Nursery Pride face painting

[insomniaclife]

Went to pick up three year old from nursery.
Staff and all kids in her class had rainbows painted on their faces.
“nice rainbows” I said. Staff said “we’re celebrating Pride”.

Is this normal? The timing seems odd - it’s not Pride week is it?

That would be the last time I’d have taken my children there.

The staff can celebrate their beliefs without involving children.

I’m so sick of rainbows ‘being appropriated’ 🙄.

They’re rainbows. They’re an amazing beautiful thing 🌈.

I’m happy to celebrate rainbows and sunshine and rain. For their own sake - without them (sun and rain) we’d all be dead after all.

Rainbows 🌈 and bees 🐝 🍯 rule. So maybe you can divert the celebration to where it should be!

Lesbian visibility day is 26th April. I think there's a few lgbtq dates in this month from memory. Although pride month is normally June.

Different parts of the country hold them at different dates as far as I know but I’m not aware of any happening at the moment. It’s a strange coincidence isn’t it, almost sinister.

Some of the children will have gay parents.

Perhaps I was a little quick to criticise the face painting but in mitigation, Pride celebrations very rarely separate the LGB from the TQ and I therefore, won’t apologise for my criticism.

Anyhow, unless they’ve asked prior to paint being applied to kids skin, they should get permission from the parents just in case a child has an allergic sensitivity to the paint.

So?

If it was about the LGB I would totally be behind them but it’s only ever about the T now.

So what’s wrong with acknowledging that?

So you have a story time about different types of families. The nursery doesn’t have to participate in political activism.

The nursery will be expected to celebrate LGBT +, different cultures etc. It will be part of their Ofsted assessment. All nurseries will do this or a variation on it. My daughter works in a nursery and it is pushed hard, even though parents do complain.

Ask them for a breakdown of all the other days they’re celebrating and how they’ll be involving the children. Make sure IWD (that’s the SC’s definition of women) is included.

Celebrate LGBT by reading stories where different families feature like ones with a single dad or two mums. Celebrating pride is not an Ofsted requirement!

Remember the Pride rainbow has six colours, it is missing indigo found in traditionally seven coloured rainbows.

Do to the current backlash a lot of gay people don't associate with the rainbow, they're beyond it. Really it's just another over-commercialised symbol now.

I would think this is a lazy misinterpretation from a political organisation like Stonewall etc.

In light of the Supreme Court ruling, I think it would be wise for education institutions to throw out any advice they have received from such groups/organisations because it would seem to be biased and possibly not legal.

I might point out that three of the world’s major religions regard rainbows as a symbol of God’s covenant with mankind after the Flood, and that as a Christian I hope that that story was told as well. Otherwise it is a sacred symbol being appropriated….

Not without assistance

That is no reason to plaster the faces of the children of non-gay parents with adverts for
LGBT awareness.

It’s inappropriate. Stories about different types of families, yes absolutely as a pp said. What has face painting got to do with nursery education?

So what? Their parents can do rainbow face painting at home, then!

It’s clearly not as simple as that. Most children (in many towns) have white parents. Should we paint children’s faces in white pride flags?

For that matter, should children too young to have cause beliefs be painted in any cause’s colours, however righteous?

This thread is wild!!
It comes across as really homophobic. It is totally right that children should be exposed to all different types of families from the start. Rainbow face paint is completely harmless.

Previous commenters sneeringly saying things like, "If there are gay parents, they wouldn't be parents without assistance" is actually harmful. Do you have the same distain for straight couples who have IVF?

I'm a gender critical feminist. As a group, we're facing harsh criticism on our beliefs more now than ever. Shit like this does not make us look good.

Go outside and have some fresh air.

Unfortunately, the rainbow has been muddied and politicised. I thought it was convenient when it was used during Covid for the NHS. It’s not the innocent image it once was. That can be put right at the feet of the political LGBT+ lobby groups. This was before the SC ruling.

Some of the comments here are a bit homophobic, they obviously intersect with peoples religious beliefs.

@afuckinggoat Rainbow face paint is completely harmless.

Depends what it signifies, and that’s no longer clear.

I don’t think a white pride face-paint would be harmless, because I think the ideology is pernicious, though it’s just paint.

If you are GC you will agree that gay rights symbolism has been co-opted to give cover to a massively wide range of beliefs and policies, from positive to pernicious to criminal.

Sadly I don’t think the rainbow flag can have a pass any more, if the question is ‘is this something we can paint on the faces of children who don’t have a say or understand what they are endorsing’.

That’s not opposing the cause, that’s just moving it into the same category as almost every other symbolic flag going. I am fully pro-Ukraine. I wouldn't paint a classful of children in Ukraine colours. I wouldn't even paint them in St George's crosses for St George's day.

What the rainbow has lost (for me) is my automatic assumption of good faith and inclusivity. And that’s not the fault of GCs.

This. What exactly do you think is going to happen if your children are exposed to the beauty of difference in the world around them, in a safe environment?