Jesus held on the cross with nails in his hands

[TaFox]

DD5 is in year 1 and has been learning about Jesus at school. Great stuff in the spirit of Easter.

The RE teacher told the class how Jesus was NAILED to the cross.

This is quite graphic for a little girl who believes that the Easter bunny will leave eggs in our garden.

Should I tell school that this is too much info for little ears?

Maybe take your child into a church, read the Easter story together and discuss it in any way you like.

I’m surprised your daughter has not seen a crucifix before. Everyone in the West needs a good education in Christianity much of western history and art is very closely intertwined with it.

Oh PLEASE! Literally nobody is 'fucked up' as an adult by hearing a story, as a kid, about a guy who died 2000 years previously. Actually nobody.

Well, no, I wouldn't be exposing a 5/6 year old to the evening news broadcast, actually. I didn't with my 5 year old, we were fairly careful to shield him from mass shootings and wartime atrocities and extreme gore until he was a couple of years older. Bloody hell, what is WRONG with some of the people on this thread??

This whole thread appears to miss the OP's point - which was NOT 'should my child learn about nasty things in the world and Jesus being cruelly crucified in particular?' but 'is this age-appropriate for my 5/6 year old child to learn?'

The Last Supper was a passover meal, which is why the two festivals more or less overlap.

I was brought up Catholic, but now I would say I was agnostic. But I bloody love the Easter services. The drama is off the scale! I'm going to take DS1 this year as part of his RE revision.

I thought the nailing at the crucifixion was just added cruelty. The crucified were suffocated because they were stuck there for so long their legs couldn't hold them up.

I find all this stuff super interesting. But they must have appropriated the timing and name somewhat? Or it wouldn’t be called Easter today? That’s a bit potato/potato to me at least. I think in non faith schools if they’re going to teach about the main religions it would be good to learn the religion of Britain before Christianity, as it seem to me those festivals actually have the most relevance to our modern traditions. Which is really cool.

@Telomeres I agree. I've yet to meet anyone who was traumatised by him being nailed to a cross, especially an adult.
They see worse on TV.
How old were you when you found out he was nailed to the cross OP?

And if you were in RC schools you would have a depiction of it in every room that wasn't the toilet.

YABU using the word bunny/ bunnies. It's rabbit. If you must use the word then refer to it as bunny rabbit.

Has anyone ever said 'The Easter Rabbit'? I've only ever heard of an 'Easter Bunny'.

And to be pedantic they should be hares, they are active about this time of year which is when ground nesting birds lay eggs, people thought hares laid them.

Link that to the story of Oestra changing a bird in to a hare that then layed brightly coloured eggs for her.

Actually the nails would have been out through his wrists, if they’d been put through his hands they’d have torn straight out and wouldn’t have been able to bare the weight of his body. Catholic school upbringing, learned about the process of being executed on a cross in great detail 🤔

Does your daughter have access to the internet OP? Phone? TV Etc. cos if so, I’m betting she’s seen and heard worse already, even at her age and with parental controls.

Not saying it’s right, but you can’t be angry on one hand and let your kid have access to the internet (where even on the BBC there’s some pretty grim stuff) on the other hand

😂Not sure I would compare an adult atheist with a 5 year old child

And how often do you take them to the synagogue? Or Pagan temple? It's an important aspect of our cultural heritage to see where the Christian religion came from. And you really should take them to the mosque and other temples so they know what to expect if they ever get invited to a wedding or funeral of other religions. I'm very concerned that you are only teaching your child about one religion..

Nailed - hands and feet!

What about the beheadings and use of the guillotine that the English and French were so fond of? That form of punishment was dispensed by Royalty (and sometimes to Royalty).

In answer to your question - no I don't find it graphic because it's telling the story of Easter (which is, I am to believe) the bigger of the Christian celebrations (Christmas v Easter).

People have been absolutely horrid to each other for millennia. Best she starts to learn about it now, imo.

The evidence is not sketchy.
The Romans kept very good records.
And the four gospels give details of Jesus life and death.
Jesus baptism and crucifixion are considered to be historical facts.

My point is, they DON'T see worse at AGE FIVE on tv, or they bloody well shouldn't. You get to control that, you know.

Or genuinely, does nobody on this thread think it's a good idea to shield 5/6 year olds from the sorts of things that older children can (mostly) cope with?

I don’t really agree. Pagan temples as they are are generally nothing to do with our history, it’s generally neo paganism which is practised today.

I think it’s important to discuss the Jewish faith as to give context to Christianity. But the Jewish faith in isolation has had very little influence in our culture.

I would suggest it’s important to give a good grounding in Greek philosophy and the philosophical schools which came after as this had a big impact also.

I don’t think understanding Islam, Buddhism and other religions is that important except to understand some world events and to be tolerant of those with other beliefs. They are pretty irrelevant to understanding western history and culture before the late 19th and 20th century, even then it’s fairly fringe.

I kind of agree with you OP, but Christianity does seem to enjoy its focus on the gory aspects of Jesus' death.

Agree - we’re atheists and DT’s didn’t go to a British school so had no religious education at school. (Thank goodness for separation of church and state).
However they have friends from around the world who practice many different faiths. They’ve been to weddings in India, Japan and Dubai - good to experience different cultures.

I'm a sign language interpreter and have interpreted for deaf children of all ages in schools.

If you think it's graphic, picture what it looks like in sign language. Sex ed lessons are always fun too.

You're definitely overreacting and your daughter will be fine. She'll be learning about the Egyptians pulling brains out with hooks soon enough. Kids love all this stuff.

Actually, no PP's are agreeing with you, you're pretty mych a lone voice! And it's not a Jesus. It's Jesus

Could you be any more precious?

But the school are teaching the Christian Easter story which involves crucifixion. The Pagan spring celebrations are something else. I taught both - the Easter story with Jesus and the celebration of new life in spring which is why we have eggs, chicks and rabbits.

ApplePippa Today 07:27

I couldn't be bothered to go into great detail, but it certainly was co-opted as a festival and various saints were assigned to supposed local miracles and mysteries.

The whole virgin birth, from the dove, to the Maig in the cave, 12 apostles, betrayal and resurrection were lifted wholesale from the legend of Mithras.

I know. Fancy actually believing in Jesus’s ‘miracles’ and that he died and came alive again. And then trying to teach children this nonsense. Smh

There are tons of horrible stories in the Bible - much worse than this. My dd treated us to a graphic stick-person drawing of the stoning of St Stephen on a restaurant napkin (complete with spurting blood) when she was 6. Lovely! I've still got it :)

Its actually the other way around. Eggs/spring/fertility first and Jesus later

Religious education isn't compulsory in the UK, I'm Atheist to me and my family easter is about Easter bunny and chocolate! I'm not going to celebrate a Religious thing if I don't belive religion is true. I do belive we need to learn about different religions , does it need to be specific? No... does it really matter that a small child learns that in the story about Jesus being on a cross and the specific way in which he was on cross no . I personally think it's ridiculous to say it does.