Furious!

I am VERY angry right now.

We went out to eat at Steak N Shake this evening and when my 5 year old, Brandon, was served his dinner, he put his hands together (like in prayer), closed his eyes, and then peeked through one eye, looked at me, nudged me and said, "Mommy...you do it too!"...He then showed me his hands.

I am VERY angry right now!
I asked him who taught him to do that, and he said, "Teacher..."






WTF!

I am atheist. Have been for 15 years.
My husband, who is baptized but Agnostic, saw what he did too.
We're both very upset about this.

It's not that I'm against religion or people who are religious. That's definitely not the case.
However, teaching a child at a non-church PUBLIC school is NOT appropriate AT ALL.
If I wanted him to learn about religion, I'd do it at home and definitely when he's old enough to understand and make up his OWN mind about his beliefs.

I do not think a 5 year old is ready for that.

I am so angry!
I told him to stop doing it, and that I am not mad at him. Told him just to go ahead and eat his dinner.


I am going to have to have a long serious conversation with the lady who runs the school on Monday.
I already explained to her about his speech issues and why I think they should put teaching him Spanish on the back burner (his Pre-K teaches Spanish every day)....they understood that.
I just never thought I'd have to bring up religious crap with the school he's going to.

KLAJSDG;LKJS;GLKJS;KGLJA

End rant...

could it have been something as innocent as he was sitting next her at lunch recently, saw her doing it, and out of religious ignorance asked why?

I'm sure it's nothing remotely as heinous as your emotions are leading you to believe at the moment.

However...if this was done in an attempt to religious-fy your son, then by all means, you have a butt load of legal recourse to take in firing this hoe.

I'd be pissed too. School is not the place for that, and they aren't the people to have religious conversations with YOUR child in the first place.

Quoting ♥Niko♥BGFM:“ I am VERY angry right now. We went out to eat at Steak N Shake this evening and when my 5 year old, ... [snip!] ... I just never thought I'd have to bring up religious crap with the school he's going to. KLAJSDG;LKJS;GLKJS;KGLJA End rant...”

Wow... What a huuuuge over-stepping of boundaries! They usually don't even let kids pray in public schools anymore! Just have "moments of silence"!

i think its kind of cute but i definitely understand why you are mad. you are against that in your house and they shouldnt be pushing that onto children, especially that young. do they know that you are atheist?

Wow thats really low of the school to do. They dont have the right to do that at all. I would deffinitley be talking to them.

Wow...I totally understand your anger. As a teacher, it is hard to aviod religion conversations when the studenst bring them up, but by NO MEANS do you share your religous beliefs or encourage a student to follow your beliefs.

I am sorry about what is happening. There may be a reasonable explanantion...but until you find out...you have every right to be angry!

i went to a Catholic Elementary school and we always said grace before eatting lunch, though my school was private and you HAD to pay tuition to go there. i went there from like k-6th grade. we went to church and everything, of course my whole school was catholic, LITTERALLY. there was no other religion there, though they didnt care what religion you were you could go there. but i dont see it as a big deal, if my kid wants to pray before a meal he can go ahead and do it. i was baptised as catholic as an infant, had my first communion in 2nd grade and recieved my conformation in middle school. if you really dont want your son learning that stuff then tell his teacher.

Quoting Animal Guardian:“ could it have been something as innocent as he was sitting next her at lunch recently, saw her doing ... [snip!] ... in an attempt to religious-fy your son, then by all means, you have a butt load of legal recourse to take in firing this hoe.”

I don't know. This is the first time I've seen it or heard about it, so I have no idea if he saw her do it or if they're making all the kids do it. That's why I definitely wanna talk to someone at the school about it and find out.

If it's as innocent as him just looking over and asking "Why you do that?", then I'm not going to be as mad as if they were making ALL the kids do that before eating.

umm...Idk wat to say...yea school should def. not do that...b cuz they dont know what religion you might be...as far as the spanish..honestly its extremely helpul for kids to know...and the younger they learn it the better b cuz their articulators are not fully developed yet. I mean my child is half Mexican so learning spanish is the only way she is going to know how to speak to her dads family b cuz of them dont speak english, but even if she wasnt mixed I myself would teach her french b cuz thats wat I know and at a very young age things are easier to learn. But I get your point about being upset..although Im a hardcore Baptist...you being an atheist would know have to explain to your child why you dont want them praying and that could be a very sticky situation

Quoting Cartman:“ I'd be pissed too. School is not the place for that, and they aren't the people to have religious conversations with YOUR child in the first place.”

That's how I feel. It's not a school thing, it's something that I, as the parent, would teach.
My husband, who believes there IS something out there but isn't really fond of modern religions, feels the same way I do. He thinks it should be the kids choice later on in life if he wants to go into religion and learn this stuff, and it'll be OUR job to teach him..
Not a public school!

Quoting ♥Niko♥BGFM:“ I don't know. This is the first time I've seen it or heard about it, so I have no idea if he saw her ... [snip!] ... over and asking "Why you do that?", then I'm not going to be as mad as if they were making ALL the kids do that before eating.”

This sounds completely reasonable to me  

Update us!!

Quoting kaitlynsp3919:“ i think its kind of cute but i definitely understand why you are mad. you are against that in your house ... [snip!] ... that in your house and they shouldnt be pushing that onto children, especially that young. do they know that you are atheist?”

No, I don't usually announce it in public lol I just never thought I'd have to, ya know what I mean???

If he truly believed in a God and wanted to say grace before dinner, I wouldn't be upset, I just don't think he's really old enough to understand that stuff.

Jon's dad (FIL) says grace at the table, and I'm polite and respectful of his beliefs and I'll hold hands with them and be quiet and let them do their thing.

I'd be upset too. Public schools aren't supposed to teach about religion.

Quoting Precious' BoobBitch:“ Wow... What a huuuuge over-stepping of boundaries! They usually don't even let kids pray in public schools anymore! Just have "moments of silence"!”

Yea, I had the Moment of Silence back in school, and some kids prayed, some didn't, some stared off into space or doodled...
But they never ever ever told us "Pray during this time!" or show us how or anything.