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Original poster

Superstitious crap-peddling in non-church school, how to deal with it?

537 replies

SpringchickenGoldBrass · 09/03/2011 15:44

DS (6, in Year 1) came home from school today talking about what he's going to give up for Lent. I asked him if he understood why he was supposed to be giving up things for Lent (of course he had no idea) and made sure he knew that he didn't have to and I would be doing no such thing, and we had a little talk about superstitions.
I am seriously pissed off with this and want to speak to the school about it. We live in a very multicultural area and I want to know A) if all the 6 year old Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews and whatever else are trotting home stuffed with this crap and if not, how can I get DS exempt from it? Just because we are English does not mean we are CofE, I am a hardline atheist and DS dad and I have been raising him with as little superstition as possible.
I do not think it's appropriate for a group of culturally-mixed 6 year olds to be fed this sort of bullshit (which is going to be beyond most of them anyway) - I have no problem with DC being taught about the various mythology brands but the actual practicing of this nonsense should not be suggested to them at school.

OP posts:
TheCrackFox · 09/03/2011 17:04

I actually, would have no problem with there being no mention of Mothering Sunday (which is supposed to celebrate your Mother Church, not your actual Mum), Christmas or Easter at school at all.

ivykaty44 · 09/03/2011 17:12

So is about teaching children about lots of different superstition? The more superstition the better?

Mothering Sunday was for servants to go home and spend a Sunday with their families before easter in the big house, so yes going to church in your home parish as back then you had little choice in whether you went to church or not - now we have choice

NoWayNoHow · 09/03/2011 17:12

Sorry, didn't mean to add the "YABU" - just assumed from the tone of the OP that it was in AIBU.

meditrina · 09/03/2011 17:20

Ivykaty44: I think it's the other way round. Mothering Sunday has been celebrated since the days of the early Church as a festival of Mary. Because of the "mother" association, this developed into the tradition of the return to your individual "mother" church. This often in practice meant also your earthly mother, so it has recently taken that aspect as well.

OliPolly · 09/03/2011 17:20

Is religion a superstition then?

MerryMarigold · 09/03/2011 17:21

SGB, your threads get so much attention Envy!

pinkcushion · 09/03/2011 17:22

DD came home in Year 1 telling me the whole class had been asked to call out one by one what they were giving up for Lent, dd had decided to give up sweets and then undecided when I told her I wasn't a Christian and I definitely would not be giving up anything during the season of Lent. So we tucked into some sweets together and that was when she decided - she knew she wasn't a Christian Grin

pinkcushion · 09/03/2011 17:25

Thought eggs were a symbol of spring and nothing to do with the death of Jesus. We'll be eating eggs and pancakes - we like food but we don't like religion!

UnquietDad · 09/03/2011 17:26

It's amazing how many people ask "What are you giving up for Lent?" Some of them are not even religious.

I don't recognise any distinction between religion and superstition.

mrsravelstein · 09/03/2011 17:34

agree with unquiet dad, i genuinely don't see why believing in god (whichever one) is any different than believing your tea leaves are giving you messages. though i'd take my chances with the tea leaves instead of god if i had to.

ivykaty44 · 09/03/2011 17:45

What is superstition and how does it relate to religious practices olipolly?

As for mothering Sunday why would I want to celebrate it?

OliPolly · 09/03/2011 18:04

I didn't start with the superstition thing, its in the OP? and Lent is a Christian thing? NO?

GrimmaTheNome · 09/03/2011 18:28

2plus: Easter is named after an old Germanic godess. The egg is a pagan symbol of the rebirth of the Earth in celebrations of spring and was adopted by early Christians as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus.

Christianity has no monopoly over midwinter and springtime festivals.

skybluepearl · 09/03/2011 18:31

i think you are over reacting. schools have to cover lots of different religious events even in non religious schools. how can a teacher talk about lent without mentioning that christians normally give some thing up? the teacher probably just asked the class 'what would you give up if you were going to give up something at lent' or 'what sort of things do christians give up at lent'.

GrimmaTheNome · 09/03/2011 18:36

Perhaps the objectionable thing is that a little boy came home from school thinking he had to actually alter his behaviour in a particular way for some irrational reason (or at least, one which hadn't been comprehensibly explained). This sort of thing does reduce religion to mere 'superstitious crap'.

BunnyWunny · 09/03/2011 18:38

I take it you didn't have pancakes yesterday then? Hmm

TheCrackFox · 09/03/2011 18:40

We didn't have pancakes yesterday. Hmm

kerala · 09/03/2011 18:47

SGB if I didnt know better Id think this post was written by DH. We have a 4 year old in reception at a (carefully chosen for this reason) non church school. She has been coming home talking about "Jesus having a sword in him" and "having to be quiet so god will talk to her". A vicar holds an assembly twice a week. DH is going to research what actual requirements of the National curriculum on this are before we speak to the school about it. It is disappointing though, we carefully avoided faith schools and like you have no problem with being taught about religions, just not told what to believe.

GrimmaTheNome · 09/03/2011 18:50

'Giving something up for Lent' is, for a small child, a rather strange concept. Fasting isn't something we'd particularly want to encourage in a 6 year old (religions which have proper fasting do not expect small children to participate).

If it was done thoughtfully for a purpose - e.g 'this month we'll just have fruit for dessert at school lunch and send the money we save to help malnourished children' then personally I'd support it. . But just arbitrarily 'giving something up for Lent' makes no sense.

GrimmaTheNome · 09/03/2011 18:53

kerala, the legal requirement for schools to hold collective acts of worship predates the National Curriculum - it goes back to 1944.

If your DH hasn't already found it there is useful information on the BHA website. HTH. Smile

TheFallenMadonna · 09/03/2011 19:04

I'm a bit Hmm about the links my DC's otherwise excellent school has with the local Christian ministers too. We are Christians (of various denominations) ourselves, but I am not a supporter of church schools, and it isn't one of those in any case. Now, obviously I can;t get my knickers in quite the same twist as parents who are atheist, and probably don't actually notice the effects, because my children receive a religious education at home and at church, so I'd be unlikely to pick up on something like this as coming from school, but I don't think it's right. A discussion in the context of the origins of Shrive Tuesday and Lent - I think that's pretty important. More than that - that's my job I think, and that of my church.

exoticfruits · 09/03/2011 19:13

I can't see a problem. Just use it as a discussion point. It is part of our culture and should be general knowledge.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 09/03/2011 19:21

Not all Christians do Lent; it's not a CoS thing, for example.

exoticfruits · 09/03/2011 19:23

It is just as well to know as general knowledge, otherwise he will be completely baffles if someone says they can't have chocolate for Lent.

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