DS 7 has been asked to pretend he is in the battle fields and about to go into war and write a letter home to his family for homework

[Lemith]

This terms topic is ww1, but this piece of work really takes the

I don't want my ds to be thinking about what it is like to go into war. This topic is not suitable for someone so young, war is a terrible thing and the people that survived it were mentally and physically scarred for life.

Aibu?

Yabu

Do you let him watch Disney films? Most of the characters seem to have at least one dead parent... Remember Bambi's mother???

I was watching Frozen last week and I realised the bit where their parents die, I don't believe it's ever said they're dead, the music and imagery simply suggest it, im not trying to make a Disney conspiracy theory, just that the movie, aimed at children, assumes they can grasp such concepts from images and suggestion alone. Which they generally do and move on

Ds (7) had to write a poem about Rome.
I steered him to write about being a soldier about to go in battle.
Eek.

I have a 7yo (and have worked for a long time in an industry where we teach the two world wars to school children - that's not relevant to this thread but worth chucking in!) and I can tell you she would be far more distressed at having to imagine being sent away to another part of this country without me. She can comprehend that, battlefields are so far out of her thinking that she wouldn't be able to get her head round it at all and would simply write about the horrible food and missing home. But the idea of being evacuated would terrify her.

As a young child, learning about evacuees unsettled me as I could imagine being sent away from my parents. Learning about the trenches didn't have any emotional impact at all. It was too far from my own experiences to identify with.

It sounds like a brilliant task.

YABU and pfb.
Get a grip!

I thought WWs 1 & 2 were keystage 3 now.

How about ...

The Western Front, 1916.

Dear mother,

I have just come back from 48 hours leave from the front. I spent my time getting roaring drunk on cheap French wine that you could pickle onions with and running amok in Madame Fifi le Bootstrap's knocking shop. Those girls certainty know how to give comfort to the troops (if you know what I'm saying! ) Alas the next morning I awoke with an unfortunate discharge weeping from my personal firearm and shooting pain in my buttock where I'd only gone and got General Kitchiner's face tattooed on my left arse cheek when pissed as a newt. What a silly twat I am!

Your ever loving son,

Pte. Tommy Atkins

YANBU and you don't need to 'get a grip'. Quite frankly it sounds like a ludicrous piece of homework for a 7 year old. Much better for a 14 year old. At 7 most kids have only been writing for two years. How are they supposed to empathise with a soldier of any sort??

FFS - I think a lot of folk on this site need to get a grip -

It sounds like a brilliant task Really?

During the Bosnian war my mum got her class (of similar age) to each write a letter to my friend who was in the army out there. It was mid winter. She had carefully considered and prepped the lesson, with plenty of context and the letters were wonderful. She bound them and sent them to him out in the field and they are still treasured by him nearly 25 years later. The letters covered a wide range of ground from: do you have a cool gun; is it cold; I fell out of a tree yesterday; my sister hits me; my granny gives me sweets; and so on.With illustrations. Yabu.

Millions of boys died just so your PFB could go to school the way he's doing now.

Your sense of entitlement is repulsive. Feel shame, and think again. Make sure the sacrifice of those millions might have been worth it for DS, even if it clearly wasn't for the mother.

It counterbalances all the shoot em up and worse games they will be exposed to.

Yabu. It's not like they expect him to be writing all the horrific gory details in. How on earth do you teach history without ever coming across the concept of death or battle?

Good effort Compost

A* for illustrating the ludicrous nature of the OP's homework!!

I think you should complain. The teacher will be used to it.

Yanbu. It's not an age appropriate topic or piece of homework. Your son is only 7. I would not be happy about this either.

*Millions of boys died just so your PFB could go to school the way he's doing now.

Your sense of entitlement is repulsive. Feel shame, and think again. Make sure the sacrifice of those millions might have been worth it for DS, even if it clearly wasn't for the mother*

OKaaaay - not sure the OP was saying that she was 'entitled' to anything.

To this generation the world wars are historic in the same way as the Spanish Inquisition and the Roman invasion.

My kids (5&8) watch the news at school (childrens version) but this has covered the earthquake in Nepal and the current refugee crisis including images of people on boats. Ds is well versed in history but finds current affairs far more difficult.

YABU.

I took my DSs to Normandy last year. We saw battle sites, memorials and some great museums. They were 7 and 9. The older one adores history and the younger one found it really interesting too. I talk about current affairs to them and certainly DS1 enjoys talking about current wars (maybe not enjoys exactly) ad relating things to WWII. His great great grandfather fought in WWI. I think a dose of reality, age appropriate, is good. We need to appreciate how lucky we are. If George bush had a better appreciation of history and Afghanistan maybe we wouldn't be in this situation with IS now.

How about this one? Real front line letter from a soldier aged 17 in 1915:

Dear Mother
Just a line to let you know that I am quite well. I am for the front on Tuesday. But if you write to the Commanding Officer and say I am only seventeen it will stop me from going. Get it here before Tuesday for I cannot get a pass to come and see you. Don’t forget.
From Stephen

No letter arrived for whatever reason. On May 4 he was mortally wounded, his body being discovered six days later.

timeforabrew yes, it does sound like a brilliant task, hence why I said so.

How is it not an age appropriate topic? War is featured on cbbc newsround ffs. Do none of these kids ever go to a museum? And how do you explain pretty much every other major historical event? Yeah, the Romans said 'we'd kind of like to take over here' inhabitants 'oh ok come on in'.

ds studied WW1 when he was in reception. He had homework writing about life in the trenches and about the Christmas Truce football match. He studied it around Remembrance Sunday so I took him to see the poppies at the Tower of London and we made a papier mache soldiers hat for the display at school. My initial reaction was a little like yours and I was worried about the detail they would go into about the horrors of trench warfare, but as teachers, they know exactly how to make the subject age appropriate whilst at the same time instilling in them a healthy respect for the soldiers that gave their lives for us. In hindsight, I really didn't need to be concerned - they know what they are doing!

I thought the whole point of the new curriculum was that children learnt history in chronological order. Shouldn't a 7 year old be on some kind of roman or celt?

I remember doing that homework when I was 11, seems like something for an older child.