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 ??

Ermm my 5 year old never thought they were real ? I am not sure i get the anger

I’m sorry I haven’t read all the thread, just the OP and the last page but I do think some of you are taking the p**s. No way could you be that invested in mystical creatures. It’s just a little fun that kids grow out of definitely by year 5 I’ve never seen a secondary school kid talk about unicorns etc.

I dont understand why you think lying to children is fun. They dont miss out on amazing things if you tell them the truth, but they do if you lie to them

good, you 5 year old should not think they are real

the OP is upset because a teacher told their child they are not real

Not living in Wales, then, because Welsh dragons are red.

(They are probably just ripe - I expect the green ones would turn red eventually if Knights stopped killing them before they had a chance)

Maybe you can tell your daughter that you and daddy dont believe in God and believe he is made up, with luck your child will share that little nugget with her charming teacher, My husband and his sisters were in RC schools, taught by priests and nuns. They werent kind.

Ant psychologist will tell you imagination in a child is very important. They should believe in fairy’s and Santa. I would be more concerned for a child who doesnt believe and would wonder why.

Why would you think the parents of children at Catholic schools are any more likely to believe in God than children at C of E schools?

You may also be pleased to know there are virtually no more nuns or brothers left to teach these days, kind or not.

It was only the unclean animals that went in in twos.

The clean animals went in in sevens.

I wondered if @pollymere was Pagan - not many people spell "magick" with the "k", though I was surprised that it wasn't capitalised - "Magick".

(Anglican here. Practising and believing. I do know people who are Pagan, though.)

So uptight! Imagination is important. Believing in fairys and dragons, goblins and elves is part of childhood. Stealing those beliefs doesnt mean the child is better off, it means the have lost an important part of childhood.

Because its a question usually asked before a child is accepted. My best friends grandchildren are at a catholic school. Both parents were required to join th3 attached church before the children were considered for admittance.

I worked for a while as the nurse in a Catholic boys secondary school, it was a boarding school. And priests taught there.

@NineteenOhEight Oh, decidedly not. It was written by Moses to explain stuff. Which is why I have no issues adding dragons or unicorns.

It may well have nothing to do with the fact that the school is catholic and more that the teacher was just insensitive. Being both a catholic (by birth/upbringing- not practicing) and an ex-teacher, I’d be very surprised if the school had a “no unicorns/fairies” agenda…

@Emotionalsupportviper I use Magick to separate it from tricks/stage magic. I come from families with "talents" that would probably be considered pagan or similar but oddly also Catholic/Anglican. I was brought up with it being normalised having both present.

having an imagination does not mean believing lies, in fact it is quite the reverse.

A child is only going to believe these things if they have been lied to, imagination does not enter into it

What are you going to say when her first tooth falls out? Will the tooth fairy pay a visit?! I would be fuming if our teacher said fairies aren’t real! Fair enough with unicorn and dragons. Mine didn’t believe unicorns were real but still loved them. It’s the fairy thing that would really bother me. Our teachers have cute little packets with a tooth in their drawer, ready for when children lose their teeth at school.

Thank you @pollymere - it was a genuine interest on my part, not just an idle comment.

And although I am a practising Anglican (and licensed minister) I know that there are "more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in (our) philosophy".

I have seen "ghosts" myself. (Well, a ghost, singular - but I saw her more than once), and my brother was very much a "sensitive".

Would def have a word with school. My 3 kids have gone through catholic school (we are all RC) and nothing like this has ever been said/ taught to them. Seems extreme!

But baptism or attending church requires no belief whatsoever, and is often only a commitment to getting a child into a particular school.

I’m in a country where Anglicanism is very much a minority religion, and there’s an excellent Anglican secondary in my city, whose admission criteria prioritise Anglican children. Atheists or cultural Catholics regularly start attending services to try to winkle their children in. I know someone who went to a service every Sunday for three years, succeeded in getting her daughter into the school via a letter from the vicar, only for her daughter to decide she didn’t like it after a week or opt for the convent school she could have gone to all along.

A lot of them probably have the kinds of parents you can see on this thread! As dogmatic and fanatical as the Catholics of their imaginations. Fortunately most children don't have parents like that.

@likethislikethat Lived somewhere else ???? 🤣🤣🤣 do you think this is an easy choice for everybody ??

Yes I will just up and move right now due to this very minor inconvenience.
Thank you for the helpful suggestion.
Jesus Christ

@Inexpertjuggler I think you have missed the part where I said all the parents but a few are in the same boat. Almost the entire class is Muslim.
People have sent their children here as it is the most convenient for them or their only option.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but I don't think these children will be having their first holy communion.

That is what I would have expected honestly. I think if she wasn't in reception it wouldn't bother me as much

@pieintheski do you have children? I really really hope not.
I don't mean to cause offence by saying the above - but your view that "any NORMAL 4 year old wouldn't believe in Santa" has really shocked me

Dumb teacher…..because in actuality the bible mentions a horse like beast with a single horn and refers to the strength of a unicorn!….unicorns are mentioned numerous times throughout the bible.

But hey….lets all pray to Jesus’s mother instead of Jesus himself 🤷🏽‍♀️