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'm sorry you're so unhappy, it's quite sad to see.
Enjoy your day. You seem to have been up late with this x

It's just a theory, obviously - I'm not a professional dragonologist, merely a gifted amateur. 😂

I'll have to dig my CS Lewis out and re-read The Voyage of the Dawntreader - I can't remember the bit you mention and now I want to read it.

I loved the Anne McCaffrey dragon stories. I had them all and wish I'd kept them. Every now and then I have a book clear out and ALWAYS regret parting with the ones I give away, but I just don't have room for them.

Of course, Welsh Dragons may be red because of the special properties of the rare Welsh gold that makes up their hoard . . . as the late Queen knew, and all the Royal Family are aware, and any true Welsh person will tell you, Welsh gold is not just any gold . . .

It's fun to speculate about these things, isn't it? Even as an adult. (Though obviously, unlike unicorns, dragons are real.)

I’m catholic and my kids went to catholic school. Never had any kind of trouble with make believe - fairies, unicorns etc. Our parish priest even used to joke with the kids that a unicorn lived in the field nearby, so I’m sorry to hear this. I’d be annoyed too.

I’m on the fence as I would have expected it but at the same time would have expected some more tact from people working with young kids

that being said, (and me being autistic) would probably have said (even as a child, though with simpler words) that dragons are mentioned in the Bible and as humans wrote the bible and we are all fallible, could it not be that unicorns exist but were just not seen by the authors.

Sounds like she’s pushed her ‘ beliefs’ on a 4/5 year old. All my children are Catholic and attend catholic schools. It is a pretty strict school but no way would any of the teachers have told the children this. Blimey! Let kids be kids!

OP, have you asked the teacher about how it happened? There are many reasons why this may have been said (including in a conversation with one child that your child just overheard). It may clarify things!

@Emotionalsupportviper My Dad was a fully signed up Catholic but knew I was pregnant two weeks before I could take a test. When he was dying he told me he could see auras. It was quite a surprise. My DS can also see auras. We are both empaths in the proper sense of the word and have lots of other talents that would probably have seen us being burnt at the stake 😂

The majority of children's play is fantasy!
Should we turn round and say: soft toys don't talk! the tea party is not real, it's a plastic teapot! don't feed dolly the milk, it's fake! I'm forever crawling about pretending to be a cat, am I deceiving my child?
Of course you're not because your child, I would guess, does not literally believe you are a cat because they know you are a human and knows what a cat is.

Just like my children know that when they've made me a potion with conkers, leaves and water that it isn't an actual magic potion. Or my DC don't genuinely believe I'm a knight slaying a dragon, and know their climbing frame in the garden isn't literally a castle, and their den isn't literally a dungeon. We have lots of fun playing make believe.

I don't think many, if any, people have said there is a problem with imaginative play on the thread.

The main difference of opinion is that some people think it's reasonable to teach children that reality and fiction are different and others think it's reasonable to teach children that not only are make-believe characters real, but then get annoyed that anyone might tell their child otherwise.

@AutumnalPumpkin hence MNHQ took down that truly appalling post.
I wouldn’t engage either.

She's only telling the truth, those things do not exist.

OP were you actually there for this conversation or has it been related to you by your child? It could be that the teacher was talking about mythical creatures and, when asked, said like unicorns and then was asked by the children what mythical meant?

I went to convent schools and believed in fairies until I was about 10 or 11 but knew it wasn't a topic of conversation to have with any of the nuns! Not because they pooh-pooed it, but it wasn't on their radar. They definitely will not celebrate Halloween, but that isn't unusual with religious schools of any denomination - my DSs' CofE church school didn't (we are atheists BTW). Some schools have alternative non-Halloween "parties" but it's more common to do nothing (around here).

Pesonally, if it is a good school and your child is happy, I'd keep them there.

I have had children, god children, grand children, foster children, nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, children I have nannied, children I have looked after as a health care professional, and I am a teacher - and I stand by what I said, normal 4 year old's do not believe in santa. I have never met one who does. Most 4 year old's enjoy the game of pretend with their parents, but know it is a game of pretend.

And I also stand by what I said, I never signed up to tell these lies, and I never will, and if I ever happen to come across a 4 year old who does believe in santa, I will not in any way by censoring my speech or colluding with the deception

@pieintheski At what age did your child stop believing in Father Christmas www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4921046-at-what-age-did-your-child-stop-believing-in-father-christmas
Have a read of this thread which coincidentally popped up earlier.
Some share your opinion slightly. But the vast majority do not.

I've been following this with interest and my take away is that the kids I work with (3-5) must be thick. Not only is Santa very prominent but every possible fantasy creature.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that every child in your life didn't believe after 4 when you say you don't go along with it. That's fair enough that's your belief system. But I taken issue with your view that normal children don't believe, and that all the children you've encountered in your life are 'normal' whereas all those I've encountered must be 'abnormal'. Some kids believe in fantasy stuff, some don't - so what. The non believers are not superior. Kids are different and of course there are cultural differences at play too.

Teacher was a prick. If she wants to be 'holier than thou' about magical creatures with her own children she can be. She was a prick to say this to other people's children. My 7yo believes in faries, Unicorns, and mermaids. Heck, even I believe in faries. Nothing wrong with a bit of imagination. And exceptionally hypocritical coming from someone who believes in the giant fella in the sky.

@Pieinthesky aww bless, does it make you feel all warm inside knowing you didn't go along with these heinous lies told to abnormal children. I pity the families who encounter you.

I've been following this with interest and my take away is that the kids I work with (3-5) must be thick. Not only is Santa very prominent but every possible fantasy creature.
It's not about being thick or not. My experience is that kids seem to be more capable of understanding reality Vs fiction than we think, and that often adults are the ones muddying the waters.

They have no problem playing doctors or vets or superheroes and don't believe they're literally a doctor, vet or superhero. I've not met any kids who genuinely believed that spiderman was a real person, or that Batman watches over the streets at night. Mine never thought there were real fire breathing dragons walking the earth (probably because me, DH, our friends and family and their teachers never led them to believe that they were genuinely real creatures). It's no different to when we used to go on a bear hunt in the local wood when they were younger. I don't think for one minute they actually believed they saw a bear in a suburban park though. We watched the Snowman and would imagine what might happen if our snowman came to life, but I didn't teach them that when they go to bed their snowman is going to go flying over the winter skies all night.

It always interests me that very few adults insist that everyone must tell them Iron Man / Spiderman is literally real etc because it would 'ruin the magic'. You also don't tend to get adults insisting that people teach the literal existence of a magic mirror on the wall or that time travel is a legitimate method of transportation. But if children find out that unicorns and fairies aren't real it's some sort of major end of magical childhood innocence.

This distinction between fantasy and reality is false, there is no way for a child (or an adult) to know which is which unless they are told. Unicorns are based on rhinos. Neither unicorns nor rhinos are more or less likely. We know which is real because of education and experience. Children without the education and experience are not imaginative, creative, enjoying a fantasy world, or anything. They are just ignorant - thats all. There is nothing positive about that.

You are classing childish beleifs as "fantasy" simply because you know its a lie. They are not fantasising, they are simply wrong.

Children can enjoy imagining and fantasising about animals that actually exist just as much.

And imagine and fantasise about creatures, people, places, powers and so on that they know to be non-existent, but fun and exciting because of that.

Does any child of any age think that humans can fly? I very much doubt it. But imaginative games of flying (usually with arms spread out like wings) are everyday fun for children.

Wierd teacher really. We’re Catholic, kids went to catholic school, I went to catholic school too - there were no issues about telling children unicorns are not real, fairies etc.

Random memory. My pal lives abroad and was on Safari in Africa with a group from the country he lives in. The translation for Unicorn and Rhino are similar. He got confused and was telling everyone about the unicorns he saw, couldn't understand the confused looks!!

Just explain that with God everyone has their own beliefs and that's OK. Say you/we believe in fairies and unicorns etc and it's OK for her teacher not too!

You really shouldn't have sent her to a catholic school!! God is very real to Christians, he's not a made up fairy tale! Like unicorns etc are!! the teacher is right, but a little unkind telling such young children the truth about them!

he's not a made up fairy tale!

Well that's debatable.

I know people who firmly believe in fairies, angels, nature spirits, gods and goddesses, etc, so I wouldn't be surprised if a fair few people out there believe there are or were unicorns. And to them, they will be very real too and just as valid IMO.

My Family aren't religious but I went to Catholic convent schools and it was fine, I see no reason for OP not to send her DC to their local and available Catholic school. In fact it's probably a good thing. I was there for education primarily but also had a chance to make up my own mind if I wanted to follow Christianity. From my experience, children pick up pretty quickly which way the wind blows ie don't discuss elves and fairies with priests and nuns! Although I remember one nun teacher being obsessed with The Hobbit.

My DC went to a local (CofE) church primary school and I was totally upfront with the Head that we weren't Christians or church goers and she was fine and said something about only a certain percentage of people in the UK are (can't remember the figure).

I do realise this thread was started back in October