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!

Not being lied to in the first place would avoid that.

An adult not spoiling it for them avoids it too.

It's easier not to lie than to police everything everyone else says.

@JingleB There are a handful of cynics with older siblings but most 7 year olds still believe for a couple of years.

I’d certainly sussed it out by seven - not because I had an older sibling, but because I was the older sibling. I watched my little brothers lapping it up and I thought, “No, no, no - none of this makes any sense at all.”

Didn’t tell them though.

It’s easy not to spoil it for others.

@BeSnappyOtter Unfortunately not all teachers are as sensible as you. One Christmas, when DS2 was 6, about to turn 7 in January, he came home telling us that his teacher had told the class not to say there was no Santa, since some of the younger children still believed in him. We were stunned. Surely many of her own class still believed. As you say, it's not the teacher's place to decide when children should be told the truth about a long held Christmas tradition.

@Longma Yes, I think you talk a lot of sense. Certainly mine believed at that age, and not through stupidity. The magic of childhood is all too brief. Let them enjoy it while they can.

Have you not read the thread then?

Of course. Definitely expected from kids but adults should know better.

They should lie?

Like I said, it’s easy. Especially in the context of a religious education class when “..some people believe” is generally how it is taught.

It can be applied to Santa too.

I agree with the 'some people believe' approach. Some posters do want other folk to lie because they do though.

Imagine if he told a religious child that God didn't exist? Or a Muslim or Jewish that it was ok to eat pork and just a silly custom?

You're conflating religion and culture here. Father Christmas is not a religion. It's a cultural tradition, a story. It isn't a religious belief that's protected, as Islam or Judaism would be, under the Equality Act against discrimination. Telling a Muslim or Jewish child that not eating pork is silly would be discrimination. Telling a child that Santa isn't real is not. These things are not equivalent.

That's ironic, a make believe sky god is real but Father Christmas can't be?

God isn't real either, why is it ok to push belief in God but ruin the belief in Father Christmas?

An R.E teacher saying gid exists is lying. It's a belief, no more than a belief in Father Christmas, the only difference being is instead of carrying on saying Father Christmas is real because kids figure out that he's not real, we tell the truth, but with God, sine people carry on lying

Eh?
I don't lie about gods or FC being real.

It's not.

Neither are real.

The R.E teacher and others lie about god. It's no more your place or mine to say god doesn't exist to someone that believes than it is our place to tell a child Father Christmas isn't real

I know, but the R.E teacher believes in god no doubt

The R.E tea her will be pushing that god exists

Because Father Christmas isn't a religious belief, and the way religious and cultural beliefs are taught are different. People have this idea that RE is taught in schools like "God is real and Santa isn't" - but the reality is, RE teachers usually teach about what all the different religions believe and in a secular school setting at least are not supposed to say one is right and another is wrong, because a religious belief is a protected characteristic under the law.

Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and other cultural equivalents, whether from this culture or others, do not have the same protection.

Depends on the school actually. My youngest goes to a Christian school, they very much talk like god is real. At this moment I have no problem with her believing that AND that Father Christmas is real, but when she asks if either is real, we'll have the conversation. It's NOT a teacher's place to tell a child something they believe in is wrong