

REALLY
poor OP is your life so empty that is your worry..
wow

Yabu - schools have to teach RE and it makes sense to teach them around the major celebrations. So Christmas and Easter for Christianity, Divali for Hinduism etc. Or they teach it around visits to religious buildings, like mosques.
But at this time of year it will be Christmas, even in state schools, even in schools where many pupils are from different religions. They will make christmas cards, sing christmas songs, perform nativities, have Christmas parties etc.
You can ask for your child to be removed from acts of worship. But even if you do you can't shelter her from the other children, who are presumably all chatting about their Christmas trees, nativity plays, stockings, visits to santa, handing out cards and after Christmas will be talking about their presents.

yes the name comes from CHRIST - you can not say Christmas isn't Christian ....the clue is in the name see ...you can explain that the date was taken from other festivals that predate Christianity which is correct

I am a humanist but I get pissed of with people saying Christmas isn't Christian - it is

What everyone else said re school's obligations. You are perfectly entitled to remove your child from collective worship of course but I would think very carefully about whether that's really the best thing to do for your DD.

I'm quite surprised that you've got this far into December before this cropped up tbh. And does your school not do a Nativity play?

Oh, and you WILL get the following on this thread:

'We are a christian country', which is kind of true - bishops sit in the house of lords, so people get to make laws based on how good they are at their religion. Which is also a bloody disgrace.

'You need to know bible stories to understand culture'. Yep, and you need classical myths too. Nobody seems to want Zeus teaching as fact in state schools.

'Christmas/Easter/sundays are Christian, if you want a midwinter/spring festival you HAVE to worship a particular god'. This is obviously wrong, if you think about it for even one minute. We did Diwali activities a few months back too.

People just don't seem to question religion, unless (ironically) they are full on believers.

Worship how you like. Bring your children up in your religion. Afford me the same courtesy.

Pretty sure all schools in the UK (not just church schools) are required by law to have one 'act of worship' a day. Unless your DD goes to a school with a very diverse student body, chances are she's been hearing about baby Jesus in some form or other for a while already. Sorry

If you feel that strongly then take your kids of this country

I have to say my DD, 4 in reception, came home talking as if the birth of baby Jesus was a fact and wanting to read the toddler bible at bedtime. I, as an atheist found I felt more strongly about this than I'd expected. I knew they were doing the nativity at school and don't want to withdraw my DD from religious education at school but I didn't like it when faced with the reality. I said to her this is what some people believe and hopefully she'll keep an open mind until she's a bit older and able to make informed decisions...

So YABU as you could reasonably have foreseen this happening but YANBU to not really like it is an pretty much an inevitability in a state school.