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.

NoMudNoLotus totally agree.

There is so much shit going on in the world it's nice to make a big deal out of the good things.

Bewildered kids? I don't think so. Kids having fun and getting excited over a bit of history in the making? Yes most likely.

I cannot think why this would be perceived as wrong? My DD did not wear a princess dress, she wore red, white and blue. She is not that fussed about the royals but wants to watch the wedding tomorrow as it is an interesting situation. It has stimulated a few conversations and that can't be bad.

Well there won’t be another Royal Wedding for at least 20 years so you don’t need to worry anymore.

Ugh.

Esoteric symbolism? That sounds interesting.......I guess nothing that can be found on youTube by a layperson then.

Reception children having a day of fun; something out of the ordinary, organised by their teachers in order for them to be happy. I wouldn't put up with it. What an outrage. I think you should DEFINITELY complain! (And then spend the rest of the YEARS your child is at school cringing about making a fuss of a one-off event in their very first year of school!)

Every year the reception class in DS's old Primary School have a day where they pretend to have a wedding. I assume it fits in somewhere in the curriculum. On other days they also look at other cultural celebrations. I assume many schools are like this and probably tied in learning about weddings to coincide with the Royal Wedding.

Wow haribo, I'm sure your child along with most of the children in the school had a lovely time, there's always someone that has to be negative.
I should imagine whoever you complained to thought you were being unreasonable as a lot of people on here do.
I don't understand people like you, it was just a bit of fun that most schools up and down the country were taking part in.
When my son was in nursery there was one woman who complained about Halloween decorations and activities all because she was religious, she actually expected the nursery to take down all the decorations all because she was a religious nut and she really was a nut, her poor son missed out on lots of things because she didn't deem them appropriate.
At the end of the day it's one day of fun which I would think was welcome after the stress of SATS. You should lighten up a bit!

If all of those who feel so strongly that a national event which includes a bit of pomp and circumstance, means that you don't want to recognise part of our national heritage then homeschool your kids. Choose your own curriculum, turn off the tv and make independent choices.

I'm not even a fan of the royals but I know that billions will be paid in advertising placement alone for this weekend. Which benefits the country as a whole. All Because two people are getting married. Like it or not, the royal family generates an income. For the bloody country we are living in. So either turn off, keep your kid home, or homeschool if you're really that offended.

Personally I'm more worried about yet another school shooting in Texas where parents actually have something really awful to deal with.

Continually weirded out by British schools' OBSESSION with dressing up.

Seriously. Schools are supposed to be about education. I can see the point in an occasional dressing up thing for recreating a Victorian classroom etc. Other that that kind of thing, I'm just not seeing any educational point or purpose to these days, and if it doesn't serve any educational point or purpose then what is the justification for a) making extra work for parents b) getting the kids distracted and hyped up?

Ok.@Kokeshi123 not sure where you are in the world, but there is a massive amount in education that isn't about reading a book or writing something down.

Learning (and therefore education) comes from numerous angles and to assume there is only one way to learn or 'be educated' is extremely retrogressive.

I totally agree, but it's not a binary choice between book-learning vs princess dresses.

Things like nature walks/forest school, days-out to science museums or historical places, cooking, learning a craft, or just having a fantastic story read to them from a teacher are all examples of things which are very educational for children without being book-learning in the narrow sense.

They learn literally nothing from most of the dress up days. Nothing. "Tomorrow, the theme is China. Please put on a Chinese costume" that kind of thing. Yes, I've seen examples as silly as that. The children learn nothing and in fact just get daft misconceptions reinforcedlike, they are missing out an opportunity to learn that people in China don't actually dress like this and so on.

Digging the usual tired princess dress out of a cupboard and then eating jam sandwiches around a table does not teach them anything about the royal family, or anything about anything.

I work so hard as a teacher (50-60 hour weeks, and I'll be working both days this weekend). I find posts like this utterly soul destroying . I actually taught my Y5 class yesterday about democracy (it's one of the 'official' British values) and we had a really long discussion about it. There was a lot of learning going on. Yes, maybe they didn't learn anything in the hour they were sat outside in the sunshine eating a scone, but they really enjoyed it after me teaching them complex sentences, modal verbs, fractions, decimals and inferential reading questions all week. Our children are under huge amounts of pressure, day in, day out. It's a horrible reality driven by a government obsession for targets (sadly your children are numbers on a spreadsheet to the government and Ofsted). Schools are sadly measured by these results, and the children (and staff!) are worked extremely hard. Our pay is performance related, regardless of children's backgrounds, and the curriculum has become really difficult, further excluding those with SEN and those who struggle academically. Just look up an example of a past SATs paper to see how difficult the primary curriculum has become. Meanwhile, the government has slashed funding, so much so that many teachers find themselves having to do their best with very few resources. This is not a 'woe is me' post, but it's the reality your children are faced with every day at schools, many of which are trying their hardest to provide for your children in tricky circumstances. Surely you can't begrudge any school half a day off the curriculum, even if you don't agree with it. If you do, remove your child from the school or go elsewhere.

You will literally look like a tit if you complain

I’m sorry if I sound awful but I would be questioning your emotional resilience if posts like this are “soul destroying.”

Soul destroying is walking in a room and finding your son twitching and jerking from a hangman’s noose he made from your dead fathers ties, not some people expressing some mild objections to a party.

Yes, maybe they didn't learn anything in the hour they were sat outside in the sunshine eating a scone

Wrong! They were learning to relax and take time out, they learnt that school can be a fun place to be, it will cement their understanding of the way the British sustem works. They learn that if you work hard there's a reward. They'll learn that life isn't about them and their bubble but the world is a big place full of interesting people.

We don't all feel the same. -local schools here did nothing - shame really

I see kids being married off in the cathedral I was visiting yesterday. That was odd. They had mothers of the bride and fathers and everything!

The mind boggles.

I guarantee you that if nothing had been done or said there would be many more parents complaining.
Schools can’t do right for doing wrong.

I’m sorry if I sound awful but I would be questioning your emotional resilience if posts like this are “soul destroying

Apologies if that caused offence. I should have used the word frustrating. I didn't mean soul destroying on such a deep level.

Wrong! They were learning to relax and take time out, they learnt that school can be a fun place to be

Thank you @GreenTulips! You're right!

Walking down the aisle in boy/girl pairs is a bit odd in 2018.

More interesting to learn about the castle or decorating a cake or hear some stories about kings and queens.

@Flatwhite32 Thankyou for that. I know how hard teachers work, and honestly it does piss me off when people belittle their efforts.

As you describe it, it sounds really naff - and sends out some crap messages about marriage. Weddings are not parties with a red carpet. Brides are not princesses in a fairy tale. Not all couples are heterosexual.
However, I imagine the school have actually used it as an opportunity to educate the children about the solemnity of marriage, but in a "fun" way, appropriate for their age.

My DD loved all things princess in year R. They do a banquet at school whilst learning about castles.
By year 2, she had gone off Elsa (oh no, not ANOTHER Frozen birthday party mummy).
By year 3, she wanted army trousers. She got them.
By year 4, got her to think about alternative endings to fairy tales.
Now year 5, mix of practical wear and a bit of glam (urgh, not make-up though mummy!).
I have a girl who knows what she wants to wear.

We did this for Charles and Diana wedding, I was four, and 35 years on I still remember it as a lovely day