To not want my son’s school to say they have “Santa Cam”

[cattyfranny]

My son is in year 2, today he said someone asked what the red light was on the wall (it’s part of the security system or similar) he told me the teacher’s explanation was that it is a “Santa cam” that he has them everywhere to watch them to make sure they’re being good.

We don’t do elf on the shelf etc and don’t ever suggest he is being watched or checked on by Santa or anyone else for that matter.

He asked me if he was being watched all the time so I told him she was just joking with them.

I don’t really think she should have said it but DH thinks I might be being too sensitive about it and it is just a lighthearted joke.

Would you be annoyed about it or am I overthinking it?

[HighlandPony]

@RedHelenB

No, it's a mumsnet thing like not opening your front door, having a chicken that dies a werks worth of dinners and thinking baby showers are really vulgar.

Not just a mumsnet thing. Folk here are skint. They work fucking hard for the fuck all they’ve got and they don’t want some fat bastard taking all the credit.

Sometimes you just have to say I’m sorry son, Ken you’ve been good but we just can’t afford it.
Santas all well and good before they start the school nursery age three while you can still fob them off with any old shitey toy out poundstretchers or the poundshop or out the knockoff van down the harbour but I don’t know anyone who keeps up the pretence beyond the age of five at the latest when they’re asking for the latest iPhones and Xboxes and Nintendo switches and PlayStations and VR headsets and you’ve got to say no. No one working class does Santa for long. And I mean real working class not my parents were working class but I fucked off to uni

[Threelittlelambs]

Absolutely. Why have fun in school? They should solely be working hard.

I didn’t say they shouldn’t - they just shouldn’t donALL of it so it takes up the majority of November and December.

[Sherrystrull]

@Threelittlelambs

Absolutely. Why have fun in school? They should solely be working hard.

I didn’t say they shouldn’t - they just shouldn’t donALL of it so it takes up the majority of November and December.

No schools spend two months on the build up to Christmas.

[1982mommaof4]

@HighlandPony I know many real working class who keep Santa real for much longer. They have a stocking that Santa fills them the rest are presents from family.

[Threelittlelambs]

Yes they do. If they have an early play around 4th December they start singing practices in November.
A large school lets each year group preform to the rest of the school.

[phoenixrosehere]

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable. The teacher chose to lie about something that wasn’t necessary to lie about and instead of just telling the truth made it about Santa Clause

Saying that, I’m bias due to being sick of being bombarded with sh-t about Christmas in my emails and seeing it all over shops for almost two weeks. I’d tell my child that the teacher wasn’t being serious and what it really was and leave it at that.

[SophieJo]

@misskatamari

Overthinking it. God I’m so glad I left teaching. You can’t say bloody anything anymore without some parents getting annoyed about it 🙄

Totally agree with you.

[Sherrystrull]

@Threelittlelambs

Yes they do. If they have an early play around 4th December they start singing practices in November.
A large school lets each year group preform to the rest of the school.

Yes. They start using music lessons for singing each week. Believe me, I've balanced Christmas productions for my ks1 class for nearly 20 years. It's hugely possible to complete the curriculum and also give the children a magical build up to Christmas. When they are grown up they will remember the discos, productions and craft they made much more so than individual lessons.

[Mrsmch123]

honestly baffles my brain that people won't "allow" Santa to "take the credit" for presents🙈😂

[TheKeatingFive]

Little kids get way too excited over Christmas and schools do add to that - Christmas plays, discos, Santa visits, concerts, carol singing, Christmas dinner, class parties, making decorations and cards, it’s all too much. Very little actual work os done in preparation for Christmas.

It would be better to focus on the curriculum and leave Santa to the parents.

Alright there Gradgrind

[Quincythequince]

You’re not overthinking.
The bloody school should not be saying this.

Such lazy discipline too, pretending Santa is watching or that the police will come if you’re not good. No different to the ‘god is watching you’ crap from zealots that you hear (my neighbours daughter used to say this to my son all the time, she was firmly corrected).

Pathetic. I’d complain.

[DuckBilledFattypus]

I can't see the problem in saying it's a Santa cam to little kids. I like it.

[Sidisawetlettuce]

@Ginflinger

What the teacher said was bullshit and misleading. I don't say bullshit misleading stuff in a professional setting. Why should they?

Oh FFS 🙄

[Quincythequince]

@Sidisawetlettuce

Oh FFS 🙄

What ‘oh FFS’?

Who actually pretends to their kids that some big fat man in a beard is constantly watching them?

Seriously.

It’s weird and bloody lazy discipline.

If it was a joke - fair enough, say it. But to keep this up as an actually thing is morally reprehensible.

[Tadpoll]

@Sherrystrull

@Tadpoll

Teacher says something the parent doesn't agree with and the parent discusses it and then complains. Great.
Welcome to the world of teaching. Please don't wonder why there are no teachers to teach your children.

I’m not sure I’d want the kind of the teachers who are on this thread tbh.

See @mycatisannoying ’s post.

[HighlandPony]

@1982mommaof4

@HighlandPony I know many real working class who keep Santa real for much longer. They have a stocking that Santa fills them the rest are presents from family.

That’s not how it works though is it? Nobody puts in their Santa letter ‘dear Santa I want a tub of slime a pack of haribos and a pack of glitter gel pens’ do they? It’s all smiggle bags and Nintendo switches.

[girlmom21]

@Mrsmch123

honestly baffles my brain that people won't "allow" Santa to "take the credit" for presents🙈😂

Probably the same people who label all men narcs

[Sherrystrull]

@Tadpoll

Why? That's a super lazy insult. You don't want teachers that don't agree with you about everything? I think you need to homeschool.

[SophieJo]

@Tadpoll

I’m not sure I’d want the kind of the teachers who are on this thread tbh.

See @mycatisannoying ’s post.

I’m not sure I’d want the kind of the teachers who are on this thread tbh.

I wonder if this is why so many teachers are leaving with having to put up with parents like this

[hulahooper2]

Your overthinking

[Tadpoll]

@Sherrystrull

@Tadpoll

Why? That's a super lazy insult. You don't want teachers that don't agree with you about everything? I think you need to homeschool.

You clearly don’t think this is a big deal but many parents on this thread do.

This isn’t a case of parents and teachers ‘agreeing’. It’s a case of telling the OP’s kid that Santa is watching them (with the implication that they won’t get any presents if they’re not ‘good’) as a lazy means of discipline when it’s completely unrelated to the task in hand (teaching).

It’s mean and scary and has implications for ND children, which has been pointed out more than once on this thread.

If you think that’s the same as a simple difference of opinion then I despair.

[Tadpoll]

I wonder if this is why so many teachers are leaving with having to put up with parents like this

Really??

[balalake]

I don't think the school should be saying this myself. Any child with a mischievous sense will think Santa is on holiday in January, and then they can misbehave with a degree of impunity.

[Sherrystrull]

It is a difference in opinion. I don't agree with you that's it's a big deal. I agree with a previous poster who suggested the children would have forgotten it after a short while. Teachers deal with vastly differing viewpoints all the time and cannot please everyone. The amount of time we spend trying to please everyone is draining.

[DuckBilledFattypus]

@Tadpoll

You clearly don’t think this is a big deal but many parents on this thread do.

This isn’t a case of parents and teachers ‘agreeing’. It’s a case of telling the OP’s kid that Santa is watching them (with the implication that they won’t get any presents if they’re not ‘good’) as a lazy means of discipline when it’s completely unrelated to the task in hand (teaching).

It’s mean and scary and has implications for ND children, which has been pointed out more than once on this thread.

If you think that’s the same as a simple difference of opinion then I despair.

They're being watched anyway. And presumably if they misbehave they will be punished. Don't you think that's mean and scary?