To think this is an inappropriate topic for a Y1 assembly?

[GirlInTheDirtyShirt]

Honestly willing to be told I’m being unreasonable here. DD5 came home from school today talking about a little girl who had a bomb fall on her and then got very sick and to get better she tried to make 1,000 paper cranes but only managed 644 before she died. Google tells me it’s the story of Sadako, a girl who died as a result of Hiroshima. I’ve found the assembly resource here: peace-education.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Script-8-NM.pdf and showed the picture to DD and she’s confirmed this is it. The thing is, I now have a very anxious and worried DD who thinks bombs will fall on her. AIBU to think this isn’t an appropriate assembly topic to gove to five year olds?

How about "the world around you can be shit/tough/unpleasent, but whatever you are faced with, you can do so with hope, courage and grace."
Yes, there are other stories that could be used, but this is one widely associated with 21 Sept.

Personally my 2 primary kids have seen the loss of 2 grandparents, their uncle, and the youngests classmate died from leukaemia this school year. Death is reality.

Fucking hell id be furious about this. Five years old? Stories about nuclear blasts inducing cancer in young children. Young children dying? Wtaf? Most five year olds have no real understanding of death and hopefully no idea about the evil that is cancer. Now in one fell swoop a 5 year old is going to be asking questions about death, nuclear war, children dying and cancer. Well done all the right on parents thinking this is fine but I’d like my child to learn about these things much later in life if possible. This story is more suited to 10 year olds

It's about Sadako who was born AFTER the Hiroshima Atom bomb, and became ill years later - as did thousands of people, due to the lingering radiation. It's a story of hope for peace. The type of bomb that caused people to become sick (and killed thousands in the moment it was dropped) has never been dropped again, and the goal is for it never to happen again. Each year thousands of Japanese school children of all ages fold paper cranes as a sort of prayer for peace.
I think you can help educate your child with this message. The message is about treating each other peacefully and kindly. It's a shame she didn't leave the school day with that message but it certainly can be reinforced by you.

That is disgusting, can our children not remain innocent and 'blind' till at least I don't know 7?

bitoffun exactly; Christian Doctrine goes into the details quite early on of subjects like Christ death & torture, & many gruesome parts of the Old Testament as well, if you examine the old versions of fairy stories & folk stories - You can tell your dc that this happened in 1945 & no atomic bombs have been used against people since. (You don't have to frighten her with the risks) They wont go into much detail - you can go and ask the teacher (always a good idea) how this is being approached & how much detail it is going into & what they would recommend for you to support this.

@IslandG1rl actually, the resource says: “Sadako Sasaki was only two years old when the bomb was dropped on 6 August near her home by Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima, Japan. Sadako was blown out of the window and her mother ran out to find her, suspecting she might be dead, but she found her daughter alive. Whilst Sadako, her parents and her brother escaped to safety, lots of other people were killed. Nearly the whole city was destroyed in seconds.” A bit different from “getting sick from lingering radiation years afterwards”

DS has been fascinated by war since the age of 4 when we went to a living museum and there happened to be a 1940s day on.

He was at the tail end of y1 when we ended up having a very lengthy discussion about how WW2 started... so we ended up having to go back to the empires and countries falling out and siding with their friends, then Germany feeling badly treated after WW1 and Hitler promising Germany a return to glory and claiming back/ invading other countries, and war breaking out etc etc. He knows the headlines of the war ending with massive bombs that could destroy cities.

We were recently in DGGM's home town and stayed on the same street where a bomb flattened a hotel being used by American/ Canadian servicemen. DGGM only survived unscathed because her aunt fled in the right direction at the air raid siren. The block was flattened. That's about as close and personal as a 21st Century child will get to an experience of WW2 life.

He regularly asks about what is happening in Syria; it's struck a chord with him that it started when he was born and shows no sign of ending.

There is a difference in that it's his interest and he feeds it, but if we try to completely shelter young children from unpleasant facts, we do them a disservice.

I agree, @AnotherPidgey, and I don’t want to shield DD unnecessarily - I just question the wisdom of telling such a graphic and harrowing story as this one to a five year old. I’m not sure it’s achieved the desired outcome - it’s just been a bit like telling her a horror story.

Yep, my eldest dc was introduced to the concept of death aged 4 by the Christian book her gran gave her about the Easter story, which is pretty gruesome when you think about it. Did lead to a little bit of confusion regarding what we do with dead people nowadays- she thought the ceremonial crosses outside churches were actually for people . I was a bit horrified at the time but it actually helped when I needed to explain the death of a close family member.

Most children will have an elderly relative die of cancer before they reach the age of 10, and if not they’ll have heard about it from friends who have. There’s only so much you can shelter them from tbh.

Isn’t there a difference between granny dying of old age and massacre at a huge scale, though? One is a natural part of life and the other is violent and evil.

Call me old-fashioned (and I am old) but I think that's highly inappropriate for children of that age. They can barely understand what war actually means.

My DD was 6 years old when the Falkland Islands business was going on. We mostly managed to keep that away from her, but there were a couple of times we didn't manage to get to the sitting room in time to switch off the TV when the 6 o'clock news headlines came on. All she knew was that we were interested in the Falkland Islands.

A presentation that centres a child in the narrative, however, is a very different thing. That's something a 5 or 6 year old can relate to. Indeed, a lot of children's fiction invites children to identify with the child in the story. But not a story that ends ...and then she died.

There are plenty of other ways to commemorate Peace Day that are more suitable for such young children.

Yes every Christian school in the country will teach the Easter story from reception, which is quite gruesome if taken out of the Christian context. Children cope.

The story of Sadako is a very famous one. I came across it, however, in the English textbook that I use to teach Year 8! Yep, 12-13-year-olds. So not sure I would have used it with 5-year-olds and don't think YABU to have a discussion about this with the class teacher. (NB I say discussion...not complaint.)

Was this an assembly rather than a lesson ? If an assembly then it will probably not have been the class teacher but the Head or Deputy who delivered this.
NB: We do this story with Year 8 and then attempt to make the paper cranes.

Its not as bad as teaching young children that a 'god' decided to kill all but 8 human beings on the entire planet. Its funny how some genocides are more acceptable to teach children, than others.

Yikes, considering how upset DD was by the 'miscarriage of justice' in Paddington 2 (but WHY didn't they let him out of prison when they knew he hadn't done it? Do they feed you in prison? Do children go to prison etc etc, again and again for about a fortnight), I say YANBU and this sounds age-inappropriate. There must be loads of ways to cover 'peace' effectively in an assembly for 5 year olds that are not this particular story.

I have done a lesson on 'forgiveness and reconciliation' with older students (year 10 or 11 I think) using the photo of the Queen shaking Martin McGuinness's hand. I think DD (aged 5) would understand the question: "why would you shake the hand of someone who killed your cousin" and be able to discuss it. She knows who the Queen is, what a cousin is and would understand the concept of forgiving someone who has done something bad, to an extent at least.

My grandfather used to tell my mum off because she would let me watch the news and read with me from the newspaper from a young age and would explain things to me in a child friendly but honest way. I now do a job that would be very difficult for some, but have the coping skills and emotional resilience to do it, enjoy it and help support people who need it. Sheltering children doesn't protect them it just blinkers them. I have several adult cousins who won't even leave the news on 'too upsetting' , their world is very small and their general knowledge and understanding of the world is very limited. Try and find the lesson around peace in this for your daughter.

I have a 5yo and I think it is ok. Plenty of tricky subject have come up that I've had to try to talk about in an age appropriate way from the news or hearing adult conversations - racism, terrorism, fgm are some I remember.

I remember being told that story in school as well. May have been a bit older to remember it though. Not sure if it was inappropriate or not - I'd say as long as it was done in an age appropriate way it was ok.

I don't think there's anything wrong with children hearing stories like this, if, and it's a big if, it's done in the right way. A head teacher or visitor may not necessarily deliver the message of the story in the same way a Y1 class teacher might unfortunately.

To all the people asking that we preserve our children's ignorance about difficult subjects for as long as possible, I understand, but I hope you can see how very lucky you are to be in a position where your young child knows nothing of illness or death. There are plenty of small children dealing with sickness or death amongst their parents, siblings or other close relatives, just amongst those fortunate enough to be born in a western peaceful country, never mind the rest.

I’m wondering what wasn’t the point if the exercise and what was the message the children were supposed to take back home.
From the OP, not a lot bar a simple story that didnt teach her a lot but managed to upset her.

From the document where this was taken from
Some students might find that story upsetting and will need some sensitive follow up
From that, I wouod say that you shouod talk to the teacher OP and let her know.

Also the aim of the activity is
to explore the human cost of war and see how children can work together for leace
From the reaction of your dd, this aim hasn’t been attain. She hasn’t learnt what the story was about and especially not the positive side of it.
A PP mentioned how having the news etc... explained to her a child sensitive way helped her developing resilience skills. It looks like this story has had the opposite effect to the OPs dd, I wouod say because it hasn’t been explained in a way that made sense to her
(fwiw I would struggle myself to see the positive side when most of the story is about the girl dying and been unable to fold enough cranes to get her wish. If most the time had been spending explaining whatbthe children had done AFTER her death so that she wasn’t forgotten, people would learn about the horror of war etc... so it doesn’t happen again, it wouod have been different)

I wouod have word. I’m not sure the issue is that it’s nit age appropriate. More Thant it wasn’t presented the right way and te teacher didn’t do the Right follow up afterwards.

Much too young for that type of thing.

Of course one day they need to know about this stuff. But first teach them about co-operation, working together, resolving conflict, valuing others, lead by example of what we want to find in the next generation. Not scaring them with tales of how previous generations have fucked up.

Maybe the people getting the education of this kind should be the adult politicians who still make crap decisions.

Crazy IMO. More sensitive children could easily be having nightmares.

Surely such a story needs to be told in the context of war and its aftermath, and I don't see how your average 5 year old can be ready to have any real understanding of the issues.

Time enough for this sort of thing when they're quite a bit older.

Knowledge and education does not kill innocence Ilooovechristmas. You are getting confused with ignorance, and that just makes children even more vulnerable.

DelilahandDaisy "Knowledge and education does not kill innocence"

I disagree.

Knowledge doesn't stop people being innocent but it does enlighten children to what a truly appalling place this world can be. Unnecessarily so, in my mind.

We purposely do not tell children full facts about alarming things, like murder, rape, war, medical illnesses or mental health etc, etc.

We can still give them information to keep them safe, but we do not go into details about many topics. If we do we might kill off some of the joy of life very early in some.

If you do not understand this you do not understand anxiety and how it works in adults, children and teens.

It's not a choice of absolute ignorance or no holes barred.