Honeybun’s spring break starts tomorrow and I’m most thankful that after today all celebratable holidays will be done. Her class is having an Easter Party today, which like their Christmas Party, I have issues with. I don’t mind celebrating generally non-denominational holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day but Christian holidays bother me. Where are the parties for Hanukah, Passover, Ramadan, or any of the other many Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. holidays?
We are not a religious family. We do not attend weekly services or teach our children faith-based principles (we do however expect them to act in a universally respectable and responsible way). My children have been to Jerusalem, seen the Wailing Wall and the Dome on the Rock. They have been into tons of different churches as well as mosques and wandered the streets of many cities’ Jewish Quarters, and visited Dachau Concentration Camp. Honeybun will gladly tell you all about when we went to Mother Mary’s House in Turkey and can recognize Jesus (both baby and man) from a mile away. But we have taught her this stuff in the context of history, not religion. We really only discuss faith when Honeybun asks specific questions in which we usually frame our response as “Some people believe…”
It’s not that I’m against religion or religious holidays, we celebrate Easter and Christmas at home, however, that is at home and we celebrate these holidays as family, not religious, celebrations similar to Thanksgiving. I believe school is a place to teach diversity (unless the school is religion based, which Honeybun’s is not). I never worked at a program where we celebrated religious holidays. We would touch on the outlying topics such as snowmen, reindeer, presents and wreaths for example at Christmas time—not all purely non-denominational but always without reference to Christmas. We would also, however, talk about dreidels, the menorah and Christmas Trees, trying to give equal time to each and of course would discuss or present anything our parents requested during these times.
Unfortunately, however, Honeybun’s school is not taking a diverse, faith-based approach to any of the holidays they celebrate. They are taking a very superficial and unhealthy approach to the celebration. Every holiday party has included parents being asked to bring in cupcakes, cookies, and chips (oh, and sometimes a small bit of fruit) along with other small items. I don’t mind helping out with crafting supplies or curriculum items but when my child returns home with her pepper or seaweed snack still in her backpack because she ate cupcakes and candy at school, it bothers me a little bit.
I was also very upset in December when I was asked to bring in a small wrapped gift for Santa to deliver to Honeybun when he visited school. I don’t even want Santa visiting our home (my personal quest—and struggle with hubby–to keep my children focused on what Mommy and Daddy do, not a fictious character) so why would I want him to bring her things at school? Not only did I have to go find a special gift for Honeybun, something under $5 but would dazzle just as much as her friends’ presents, I had to also find something for Sugarplum since she could not be left out of the receiving end of things.
Now comes Easter and the request for an entire (“small”) bag of eggs filled with “treats you want your child to have” and her name on the eggs for an Easter Egg hunt. First off, I can’t send Honeybun’s eggs filled with apple and cucumber when her friends will have chocolates and candies so it’s not really my choice. Second, though Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and Honeybun can tell you all about Jesus being killed (again, in a historical context), you know this is not a topic the school is going to touch. So why touch Easter at all? Focus on spring, chicks, bunnies, and flowers.
And the only mention of St. Patrick’s Day? A leprechaun came into the classroom and messed up the names. What a disappointment! I can only hope a public Elementary school next year will do better job at being multi-cultural.
Pictures: Honeybun in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (looking at the assumed site of Jesus’ Crucifixion); Sugarplum at Hagia Sophia, former Church then Mosque, now Museum; Honeybun at Dachau Concentration Camp
