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!

Go on. What do you think? 🙄

That was my immediate thought too. I would be very surprised if any teacher, especially one with kids as young as 7 would say that Santa isn't real, they'd have to be crazy as it's almost guaranteed to end in upset kids and parents.

I don't think RE teachers are necessarily religious. Some yrs ago some teachers of other subjects retrained as RE teachers because they felt like a change and there was an under supply. A friend who had been teaching Classics, a subject that was in decline, was only too happy to have a year back at college on full salary. Besides, they teach all the main religions, not just Christianity.

Somebody would be getting an arse kicking. 😡

Well I remember being younger than seven and questioning HTF anyone could get down a chimney when there was a gas fire at the end of it, and a perfectly good front door in any case. By seven, I had got the measure of a great many things that just didn't sit right and therefore I'd worked out was just nonsense, but this would have been 1985 for me, things were less sugar-coated and we were encouraged to form our own opinions...exposure to Grange Hill and Eastenders helped with that.

It's still not a teachers perview. Its grossly out of his wheelhouse to take on a parental role like that. People value these cultural things.

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?

And as for kids being bullied. I'm a teacher myself and half my class still believe in Father Christmas at 9-10 years old. That's totally normal and no one gets bulled for it.

complain about what? she said something truthful when she was probably prompted by the topic they were discussing. what did you expect her to say? do you want your kids to respect their teachers and trust them? so a few years down the line when your DS learns the truth he'll remember his teacher lied about father christmas. he may not trust teachers in the future. WW2? yeah sure it happened the way you said, you also said father christmas was real.

do not complain about that teacher. she's doing her job ffs.

The same thing happened to me when I was 6 years old! Our head teacher told us in assembly. My mum went in to complain.

Absolutely, I was older than this before I found out, and my two children are older than this and both still believe.

Not my experience at all . All the 7 year olds and most 8 year olds I know firmly believe .

Asked my daughter, she said about 50/50 in her class so I was wrong.

Sonowimbackfromouterspace · Today 23:53

dizzydizzydizzy · Today 22:38
Do 7yo children still believe in Father Christmas? I
M
Well I remember being younger than seven and questioning HTF anyone could get down a chimney when there was a gas fire at the end of it, and a perfectly good front door in any case. By seven, I had got the measure of a great many things that just didn't sit right and therefore I'd worked out was just nonsense, but this would have been 1985 for me, things were less sugar-coated and we were encouraged to form our own opinions...exposure to Grange Hill and Eastenders helped with that

Yes. It’s called magic.

Grange Hill and Eastenders were/are rubbish that 7 year olds shouldn’t be watching.

Give me magic any day.

Contact teacher and ask.
If true your contact might prompt her to keep mystery of Father Christmas private in future.

Our R.E. teacher was asked about the reality of Father Christmas when I was young. She was talking about the real message/story of Christmas. That Jesus was real, was born and that Christmas was his birthday and that he brought love to the World.
Some kids questioned her about Santa at Christmas.
My R.E. teacher said "Yes, Father Christmas is a real and important custom. Father Christmas reminds us of the love and joy at Christmas and how special Jesus' birthday is.
Like Jesus, Santa brings love and hope for goodness towards others."
I remembered that and when my kids were old enough to know what a custom was they could discuss the issue further.

Ours was, finally booted out when he started throwing chairs at pupils.

This thread is fucking depressing. There are so many adults here who clearly would love nothing more than to suck all of the joy out of a kids life for their amusement or because they're bitter inside. My 11 year old wasn't traumatized when we told him about Father Christmas, he didn't feel lied to, he was amazed that we had been organizing Christmas and all the "magic" for so long without him noticing.
What's next for the bah humbug folk on this thread? Kick fuck out of the Easter bunny?

Is it a religious school? Most primary schools don't have a 'R.E' teacher.

Some people are chronically incapable of joy or imagination.

But OP's child is 7, not 10. Telling them at 7 just before Christmas is hardly a nice experience for the child either.

I remember finding out about Santa Claus in the playground when I was about 10-11 and I was sad.
I went home and asked Mum.

It is a magical childhood time - Santa will come and bring you a gift.. Flying reindeer. Big white bearded man in a red suit.

Does any one else remember the time they learned the truth?
Where they were? How they felt?
I was getting a drink at the bubble taps.

Well he isn’t real. At 7 I didn’t believe in FC. Just the logistics of it. Hope he says the same about any God.

Get rid of the nonsense early on!

Honestly this teacher deserves a slap. What a presumptuous arsehole.

I can remember as a primary school being quite afraid of witches and one kid who told me he could do witchcraft qnd would make my parents die. I was so happy when my parents told me there was no such thing as magic. I think father christms is ok for preschoolers and maybe up year 1.After that i think the drawbacks of letting your kids believe in magic outweighs any[positives

The Easter bunny is a relatively new idea. It was unheard of when I was a child in the 60s and not a thing when my own child was young in the 80s.

In many schools specialist part time PE/music/RE teachers rotate round classes covering class teachers PPA