Just been talking to dd about her day, and she told me that in circle time today, they were all talking about bullying.
As part of this discussion, the children (aged 7 - 11) were asked to get into groups and write down nasty names that bullies would call their victims. As a general gist, these were things that ranged from "fat" and "carrot-top" but also things like "chinky" "cripple" and worse.
My dd is 7, and had never heard some of these, and still has no idea why they are an insult. After this session the teacher threw away the bits of paper, saying they weren't nice, but according to dd, she didn't really say that these would be really hurtful to someone on the recieving end, and from dd's way of telling me about this, it was regarded as a fun session by all the children.
I feel really uncomfortable about this, and I really can't understand the point to it.
I know my dd may not have told me the full story, but those are the details that she remembered.
I'm quite willing to be told that IABU, as long as someone can explain why letting a group of children teach each other rude words and cruel taunts is a good idea, because I genuinely don't understand, and my dd certainly hasn't learnt why bullying is bad, she's just learnt some funny sounding new words.