To not want royal wedding fever forced on my DC

[rosybell]

So my DD is in reception. They are having a royal wedding party at school today. Whilst I think this is fine I hate that they have been told to bring clothes to change into- a dress or a shirt (this is what the info given to parents said). Of course most girls have taken princess dresses. I have now seen photos from the party showing the children in boy girl pairs walking down an red carpet 'aisle'

I'm all for imaginative play but some of these kids looked bewildered. AIBU to complain to the school? There is something that really doesn't feel right about it - maybe because it seems like it more for the adults than the kids let alone all the princess pressure the girls must feel.

metoodear deny my child an education? What are you on about? It’s one day of kindergarten/reception, a chunk of which has been devoted to this shite. I’d say I’m enhancing her education by keeping her away.

flatwhite32 holy cow, that’s some ego you have there! First: teachers aren’t teaching as a favour. It’s a job, they’re paid. In the uk they’re not paid enough - different question. Second, I don’t live in the uk, and my kids go to a school where this kind of batshit, ill thought through, exclusionary nonsense would never happen. I wonder if many schools in ethnically diverse communities like Tower Hamlets or in Bradford did this. Third, I said I would keep my child home so as not to spoil the fun for other kids. Wtf do you mean I can’t cope with other points of view? What hassle democracy got to do with anything? Fourth, yes these are my views and my child is MINE and my responsibility. The school is just a school, a place she passes through for a (hopefully) small part of her life. It’s a hugely important time and place, and so we chose our school carefully. If it had a whiff of your kind of attitude we would have been out of there like a shot.

I get that teachers in the public sector are over worked, under paid and under appreciated. It’s an appalling situation which has to be fixed or there will be long term repercussions, for children and for the teaching profession. But, there are shit teachers and excellent teachers, shit schools and excellent schools. I too live in a democracy (apparently - albeit one that voted for Donald Trump), and exercised my right to educate as I saw fit for my family. Never once did I come across an attitude like yours: the school has a right to decide what it does, you and your child need to respect that (I can’t actually believe any teacher or school administrator would think such a thing!). If it weren’t for the children and their parents, the school wouldn’t exist! Your job is to teach the children, my job isn’t to provide you with a child to teach!

To quote one amazing teacher I had in the UK many years ago, “I don’t appreciate your tone, flatwhite “.

HariboIsMyCrack

Do you not like having your opinions challenged? You’re incredibly defensive!

Whilst you are perfectly entitled to your own ideas and opinions, and indeed don’t have to justify them to anyone as this is a public chat forum then I thought it might be interesting to ask you why you feel the way you do-
You have such strong feelings about the flag and it’s negative associations, but I found it quite interesting that you say your relatives lived in NI so I assume you didn’t/don’t, so do you think you are negative about the UK flag because of your own experience or because of social conditioning?

Also, do you have the same negative associations with the Irish flag?

If you don’t wish to engage fair enough.

ikeepaforkinmypurse see above reply to flatwhite.

Something comes over people in the UK when it comes to royal drama like weddings and funerals. It’s completely baffling. Anyone would think people are bored....

I feel sorry for the teachers. Trying to do something nice and fun with the children and one parent has to take offence. I couldn’t care less about the Royal wedding but my children’s school celebrated by having a special lunch with flags etc. My children enjoyed it.

@plumsofwrath a lot of school do celebrate elections - pitched at their level. Our school certainly had children voting for things and made a lot of fun out of it.

Walking down the aisle sounds a bit naff, but how much can you really do with a bunch of 4-5 year olds?

Don't complain. Save your complaints for things that really matter. If something happens that you do have cause to complain about, you don't want the teaching staff to be like "Oh, is that the Mum who complained about the wedding tea party? Okaaaay, what is it this time?"

My youngest was in Reception when William and Kate married. He was very meh about it (like me) but enjoyed eating outdoors. Luckily it's just one day so I told him to suck it up because it would be back to the normal topic the next day.

This event will be part of history and it's one of those times where people will recount memories of the day. When Diana and Charles married, we watched it at school on TV and I remember someone wetting themselves just as she arrived at the Abbey.

Well said ferrier

plumsofwrath

Have you read your posts back to yourself? You sound like an extremist- especially where you talk about the School undoing all your hard work, think long and hard if you want your child to think exactly like you do, or if you want them to grow up with good critical thinking and reasoning skills?

Also I’m afraid I had to address thIs

the school has a right to decide what it does, you and your child need to respect that

You think that is somehow wrong? That is exactly how schools operate! You will have signed a Home/school agreement at some point and part of it will be your own agreement to commit to the values and ethos of the school and follow School policies etc. If you don’t like the way the school operates you don’t in any way have the right to demand it changes, and I’m surprised you think you do!

Just to warn you but the schools that my children went to celebrated the Commonwealth Games, Sport Relief, comic Relief, the World Cup, the summer Olympics....

For any teachers reading- thanks for all your hard work. DDs school did a party which I went along to help out with and it was amazing. Kids had an awesome time.

I think plumsofwrath is already that mum I am afraid

Ah ! Thank you, @cariadlet. Genuine lesson there Thanks for the informative reply. I was about to give up and Google it!

DesignedForLife Quite right thanks my dd had a awesome time she still wearing her crown and enjoyed the sandwich’s ham and cumcmber they made as a class today

Plumsofwrath
I am totally anti-royalist and anti-monarchist, but it would be stupid of me to deny they exist and there's a royal wedding going on. Celebrating a national event for my kids doesn't stop us from showing them how wrong the whole concept is, and make them think why should George or Charlotte be more special than any of their other friends.

We live in the UK, the school celebrate current events, and that's a good thing. My kids don't believe in religion either, but also celebrate Diwali, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Rosh Hashanah at school. They could also celebrate Halloween frankly.

@designedforlife Thanks (teacher here but secondary) but we know the minority will always have something to say, it's really just a fun opportunity to talk about sovereignty/relationships/enjoy the spirit of things - no one is trying to indoctrinate your children. Current affairs are lesson fodder all year but I agree that this kind of thing gets parents backs up - we did similar (watered down and only in a historical sense) and had to send out a permission slip as the head got so much flack with William and Kate a few years ago. It goes without saying that you can educate your children in the manner you best see fit any time during the school year and it's just a bit of topical fun.

the school has a right to decide what it does

Exactly @Plumsofwrath, so why are you so incredulous about the royal celebrations?

The royal celebrations at the school, I mean.

Thank you @DesignedForLife In a curriculum full of pressure (thanks Michael Gove for your 'legacy' ), it really is nice for the children just to enjoy themselves and do something completely different for a change. We don't do it enough!

No don’t complain

You'll definitely be 'that' parent if you complain. This is the kind of things teachers are always up against. They probably thought it was a fun way to learn about weddings and the royal family. What's the harm? There's surely bigger things to worry about than that??

Some people are bloody nuts!!! So nobody should have fun and celebrate anything because it offends your nutcase views, if you were that bothered you could have taken your poor kid out of class for this afternoon, Jesus it must be a barrel of laughs at your house!!!

Build a bridge and get over it OP. I'm not a royalist but it's a bit of fun for the kids 🙄 or you could always go complain. Will definitely give the teachers something to laugh at during lunch.

There's some miserable twats about.. Complaining over a children's party? Theh had a Royal Wedding party at school today here too and you could take flags.
It's a bit of fun for them.