Teaching our children in schools that the fairies will take care of them, wtf?

Samaris

I'm okay with it, so long as it's not enforced and I doubt it is. (You MUST believe in the fairies, and a fairy-teacher is coming around later to check that you do).

Different things work better with different children. I'd have enjoyed a fairy door/fairy plaque when I was that age. Mind you, when I was that age, I sewed little dresses out of flower petals for "the fairies at the bottom of the garden*" A child that is inclined to it may get something out of it, others won't. It may even help in terms of long-term mental health to be encouraged to use imagination without it being drilled in that this is absolutely true once you've started questioning it/growing out of it.

It is something that will be grown out of for the most part, I think. I would be a lot more concerned about the effects of insisting to children that teachings of various religions are implicitly and explicitly truthful than I would be about fairies. I'd change my opinion if it became mandatory!


*I found it rather annoying at the time that the flower fairies could wear clothes made out of flowers, but my ones shriveled :P

OU812

LightlyGo wrote: »

How does it positively educate on dealing with issues like anxiety that later go on to be fatal for too many young people?
Should that not be the purpose of education? To lay the foundation at an early age for positive mental health in later life and give kids the tools for developing that as soon as we can? To teach them that we don't hope spirits and talismans will protect us from the darker sides of life but that we learn to deal better with those aspects of life?

Maybe it's just parents and teachers happy to abdicate the responsibility of talking to your child about their worries to a chunk of plastic.

it reinforces the point that it's ok to unload your worries, albeit to an imaginary being (kinda like religion but without the icky guilt part). but that it's ok to unload & not dwell on them.

I'd prefer if it was wood rather than plastic though.

RhubarbCrumble

OP, why are you so angry about something that's helping small children and making them feel better?
You seem to have a massive chip on your shoulder about something and you're coming across as being very bitter.

7 Seconds...

I love the idea, I am even now wishing It used when I was in school. I would have loved it. Sadly not very childhood is a happy one, but very child is important, so even if it was only to help one child I would still be all for it. It's not hurting anyone, no child is being force to use but it is there if they want, be it now or the future.

Children are only children for short period of their lives and if believing in fairies makes a child's life, happier, easier, nicer, more enjoyable than so be it.

_Whimsical_

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Oh that poem always gives me a shiver. It's not as sweet as it sounds, it's the narration of a fairy who lures a child away to another world, to death basically.

Back in the 1800s they believed that children were at risk of falling under the enchantment of a fairy and being lured away to another realm. It was how they understood death or a child going missing and never returning home. They also used it to explain a child becoming disabled etc through illness, they believed the fairies took their healthy baby and left an other worldly changeling in it's place if the child changed in appearance or temperament. Boy children were more at risk of being "stolen", also more at risk generally of genetic illness, being kidnapped as slaves as they could work harder than girls on a farm and mischief that might get them hurt.

In Connemara and rural parts of the west those notions were thought to be so pervasive that fairies might steal your son that parents dressed their young boys in girls dresses to fool the fairies into leaving them alone. There are several pics if you search, this is one.
https://www.facebook.com/IrishChildhood/photos/a.348415355244388.88396.348410565244867/437772586308664/?type=3

It's not nearly as benign a tradition I had always thought myself. That picture really stayed with me.

gitzy16v

Terrible idea,my lad is already getting indoctrinated with the religious bull but he's too smart,way too smart for the fairy bull.

He told me about this fairy thing they were doing in school and came home saying "dad,fairies arent real are they!.They wont help with my problems.God will wont he?"

I told him he's got to sort his own problems out and if he cant Ill help him.

The best came later that week when his tooth fell out:):):rolleyes:....guess what happened next...."tooth fairy will bring me money wont she?"

Too smart,way too smart.:D

_Whimsical_

gitzy16v wrote: »

Terrible idea,my lad is already getting indoctrinated with the religious bull but he's too smart,way too smart for the fairy bull.

He told me about this fairy thing they were doing in school and came home saying "dad,fairies arent real are they!.They wont help with my problems.God will wont he?"

I told him he's got to sort his own problems out and if he cant Ill help him.

The best came later that week when his tooth fell out:):):rolleyes:....guess what happened next...."tooth fairy will bring me money wont she?"

Too smart,way too smart.:D

Fair play to him I think believing in the tooth fairy might be more beneficial than not for him, don't blame him on that one .

What age was your son when he was being told the fairy stuff in school ?

Ipso

Anyone lese notice that The Children of the Forest in Game of Thrones are very similar to the Sidhe?

gitzy16v

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Fair play to him I think believing in the tooth fairy might be more beneficial than not for him, don't blame him on that one .

What age was your son when he was being told the fairy stuff in school ?

I could see in it his face when he said it...the little fecker remembered the conversation earlier it the week:pac::D
It was last year in Senior Infants...he's 7...started 1st class just this week.

_Whimsical_

gitzy16v wrote: »

I could see in it his face when he said it...the little fecker remembered the conversation earlier it the week:pac::D
It was last year in Senior Infants...he's 7...started 1st class just this week.

I like his style, I heartily endorse the tooth fairy personally:D.

I wouldn't be so comfortable with school teaching 6 year olds that a fairy is real, could be leaned on for emotional support or is dealing with their problems though. At 6 - 7 I'd expect more from a school in those terms.

gitzy16v

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I like his style, I heartily endorse the tooth fairy personally:D.

I wouldn't be so comfortable with school teaching 6 year olds that a fairy is real, could be leaned on for emotional support or is dealing with their problems though. At 6 - 7 I'd expect more from a school in those terms.

Im not bothered too much..Im fairly laid back and I hope it reflects in my boys attitude to these kinda of things.
I would be more worried about the religious aspect of his school,its typical Irish Catholic school with the church next door.
Without excluding him from religion that all his pals are in(nativity plays and the like) all i can do is make sure that he never relies on the religion or church to help him live his life correctly.Ya know,just show him that its all in his hands what he wants to do or what he wants to get sorted and that he has a dad who will do everything to help him whenever he needs it(while quietly pushing the fact that praying to God is not going to help).

I dont mind religion if its a comfort but Im extremely against following it because its just simply there.

The fairy stuff,well,he figured that out himself:D

FanadMan

gitzy16v wrote:

The best came later that week when his tooth fell out ....guess what happened next...."tooth fairy will bring me money wont she?"

gitzy16v wrote:

Too smart,way too smart.

Does your wee man still believe in Santa? When I was about that age I had my own mind made up about a lot of things but kept the santa belief as long as possible.....just in case

jimbobaloobob

gitzy16v wrote: »

Im not bothered too much..Im fairly laid back and I hope it reflects in my boys attitude to these kinda of things.
I would be more worried about the religious aspect of his school,its typical Irish Catholic school with the church next door.
Without excluding him from religion that all his pals are in(nativity plays and the like) all i can do is make sure that he never relies on the religion or church to help him live his life correctly.Ya know,just show him that its all in his hands what he wants to do or what he wants to get sorted and that he has a dad who will do everything to help him whenever he needs it(while quietly pushing the fact that praying to God is not going to help).

I dont mind religion if its a comfort but Im extremely against following it because its just simply there.

The fairy stuff,well,he figured that out himself:D

Would you not send him to a non religious school. Educate together?

gitzy16v

FanadMan wrote: »

Does your wee man still believe in Santa? When I was about that age I had my own mind made up about a lot of things but kept the santa belief as long as possible.....just in case

I think he caught me out this year with his bike....not a hope of him bringing it up:pac:
He will know soon enough,Im getting fed up of the fat red suit wearing ghost taking all the credit for my hard work:D
Kidding,Im not that evil.

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

Would you not send him to a non religious school. Educate together?

Nah the school is great otherwise and I reckon Ill guide him enough away from the bs of Christianity and he can take some of the good from it.
I grew up in the same type of environment,worse actually(parents dragged me to mass every week) and once I hit secondary, church and mass was a distant memory.
The lad has only been to mass doing a nativity play with all his peers and maybe 1 or 2 times,actually 2 a funeral and confirmation(bored out his mind both times)
Im confident he wont turn into any kind of religious nut,he trusts his mother and I too much and knows we wont put him wrong,he naturally questions things too.

Samaris

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

It's not nearly as benign a tradition I had always thought myself. That picture really stayed with me.

We've imported the pretty Victorian flitterwing fairies since, but the old Irish fairies of traditional stories were not nice. Some could be benevolent, but the underlying lessons in the stories were always that they should be treated with respect and caution. The native British fairy stories were much the same in terms of being cautionary rather than encouraging until the Victorians came along and pretty much upended the tradition, rewriting fairies as children's companions.

It's rather funny that our ancestors who may have held beliefs in fairies would be horrified at the idea of encouraging vulnerable children to confide their worries in the fairies!

topper75

So much bad energy coming off the OP.

How can I dissipate that?

topper75

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

In Connemara and rural parts of the west those notions were thought to be so pervasive that fairies might steal your son that parents dressed their young boys in girls dresses to fool the fairies into leaving them alone. There are several pics if you search, this is one.
https://www.facebook.com/IrishChildhood/photos/a.348415355244388.88396.348410565244867/437772586308664/?type=3

It's not nearly as benign a tradition I had always thought myself. That picture really stayed with me.

Jaysus - the dancing ladyboys of Connemara - what a show! Flatley missed a big trick with that one.

Pinch Flat

Who ever invented that fairy stuff, I hope they're making a fortune from it. My nephew is all into it - fairy door on the skirting board, washing line and you can buy different clothes. They even leave you a card when you're on holidays. Genius idea. I wouldn't read too much into it OP. Just someone riding the wave of the latest craze and hopefully making a mint in the process.

PARlance

They should just have a TV in each classroom with a Sky News Feed. It's more worry these kids need.

RoisinClare6

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Who ever invented that fairy stuff, I hope they're making a fortune from it. My nephew is all into it - fairy door on the skirting board, washing line and you can buy different clothes. They even leave you a card when you're on holidays. Genius idea. I wouldn't read too much into it OP. Just someone riding the wave of the latest craze and hopefully making a mint in the process.

Even better it's an Irish company!

ThisRegard

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Who ever invented that fairy stuff, I hope they're making a fortune from it.

My daughter has 2, a boy and girl. She left quite a sweet note for them after one of her dogs died explaining where he went to.

And befor the OP before he blows his top, yes, we discussed the imminent death before it happened and how she felt about it before and after, so it's not a replacement for us.

retro:electro

ThisRegard wrote: »

My daughter has 2, a boy and girl. She left quite a sweet note for them after one of her dogs died explaining where he went to.

And for the OP before he blows his top, yes, we discussed the imminent death before it happened and how she felt about it before and after, so it's not a replacement for us.

I would have loved something like that as a child when my dog died.

osarusan

I think the comparison with religion is fairly hopeless.

These fairy worry plaques will leave no imprint on the kids and are just something that kids will grow out of without any issue whatsoever, leaving no trace, other than maybe some embarrassment if they are mentioned in the future.

Get back to me when entry to primary school might depend on whether you are on record as believing in fairies not.

Mountainsandh

PARlance wrote: »

They should just have a TV in each classroom with a Sky News Feed. It's more worry these kids need.

Yeah, get them used to dealing with the ambient doom and gloom. They'll be better equipped for adulthood which is really coming all too soon for them.

ablelocks

OU812 wrote: »

The principle is a ride.

:D:D:D:D:D

spiritnsoul

If it gets children expressing their feelings and anxieties then brill idea. There are more to feelings than the typical "sure im grand".