Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To speak to the school?

1002 replies

Orchwoid · 17/09/2013 17:47

I've just been to collect my son from his school and he's told me that he won't be cast in his school Christmas play but all the other children will.

I am fumming. I am going to go and speak to his teacher first thing tomorrow morning but I am so angry that I can't work out whether I'm being reasonable or not.

OP posts:
DropYourSword · 19/09/2013 12:11

Lol at someone's comment that the nativity is factually incorrect.

Shit, I thought it was a documentary!

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 19/09/2013 12:12

Dobbiesmum - are you saying that the school should be trying to change the OP's mind, and the minds of other parents who, for their own personal and religious reasons, choose to withdraw their children from RE and from assemblies etc at school? I think you are right to say that it is good for children to be exposed to, and learn about all faiths, but if the parents have explicitly instructed that their child should not do this, isn't it disrespectful of the school to try to talk them into changing their sincerely held views?

filee777 · 19/09/2013 12:16

Paganism than some realise.

The school should have dealt with it differently and allowed the child to be a part of the celebration, albeit in a non religious way. As we've established there are plenty of non-religious bits to Christmas and to the nativity that he could have been involved in, with the blessing of the parents of course.

merrymouse · 19/09/2013 12:16

I think this is the kind if misunderstanding that Jesus would have handled really well.

Dobbiesmum · 19/09/2013 12:19

Sorry no that's not what I meant at all.
It was partly in answer to Filee saying that the teachers should be helping the child feel involved at school. My argument is that it's also up to the parent. I personally see no harm in allowing a child to attend assemblies or be in Nativity plays if that means that they are included fully in school life and avoiding the possibility that the child feels singled out in any way. I certainly don't mean that teachers should be influencing a child's beliefs, I just think that taking them out of assembly is giving too much credit to the possibility that a child maybe influenced by a short prayer.

cjel · 19/09/2013 12:20

THE nativity is the birth of Jesus, start of christianity. story is from bible christian book. Not Pagan if pagans can identify with it then thats good but it is christian.

filee777 · 19/09/2013 12:22

The holly and the ivy? The stars? The kings? The angel?

Allll pagan and the very act of performing a play is pagan too.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 19/09/2013 12:23

Filee - given that the OP does not want her child involved in anything religious, I am genuinely struggling to see how he could have been involved - taking into consideration the fact that she clearly wants him on stage, not involved behind the scenes.

Tbh, I don't think she knows what she wants the school to do, so I don't blame the school for struggling to work it out.

filee777 · 19/09/2013 12:24

She wants her son to have a non-religious role in the Christmas celebrations, something that is not uncommon or hard to achieve.

DropYourSword · 19/09/2013 12:25

Why are yyou arguing black is white *FFilee?

This is specifically about the nativity, not just winter festival celebrations which the child wouldn't be excluded from because his mum seems to be a little bit loopy

Dobbiesmum · 19/09/2013 12:25

For some reason the Lobster in Love Actually springs to mind...

YouTheCat · 19/09/2013 12:26

OP's ds could play the part of Brian's mum. I like the bit where she falls off the stool backwards when the 3 wise men turn up. Grin

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 19/09/2013 12:26

Yes. I know that is what she wants. We all know that is what she wants. What we are struggling with is how the school is supposed to achieve this without her son being exposed to the Christmas story - which is what the Nativity play is, like it or not.

Is he supposed to be blindfolded and wear earplugs, and just be brought on to say a line or two, and then whisked away again?

treaclesoda · 19/09/2013 12:27

Holly and ivy might be pagan. But the star, the wise men etc are straight from the bible, so are very clearly related to the Christian story of, well, Christmas!

Sirzy · 19/09/2013 12:27

You can not have a non religious role in a nativity play. Not unless the child is going to be sat with headphones on so they can't hear any of the story itself!

treaclesoda · 19/09/2013 12:27

And angels. You tend to find those in the bible too.

filee777 · 19/09/2013 12:30

The bible was written in line with pre-existing stories.

This is the sort of stuff they should teach at school it would save a lot of confusion

Something being 'in the bible' doesn't stop it being pagan.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 19/09/2013 12:30

I cannot think of a single part in the Nativity play that is not centred around the announcing of, the actual circumstances of, or the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Whether any of those parts are pagan in origin (as you say the angel is), or whether the specific part is not a Christian role (frankly, no-one involved at the time was a Christian, as the religion hadn't been founded at that point - I assume they were Jewish, Muslim and maybe other faiths [the Kings]), the whole Nativity play is pretty Christ-centric.

And even if the OP's ds is a star or an ivy leaf, he is still going to be immersed in the Christmas story - which would seem to me to go against the OP's stated wishes.

merrymouse · 19/09/2013 12:33

I wouldn't dispute that most religious stories echo stories from other eras and many/most can be stood allegorically. However, if you are ok with the nativity because of this, then I can't see why you wouldn't also be ok with assemblies and other bits of religion as taught to primary school children.

If you were, I would have a hard time second guessing which bits would or wouldn't be acceptable. Really, it would would be a good idea if we had a nice pleasant non confrontational chat about it.

merrymouse · 19/09/2013 12:33

Understood allegorically

treaclesoda · 19/09/2013 12:34

but that's your view, Christians would disagree with that view, believing that the bible was written as a direct communication from God.

You can disagree, you can believe its wrong, but since Christianity is inextricably linked with Christmas, Christians are also entitled to their view on the matter.

filee777 · 19/09/2013 12:35

Exactly mouse second-guessing which bits someone might be comfortable with is silly. Have a chat and work it out.

YouTheCat · 19/09/2013 12:37

It's September.

I doubt very much that there has been any planning done with regards to the Nativity play yet.

merrymouse · 19/09/2013 12:38

And to be completely honest, if I were a teacher with 29 other children in the class, all no doubt with their own problems, it might be a good idea if you took it upon yourself to make sure that chat happened, just as with any other issue.

Boaty · 19/09/2013 12:38

More to the point...Where is the OP????????????? We want to know what the school have said today!!!!!!!!!!! Grin or maybe Louise buried her under the block paving

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In
This thread is not accepting new messages.
Swipe left for the next trending thread