People have already brought this up before. They claim you can't organize anything else during religious education hours because then the kids in those classes would be discriminated against... or some nonsense like that. ☕
Why can't a kid receive the sacraments if they attend church classes instead of religious ed at school? 🤔 Does this mean if someone decides at age 20 they want to make their First Communion, they’re out of luck? Or do they have to take the school version? The church version? How does the process actually work?
Firstborn dealt with this exact same nonsense regarding priest signatures. When she visited us over the weekend and tried attending Mass at our local parish, her teacher refused to recognize it. She adapted to that attitude pretty quickly. Her parents pulled her from the program before the second school year even started. As far as I know, they didn't need permission to enroll her in religion classes every year, but they had to file a formal request just to withdraw her. The little girl actually enjoyed going to church and religious studies. But because of this pressure and some truly senseless comments, she stopped going altogether. For instance, the teacher actually claimed that a family with divorced parents isn't a "real" family. She even said those parents were headed straight to hell. I have no idea where those kids are supposed to end up... there are several kids in that class with divorced parents. Some have half-siblings too. They live perfectly peaceful, stable lives. They get along great with their stepparents. Everything works fine. Then you have one teacher telling them their family isn't real and that they'll burn in hell. These are 9 and 10-year-olds. My daughter came home in absolute tears. Mom has a new partner, Dad has a new wife and another child...
Just an observation that nothing hateful can be said in a religious studies class.
What am I expecting here? Look, I’d expect them to make a connection in a way that actually makes sense for kids—something like, "As Christians, we believe God is real and exists, and someone else believes Santa Claus is real and brings gifts..." You state that neither belief is "wrong." Then throw in a line or two about imagination, childhood, and fairy tales. Whatever you do, don't just say, "Santa Claus doesn't exist, period." Don't lie, but tailor the truth to a child's age... just like we already do when we teach them about God or Jesus.
hiddenscout44 said:Look, everyone’s on a different timeline—for some it’s their first time dealing with this, for others it’s the second or third, and for some, they’re basically retired from caring... and kids don't believe in Santa Claus because of their age, they believe because their parents are out there feeding them lines. The real issue when someone disagrees with a teacher being upfront isn't about the truth itself; it's because an outsider—in this case, the teacher—just pointed out that the parents have been lying. Whether people want to admit it or not, parents lose their grip the second a kid catches onto that hypocrisy. Once a child realizes their parents are being two-faced, that authority just vanishes overnight. Basically, if you actually raised your kids with honesty, you wouldn't be sweating it when someone else tells them the truth.
Can you see the massive flaw in that logic when you look at religious studies, Christianity, and all that preaching? Setting aside whatever nonsense goes on inside a church for a second—this stuff is taught in public schools. It’s presented as absolute truth, the only right way to think.
I'm not even going to lower myself to the level of conversation in that last post...
hiddenscout44 said:Some parents try to keep their kids in the dark forever, so the real question is where the line is drawn. When is it a parent's job to tell the truth versus when is it just a case of kids—and people in general—simply being ignorant because nobody ever taught them? The worst ones are the people who think knowledge just descends from some higher power or that kids will eventually pick things up by osmosis. That kind of irresponsible parenting carries over into way more important stuff too, like sex ed or gender equality... not to mention basic manners and respecting others as individuals.
I honestly think it’s totally fine for teachers to bring this stuff up. That’s literally the whole point of the American school system—to educate people using actual facts.
Yeah, right... especially when it comes to those self-righteous types.☕
I agree that the approach is wrong. You shouldn't force people... but wouldn't a true Christian want to attend Advent vigils? Why wouldn't they? Wikipedia says the Advent vigil symbolizes a Christian's alertness during the Christmas season and Jesus's second coming. Christians strive to watch over their own lives and the lives of others so they don't lose eternal life. 🤔 It goes on to say these are simply the most FAVORITE masses (except maybe in Columbus) which hold penitential significance and represent a four-week period of continuous sleep deprivation. The Advent vigil calls us to honor the baby Jesus born in the manger and to witness God's wonderful works...
Every Christian should feel honored by this, rather than feeling pressured to show up for vigils. And Jessica Kelly4 says their church is packed with both kids and adults. I have no clue what it's like where I live; I'm not a believer. But it's weird to me that some people are counting down the days until the vigils while others are complaining... Is it because some are mostly Christian and others are just a minority? Some go out of faith, while others just go for the grades or so their kid doesn't have free time?!?!
Exactly. This should be made public and sent straight to the Archbishop as a prime example of how to encourage people to actually fulfill their duties. 👏 My colleagues who attend these sessions tell me they're wonderful, and anyone taking religious studies really ought to go. It’s during Lent too, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely—this great tradition deserves respect. And not just from the kids, parents should step up too! 👏 They should also send a formal request during this period to move religious classes to zero hour. That way, we don't have poor kids freezing in the cold... or heaven forbid, just loitering around school (if they even open at 7 AM, according to the rhinoceros).
My father-in-law said the exact same thing to the priest years ago when he visited their place 🤣 We've lived in this house for a few years now and not once has a priest stopped by—and I'm pretty sure it’s still the same guy.
The New York Post ran an article yesterday saying 86% of students are taking religion classes. ☕
I'm with you on this—there's absolutely no need to cram more stuff into an already packed schedule. Honestly, if we actually embraced some Christian values of mercy and solidarity, they’d move religion class to a different period instead of forcing it into the first or last slot of the day.
(The news ticker just cracked me up—apparently they're introducing gluten-free communion wafers 🤣 totally irrelevant, obviously) 😁
Hey, calm down! Why are you jumping down my throat over my post? I think you totally misread what I was getting at. Ethics don't have to be part of the core curriculum. There aren't any answers to your questions about where the teachers come from or who would foot the bill... I was just saying that if religious studies were handled better, parents wouldn't feel so "burdened" by it. They’d actually know their kids are being looked after instead of just sitting in a hallway unsupervised (which happens in some schools). For the record, I've signed petitions to get religious education out of public schools entirely. My kid hasn't been baptized, and we aren't religious people... so whatever, one day my child will just be one of those kids out there living their life. The whole point of the post was that Lilja Vokić didn't make it clear what the actual issue is.
People wouldn't be so worked up if there was an actual solution offered instead of just making kids sit in the hallway during class. It’s not rocket science. Why can't we just introduce a subject like ethics in elementary school, similar to how it works in high school, so one group studies one thing and the other group studies something else? 🤔 Since when is it against the rules to offer an elective like a foreign language or computer science?
I graduated back in '99, and we actually had ethics classes back then. I went to high school in Washington, D.C. I'm just lurking here for now since my little one isn't even old enough for school yet, but since he won't be getting baptized (and there's no plan for that), this whole topic is pretty interesting to me.
For any ladies living in the Chicago area, you seriously need to check out Meli cakes over in Tresnjevac. We didn't go through them for our wedding since I hadn't heard of them yet, but we did order a birthday cake from them. It was absolutely perfect. I have no clue what they charge for full-scale wedding cakes per slice, but if you're nearby, just go and try their stuff. (Our cake served 20 people and ran us $107, and a friend of mine ordered one for a rock concert crowd that cost $350). They also don't hold back on the frosting—their decorations are super rich. You can find them on Facebook at Meli cakes. Highly recommended. 👍
Current status: - My mom has told me about a million times, "Just get a haircut, you'll feel so much better." - I'm 15 weeks along and eating is still a complete gamble every single day. Will this food actually stay down? Who knows. The morning sickness is technically over, but I'm still basically at war with everything I eat and every smell I encounter. - And honestly, when I was at my absolute worst—meaning I couldn't even dream of leaving my bed for the couch, let alone seeing people—everyone kept trying to drop by. It’s like they thought I was some kind of zoo exhibit to study while I was puking. Everyone knew I felt like crap. If I had just said I had a stomach flu and needed someone to grab something from CVS, they probably would have given me a wide berth. But because it's been five weeks of vomiting and I'm "just pregnant," everyone acts like it's perfectly normal.
My advice? Don't do it. Stick with long hair. It's way easier—just throw it in a ponytail or a bun and you look put-together, even if you haven't washed it in days or don't have time to style it. 👍 Plus, your hair will probably grow back like crazy, so you'll be stuck at the salon constantly just to keep it manageable.
(Sorry, I hope you don't come after me; I'm just speaking from experience and what I've seen happen to my short-haired friends. 🙂 )
Karen Richardson3 said:With the full-day option, you usually have two teachers handling things, and the schedule runs from about 8 AM to 4 PM. It’s pretty fluid—they might swap a lesson for an hour of playtime, or maybe do two hours of math followed by two hours of arts and crafts 😁 or whatever.
For the after-school program, kids stay with their regular classroom teacher at first, but once those core 4 or 5 hours of school wrap up, the kids staying late basically go into supervised care. Usually, they get grouped together with kids from other classes, and they're looked after by whichever teacher is on duty for that day or week. Parents can swing by to pick up their little ones as early as 2 PM or 3 PM, and ideally, while the kids are hanging out in that supervised period, they could knock out some homework and have the teacher take a quick look at it—though, let's be real, that doesn't always happen in practice.
I didn't realize that. I thought people were just using different terms for the same thing. 🕺 I was talking about the full-day program, though. I'll go ask her.
Karen Richardson3 said:Nykas, I’m a little lost here—is my kid in an after-school program or just staying for that extended afternoon session?
Honestly, the way the teacher handled this was just a total mess; but what I’m trying to figure out is if one of those two teachers assigned to the full-day program isn't actually doing anything with them during their shift, or if the teacher watching them after school just completely ignores homework time?
I didn't realize there was a distinction... honestly. What’s the difference between after-school care and full-day care? ....I can't even remember which term my coworker actually used...