We have a Jehovah's witness child in our elementary school class. He does not celebrate any holidays. The problem lies during special times such as music, art and library when the teachers are doing holiday based lessons. It seems so unfair to this kindergarten child to be pulled from these activities or to the other children if we eliminate them. Could anyone shed some light on what others have done in this situation. It is so frustrating for all.
2006-11-21 13:49:05 · 14 answers · asked by kathyar29 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I was raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and attented public school for all of my K-12 education.
I did not have a problem not participating in holiday activities because, for one thing, my parents had properly explained the origin of holidays and helped me to reason it out for myself and put together an opinion in my own words. Additionally, there are several articles and booklets that Witness parents may hand out to their child's teachers for this exact situation. If you do not have one already, you may request a copy from the child's parents.
There is no need to cut out the activities for the other children. Often it is a simple matter of having the child perform another activity, such as coloring or reading, etc. so he is not a part of the religious activities.
I am curious as to whether or not you have ever asked your student how he feels about the subject. You will most likely find that he does not mind, and can express his own feelings on the subject.
Witnesses do not keep their children locked up in a basement, after all. They have play dates, sleepovers, movie nights, etc. on their own time, so you don't need to worry about this child having any fun. He has plenty of that, I am sure.
2006-11-21 14:03:39 · answer #1 · answered by danni_d21 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It is a Holiday Celebration, not a Christmas Celebration, meaning it is no longer related to Christmas which they do not believe in. So what is the problem? This is the main reason the schools have done away with Christmas because some religions do not believe in Christmas or some parents are atheist. No need to pull the child out of anything unless your school is not following the new rules of excluding religion from the school activies. This has happened since our culture is so diverse now and politically correct.
2006-11-21 22:00:10 · answer #2 · answered by Sparkles 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Some teachers with JWs in their classes prefer to have them draw pictures about Christian qualities, love for example. JWs do not mind reading the history of certain holidays and sharing it with the class. JWs can write essays about the holiday and how they feel about it. Regarding music, if the song is against the individual's conscience and the Bible, then we prefer to not sing the song and keep quiet and even with the group (which is a individual's personal decision). Being a teacher also means we have to be creative and respectful of others, thinking of the differences as a challenge to be handled in the right manner. I think you are doing that. Thanks
2006-11-22 10:13:03 · answer #3 · answered by trustdell1 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I did not celebrate the Christian holidays either as a child growing up. My family was against participation probably like the J. witnesses. I always wished they would not do religious stuff at school, that way I was not left out. I do not have a good answer. Maybe let them go home with homework that lets them write papers, your choice of topic.
2006-11-21 21:56:39 · answer #4 · answered by Sand 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, I had a friend back when I was in Elementary School that was a Jehovah's Witness. As she and her brother were the only J.W.'s there, we still continued with holiday activities. Because of their religious beliefs, I think that they were unable to be part of those activities, though it didn't appear that she had any problems with that.
2006-11-21 22:01:01 · answer #5 · answered by ldnester 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
in stead of celebrating holidays you could celebrate seasons. i don't think painting snowmen or snowy forests isn't against anyone's religion.
there are winter songs too that aren't religious. i don't think *Good King Weanceslas* mentions God or anything. it is a song about a king who hikes through snow to give people food. there might be something about it being on christmas day though. but i am not sure. also if you want to keep an open mind about it and make sure everyone else has an open mind you could say ' december 25 is celebrated by christians as the day their lord figure dude 'jesus' was born' in stead of ' decmber 25 was the day jesus was born'
also there is a winter holiday that has nothing to do with god or religion. there is the 'advent' spiral thing it is a celebration of light ina time when the days are short and there is more darkness and cold. it is a very cool ceremony.
so you should reasearch these things
2006-11-21 22:06:05 · answer #6 · answered by unknown 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I was raised a JW and only recently have realised that it is an untruthful high control religion. I can not change the past but am slowly overcoming the false conditioning that I received.
When I was a child some teachers were very sensitive to my needs, which I greatly appreciated. A JW child does believe in what they have been taught, so you have to go along with their wishes. However, it is humiliating for a child to be considered different, so they do not want a scene made. The best thing is not to make a big thing about them missing out. Let them leave the class with a minimum of disruption and fuss, so as to avoid embarrassment.
One of my worst memories was being called to the front of the class on my birthday and being sung happy birthday. I believing i was sinning against God. I told my mother and she read to me from Revelation about God thinking i am lukewarm and so he would vomit me from his mouth.
I remember in grade 2 at Easter a rabbit came with baskets of Easter Eggs for everyone. My teacher prepared a special basket for me with normal chocolate in it. It did not bother my conscience to accept it and to this day I still remember how happy I was to have been included.
2006-11-23 02:01:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I know of a couple of schools which send these kids to the library and have the same lessons (without the Holiday theme) for them to work on. It is very frustrating and isn't fair at all to ANY of the children... but one must respect the personal views of the family and try to make due how they can.
I hope this helps... even if it doesn't remove the frustration.
2006-11-21 22:06:01 · answer #8 · answered by Kithy 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The teacher in my daughters class would let them do "grown-up" things....like help grade papers, organize things for the bulletin boards, play games on the computers etc. They would be given some sort of snack that didn't have anything to do with the holiday.
Surprisingly they adjusted very well.
2006-11-21 22:04:43 · answer #9 · answered by daljack -a girl 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I am sure there are others in a simular situation. I doubt you will find any public school now days that teaches the truth about the real meaning of Christmas. God was kicked out of public schools long ago and that is why they have so many problems today.
The child is a victim of his parents religion, he will survive, we can only pray that some day he will come to the TRUTH about Jesus Christ and celebrate the TRUE meaning of Christmas, Jesus is the gift from God.
2006-11-21 21:58:35 · answer #10 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋