Teacher telling 7yo that Father Christmas not real

[Peaceandquietandacuppa]

Is it reasonable for a RE teacher to tell 7 year olds that Father Christmas isn’t real?

My 7 year old DS has just told me that his RE teacher told the class Father Christmas “isn’t real” today. He isn’t one to over-exaggerate. I asked if any of the kids prompted it by asking and he said no, she just said it.

If you think it’s unreasonable, would you say anything to the school?

YABU - teachers are fine to say FC is not real at the age of 7

YANBU - let the kids / parents decide if FC is real. Just don’t say anything!

That's bad.

I'm a primary school teacher, and whenever I have to teach RE around this time of year, I'm SUPER careful not to blow the myth.

That being said, I'm as atheist as they come, which I make a point of telling the classes I teach. It's not my job to push any religious belief on them. The way I see it, my job is to teach tolerance and understanding of different faiths and cultures.

However, I wouldn't necessarily take the word of a 7yo as absolute gospel.

Well that is dependant on whether your child is at a faith based school. Hate to break it to you but at a Catholic/church of England school (I’ve been to both) it’s religious faith based lessons not teaching about religion.

Same here. I was 6 (1961 for reference) I realised my mum would never let a stranger man come into the house. I pretended for a while but there was no big revelation. Christmas was still Christmas.

It makes no difference. The children didn't get many (or any) presents for whatever reason and you're telling your children those children must be bad. It's horrible snd cruel.
Even if they did really get presents and you were pretending. It's perpetuating the idea of the 'deserving' and the 'undeserving ' poor.

This was BEFORE christmas so I had no idea what they were getting. The problem was them saying it's the parents and not father Christmas who bring the gifts.

I understand what you meant but to me the idea is vile and is theoretically dividing children into good and bad. Even if those children did get presents you are telling your children that some children don't get presents because they are bad and don't deserve them.

I feel strongly about this as I was a teacher in deprived areas and now volunteer in a Foodbank. There are children out there who have very little and it's not their fault.

By the way, as a teacher, I would never have outright said FC does not exist but neither would I lie about it if asked. I'd return the question- 'what do you think?'.

I'm shocked that a 7 year old didn't know that santa isn't real? By that age as kids, we all knew santa wasn't real but that you played along for the fun /to get more presents.

Happy to learn from this thread that most 7 year olds sill believe, as my 8 year old still believes but he has SEN and I thought I was going to have to tell him to stop him getting teased about it. I will let him believe a bit longer.

He wasn't happy about the idea of being watched though and asked if there was a camera in his room bless him. I have assured him there isn't.

I get what you're saying. I don't categorize into bad/good kids either (because there are no good/bad kids) but I said "children who have been up to no good" in my mother tongue but I can't really translate it well to English. My son knew his muslim friends did Aid so no father christmas. What bugged me was the fact that the older kids found it hilarious to tell the younger ones that father christmas didn't exist.

It is the parents who bring buy gifts.

I knew santa wasn't real at 5.
My own son knew the same at 5/6.

And God does not exist. I wouldn't tell religious people that as I wouldn't tell young children that father christmas doesn't exist. Let people believe what they want to. What I don't get is how you can believe in God but state that father christmas doesn't exist.

I teach in a C of E school. We teach about faith. It is NEVER taught as fact. Even in worship it is ‘here is a bible story that Christians believe’, ‘this is a special time of year for Christians’ etc.

I don't think any gods are real.
I don't think santa is real.
I'm not sure why people are assuming the re teacher believes in a god just because they educate about gods.

RE teachers talk all sorts of shite, mine told me that my brother was disabled because my parents must be evil and God was punishing them. When I queried why God would take his wrath out on an innocent baby I was sent to the head for being disrespectful.

I'd tell your DS that RE teachers don't know everything and let him believe as long as he wants to (despite some people's determination to set an age limit, children tend to believe for as long as they want to and need to, despite any evidence to the contrary they are given.)

I understand some people don’t do the ‘FC/Santa’ thing with their kids and that’s fine. But I really don’t like this ‘it’s a lie’ we don’t lie to our children stance is a hill to die on either!

we actually lie (nice lies) all the time - yes darling your picture is great, what a fantastic song you are singing etc etc, wow you were fantastic as Shepard number 6 in the nativity 😆

i actually think the magic of Santa (I believe is so lovely) is so special and something I remember so fondly from my childhood. most kids figure out Santa isn’t real and despite what some people may say this isn’t traumatising!

we took my kids to Disney land for the first time when my youngest was three. Her face lit up when she met all the ‘real’ princesses. We never said ‘oh don’t be daft they are just random ladies dressed up’ - it’s called magic, make believe and it’s wonderful for kids (again just my opinion), and Disney is a good example of this, as none of the characters are allowed to break character ever and have full back stories for questions they get asked - to me it’s the same as Santa, it’s not a bad lie, it’s fun and pretend and again make believe and magic.

we've been to Disney now many times and my kids obviously are now aware these characters aren’t real but it hasn’t harmed them in any way it’s just part of growing up and how we start to see and understand the world.

The problem is you saying if children don't get presents direct from FC it's because they're Bad. Your children get presents from FC (rather than parents) because they're Good.

Well that was disgusting, evil and in no way acceptable and not representative of RE teachers or any teacher.

I am wondering what you hope to achieve with your complaint? Repercussions for the teacher? For the teacher to stand in front of the class and retract her/his statement?
Seems like a fairly minor infringement to warrant a complaint. Especially since the cat is out of the bag already and won't go in.

I honestly don't lie, definitely not in the way you describe. I also couldn't take anyone to disney because of how hideous I find the whole thing.

Ok! 👌

So you want another adult to lie for you ? Yep, nope. Only on here do I see this nonsense.

Was a teacher, married to HT and I would go ape if a teacher said that.
LOADS of kids still believe at 7, and even if heard rumblings many still want to believe.
Personally I'd speak to the school. A teacher should not be saying it. I'm hoping as pp hsve said, it's a 'not everyone believes santa is real ' type of conversation although that also creates questions !

Is that meant to be passive aggressive?

The teacher should surely stay neutral? Because there may be parents who object to their kids being lied to at school. So surely the subject should be avoided and if it is brought up maybe the teacher should say it’s up to everyone what they believe and move on. Because if they say he’s definitely real people will complain about that too.