Enjoying the corn maze with Aunt Steph
Going for a ride
Picking a pumpkinMy sister visited us last weekend. The kids always enjoy playing with her. We went to a local orchard and took in the sites. Nothing beats a cider donut! The only unfortunate consequence of the weekend was that we gave Aunt Steph a nasty cold. Everyone in our house (except Nate so far) has gotten this cold. I haven't had a cold this miserable in a while. Hopefully we all recover quickly!
Caleb had his 4 year old check up today. He is 3 ft 7 inches tall, 45 lbs and very healthy! Unfortunately he had to get 4 shots. I was proud of him though. He was only hysterical for a short amount of time. I felt a little bad because after the first two he said, "Mommy there's only one shot, right?!" I had only said there would be a shot, not 4 of them. Bad Mommy.
As I write this Nate and Caleb are sleeping outside in the tent. I know, my husband is crazy about camping and Caleb is following in his footsteps. It's like 46 degrees right now and falling. I'm just glad I have boys that will camp with Nate in cold weather so I don't have to!:)
So we have come across our first school quandary. Caleb's preschool teacher sent home the list of books she'll be reading to the class next week. Now, keep in mind that this is a Christian preschool. They all deal with "scary" themes and one even has a ghost in it. For the class Halloween party the kids can dress up, which is fine, but one of the crafts is a haunted house craft. This just isn't acceptable to Nate and I. We don't do much with Halloween in our house. We'll carve a pumpkin and take the kids trick or treating in the neighborhood (which Nate still isn't crazy about, but I like dressing up the kids :) )- but we don't decorate or do anything with the scary stuff. We just don't agree with making light of witches and other stuff, because those things really do exist. So I talked with the teacher and she dropped the books off for us to look over before school next week. I phrased it to her that we were concerned about Caleb being scared by some of the books and having nightmares. Which is partly true, he does get scared easily and is already afraid of the dark, etc. So she wants me to tell her on Sunday what we think of the books. I just don't know what to do! We don't want to be crazy parents, but we still want to stick to our beliefs. I'm leaning towards reading the books to Caleb this weekend and stressing that the scary stuff isn't real and that it's just a story. It would also be a good time to reinforce that God is always bigger than the scary things and that He'll help us when we're afraid.
I guess I'm wondering what some of you think. I know some of you have taught in Christian schools or have older children- did you have similar situations there? I guess we thought celebrating Halloween wasn't going to be an issue in a Christian school. Anyone else have ideas of how we could handle this?
5 comments:
A Christian school having a book that talks about ghosts (unless is is the holy ghost) is giving the teacher way too much latitude in curriculum choices. When you were younger your Christian school had some parents that did not even like the school doing an autumn theme with costumes of animals, careers and such because it was leaning too much towards the traditional celebration of halloween. I think you are in a position where you can push the teacher on this one regarding the haunted house, ghosts, scary themes. Aren't there more parents upset about this?
Obviously, you are already thinking of the teachning moments here, where you can tell Caleb what you believe in. We'll be praying for you------many thorny quandaries to come in your child-raising years. You have two sets of grandparents praying for you daily, in addition to grandparents too! Love you lots.
When we were little my parents kept us out of school on "Storybook Character Day" which coincided with Halloween. Their deal wasn't the issue with dressing up, but the timing of it making a bad witness to others.
I think you could talk to the teacher and just share your concerns about the ghosts, witches, and scary stuff. Maybe she was raised around it and just hasn't thought about the ramifications. I think the reasons you listed for being concerned about it are totally reasonable, she'll probably not have a problem changing things. If she does, you could consider talking to the principal to express your concerns. Just my (still childless) 2 cents.
Once again I'm a little late in my commenting, but I'm curious as to how this worked out. To be honest, I'm very surprised that the school will read the books associated with Halloween, witches, and haunted houses. Last year when Ethan was in preschool, the books and themes for the Halloween "season" were about apples, leaves, and pumpkins. All very appropriate themes for this part of the year. The topic of Halloween was left to the parents and however they chose to observe Halloween.
I think it is perfectly appropriate to raise your concerns to the teacher and even go up a level if she seems to disregard your concerns. I think she'll appreciate your perspective even if she doesn't feel the same way.
In the meantime, if she's going to read the books, I think what you talked about doing with Caleb and using the opportunity to discuss what you believe with him, would be great parenting. :)
One other thought...maybe you could offer to go to the library for her (I know, in your spare time) and look for pumpkin, leaf, or fall books. May be too late at this point, but something to keep in mind in the future.
I am surprised by this actually. Personally, I don't have a problem with Halloween. Both Mike and I celebrated as kids. When I taught at Central Christian School though, I realized that there were a lot of families in your situation. What I chose to do was to "redeem" the holiday to Christ. There is a wonderful book The Pumpkin Patch Parable (Liz Higgins or Higgs??) that talks of using a Jack-o-lantern to teach Christ's redemptive work in us. . .growing us, pulling out the yucky stuff inside us, giving us a new face and then ultimately letting us light the night with Christ's glow. That's what I did in my room. The parents (all) thanked me for giving them a way to spin the holiday back to Christ.
BTW - that read wierd. . .I'm not surprised by your beliefs. . .:) I was surprised a Christian school is letting a teacher do a haunted house craft. . .sorry! I got distracted by Destructo!
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