To think that a RECEPTION teacher shouldn't have said this ???

[AutumnalPumpkin]

My daughter goes to a catholic school (it was the only school available to us) we are not a religious family, but it does not bother me that she is being immersed in religion. After all, she will only make her own mind up later in life anyway. But this is relevant.
They use god in almost every part of the day, and in all aspects of learning.
As those who are not religious will know, we and a lot of others view god as "made up" or a myth, if you will.
Now this brings me to where I have a problem - her reception teacher has picked up on some of the class talking about unicorns. A typical 4/5 year old thing... and has proceeded to tell them that Unicorns, fairies and dragons etc are all made up, and do not exist.
This is absolute insanity to me!!? They are 4/5 and all have wonderful vivid imaginations.
We regularly take my daughter to "the fairy forest" and she immerses herself into it and tries to find clues to where the fairies could be hiding, and loves to think that at nighttime all of the magical creatures come out to play.
She's now come home saying that it's all untrue and they are made up.
I'm actually really upset about this.
How can you push the belief of god, and they go all out for Santa etc. but actively shut down the belief of magical creatures ??

I agree with a lot of what you say, and I agree with the insanity of trying to keep children believing in father Christmas, but I disagree that it is common outside of Mumsnet.

I have literally never met a single child over the age of 3 who "believes" in Father Christmas, rather than just enjoys the game with their parents, knowing full well it is just pretend

That's similar to my experience. Most people seem to say their children ask questions by 5 or 6, and often there's been some thought about it before the questions get asked. They often play along with it and choose to suspend disbelief because it's fun. It's a healthy approach.

Since being on Mumsnet I've found myself thinking a lot of the Santa/elf/unicorns/fairies as literally real says more about the adults than it does children. Children are more than capable of creating amazing imaginative worlds to play in. It's adults, who lack imagination, who are worried that the magic is ruined.

Some of us have no choice. Our local school is COE. It is the only school for miles!

Agree.

The angst about Santa on here and the supposed ‘magic’ it brings to children to think he’s real is strange. It must take some effort to keep a child believing in Santa past 3.

3? I've never met a child under 5 or 6 that questioned Santa's existence. Some 3 year olds live entirely in a fantasy world, they think they are batman or a princess etc, most couldn't process the idea of some things being make belief while others are real. I work with that age group. But I agree that when they start asking questions it is more the parents response that keeps Santa going.

Only yesterday my friend told me that her child in secondary school, turning 13 in a few weeks just found out about Santa and is devastated. I thought this was worrying to be honest

Do you only work with kids from white backgrounds who celebrate Christmas and have a shared belief in who brings the presents, though? DS was in a very multi-cultural preschool and later school, with kids from backgrounds who didn’t celebrate Christmas, or from cultures that did but had completely different beliefs about who brings the presents and when, so he was very much a relativist already at 3 ish. I don’t think he ever thought of Santa Claus as literally real, but more like figures like Woody and Buzz, or the Paw Patrol dogs.

My DD used to be TA in reception class supporting a little girl with additional needs 1:1. They were colouring pictures of dragons and the little girl got told by the teacher quite sharply "there's no such thing as purple dragons" and she should be colouring it in green. 👀

Yes, thats true. There is a mix of race/ethnicity but predominantly Christian. The non Christian families seem to be really positive about Christmas celebrations too for the kids sake though but I don't know how far that extends outside the preschool. We don't promote talk of Santa though or baby Jesus, we let the children guide us on that.

It's not about lacking imagination. I think that is rude. It is just that my first reaction is that the teacher shouldn't have said that. She has chosen to work with young children. It's strange

Absolutely ridiculous, as are most of the responses on here! Of course your child should be able to enjoy the fantasy of unicorns! Much better than the fantasy that comes contraception is a sin and other such crap.

As a reception teacher, I actually think it's is healthy for young children to learn about mythical creatures as exactly what they are - mythical.

It encourages them to use their OWN imaginations once they realise that these amazing beings are something someone has dreamt up and created with their own mind. It fosters creativity and curiosity (something that is becoming increasingly lacking in young children) and is not at all damaging. The opposite, in fact.

We have fun in my class all the time, thinking of new and different imaginary creatures with their own special powers and traits. It's healthy, fun and creative. Being told unicorns and fairies aren't real isn't damaging to children, it creates healthy curiosity and encourages them to use their own imagination. It's really not an issue at all!

@pieintheski

'I have literally never met a single child over the age of 3 who "believes" in Father Christmas, rather than just enjoys the game with their parents, knowing full well it is just pretend.'

That's horrifying. I don't know where you're getting your beliefs about small children from but I hope you're not implementing them in real life by telling 4 year olds about Santa.

It’s this kind of post which reinforces the obvious — that the virtual hysteria some posters exhibit about belief in FC is absolutely to do with unacknowledged adult feelings and projections about ‘childhood innocence’, ‘the magic of Christmas’ etc.

I do find myself wondering, given the high proportion of Mners who struggle with friendships and/or have distant or no relationships with family, if there’s a correlation with an unusually strong need to reinforce their children’s belief in FC, in an attempt to make up for the absence of the kind of ‘happy family and friends Christmas’ of tv ads.

It's not about lacking imagination. I think that is rude. It is just that my first reaction is that the teacher shouldn't have said that. She has chosen to work with young children. It's strange
It's strange that someone working with children might, in the context of a discussion about mythical creatures, say that mythical creatures are... Mythical?
🙄

Your child can have as much imaginative play as she likes. Imaginative play at that age is great. Children don't have to have adults validating the literal existence of every fictional or mythical character to have amazing play opportunities.

Perfectly put

But she didn't say they were mythical. She said that they are not real, don't exist, made up.
As adults, we can appreciate that they are all the same thing, said in different ways.
At 4 years old saying "mythical creatures" and "not real/don't exist" is totally different.

But she didn't say they were mythical. She said that they are not real, don't exist, made up.
As adults, we can appreciate that they are all the same thing, said in different ways.
At 4 years old saying "mythical creatures" and "not real/don't exist" is totally different.
They don't exist.
They are made up.
They are not real.
They are mythical.

All are the same thing.

It's reasonable to teach children the difference between reality and fiction.

I did just say, that I appreciate to us adults , that they all mean the same thing. We can interpret them the same way.
But a 4 year old cannot necessarily interpret them the way we can.
Saying mythical creature to a young child is totally different to telling them that they don't exist

I did just say, that I appreciate to us adults , that they all mean the same thing. *We can interpret them the same way.
*But a 4 year old cannot necessarily interpret them the way we can.,
Saying mythical creature to a young child is totally different to telling them that they don't exist
Yes, one is ambiguous to a child unless they know what the word mythical means, and the other is clear and communicates that reality and fiction are different.

Next you'll be saying it's fine to say that they're mythical because it's technically true and it ensures reality isn't taught.

If she had have said mythical it would have been a different story. My point was that it was harsh how she went about it

How about “there’s no such thing as a unicorn” or “unicorns aren’t real”?

I despair at the idea that a child’s imagination is in some way stunted by being told that they are being imaginative, because what they’re drawing, talking about etc does not exist in the real world.

Pretending you’re Wonder Woman or Hermione Granger is imaginative play. But I wouldn’t answer ‘yes’ to “is Wonder Woman/Hermione Granger a real person?”

If she had have said mythical it would have been a different story. My point was that it was harsh how she went about it
So you're happy with the truth being told as long as it's told in a way that is deliberately obscure for the age of the children in the conversation.

So when she says that they're mythical and then explains what that means (teaching basics when introducing new words) what's she meant to do given Cambridge dictionaries say the meaning of mythical is:
"existing only in stories"
"Imaginary or not real"
?

Based on previous posts she's not allowed to say that, so in order to keep some children believing unicorns are literally real she has to tell the truth but only in words they're unlikely to understand and then not explain the words she's using. 🤣

I despair at the idea that a child’s imagination is in some way stunted by being told that they are being imaginative, because what they’re drawing, talking about etc does not exist in the real world
I agree.

This!

We never told our children Santa was real, even when they were just 3 or 4 they knew there wasn’t really a Santa. But it didn’t matter. So long as we joined in playing along with the Santa game and their stocking filled with toys in their sleep they were perfectly happy pretending. They also knew the plastic food they served us at dolls’ tea parties wasn’t real and no one could really eat the wooden cake. They happily ‘replaced a tyre’ and ‘fixed the engine’ of their Little Tykes care with their wooden spanner knowing full well they had done neither. And my dd loved making fairy houses under trees in the forest knowing full well they didn’t exist.

How do you know how the teacher “went about it”? Were you there or is this based on your 4YO’s retelling of the story?

In what possible universe is it hysterical to say that it would be a bad thing for a reception teacher to tell 4 year olds that Santa is not real? Do you genuinely believe, like the other poster, that beyond age 3 they're all just pretending to believe in it? I feel so sorry for children growing up in a world with adults like this in it.

And as you seem to imagine this is a recent thing, do you think that, say, 50 years ago, reception teachers were routinely discussing the non-existence of Santa with 4 year olds? Since most of them were just faking believing in him anyway? The devious little buggers.

Personally i think it's a bit odd on their part. I know of catholic schools that will talk about 'made up' creatures like Dragons, unicorns and fairies etc. because it's magical and fun for children.

To me it sounds like that school is a bit backwards. :/