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I had my 6 year olds Halloween party all plan until tonight when the teacher called me and said we can not celebrate Halloween because one boy is a Johovah Witness. We are all pretty upset and are trying to come up with a goody bag decorated that he could take home Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. I am told that I could use pumpkins but with no faces. I am not clear what I can and can not do. We so much want the children to be abel to take home a goodie bag Help please
well, I am not a Jehovah's Witness, BUt I do have a friend who is planning a harvest party instead of a Halloween party just because she likes the thes=me better. She is decorating with pumpkins (not carved) and colored ears of corn and that sort of thing. I would think scarecrows would be okay, too, if not Haloweeny. She is having the kids do crayon rubbings of leaves and such. Um, there is a website called easyfunschool. com that has tons of crafts that are sorted by season and they have things like edible playdough that is flavored with cinnamon and pumkin pie spice and such, tons of other crafts I can't remember. Happy Harvest Days might be a good thing instead of Halloween or the Happy Fall Y'all, which is a stamp by SU. Anyway, I htink anything would be alright, if it want costumes and ghouls and witches and such. don't quote me and I hope that helps a bit--good luck! I so admire you for planning all of this out--what a challenge!
So, will the school be banning costumes because of this little person too? (I assume of course they will get to dress up for the day- ours do) Why can't they be tolerant of what the majority does? I don't want to be critical. Really. I just don't understand why we freak out because of one out of how many kids??? The harvest party is a good idea. But, what is reality? Can you not give candy to anyone if one kid is diabetic? Or do you do something special for the one so they know they aren't left out, and their situation has been considered. I say do something special and let the others have the normal party. I know if roles were reversed I would not expect everyone to changed because of me or my child. I would be grateful to have things for MY child that observed my beliefs or whatever, but I wouldn't expect the world to revolve around me. Do you know if the family is as worried as the one who pointed this out? I would maybe even consider asking them. Just a thought, and MHO.
So, will the school be banning costumes because of this little person too? (I assume of course they will get to dress up for the day- ours do) Why can't they be tolerant of what the majority does? I don't want to be critical. Really. I just don't understand why we freak out because of one out of how many kids??? The harvest party is a good idea. But, what is reality? Can you not give candy to anyone if one kid is diabetic? Or do you do something special for the one so they know they aren't left out, and their situation has been considered. I say do something special and let the others have the normal party. I know if roles were reversed I would not expect everyone to changed because of me or my child. I would be grateful to have things for MY child that observed my beliefs or whatever, but I wouldn't expect the world to revolve around me. Do you know if the family is as worried as the one who pointed this out? I would maybe even consider asking them. Just a thought, and MHO.
I totally see your point I am a sub teacher and I REFUSE to sub at one of the school casue a kid has apenut allergy so they banned ALL kids and staff from bringing peanut anything to school. No peanut butter sandwhichs, granona bars, cookies etc. Like heck was I gonna worry about what I pack for lunch. If he is THAT deathly allergic allergic he should be home schooled since it really isn't safe for him... instead of punishing all the kids
Ok back to topic. I personally wouldn't cater to one child... he/she can choose to take whatever goodie bag I made or not take one, no offence taken on my part- You could do just color schemes (orange and black, etc), a fall theme (leaves, pumpkins). You can also make his bag different from all the rest and not have to replan everything! I think you are very sweet from trying to include him but do remember he chose to exclude himself... Good luck
This is very interesting. I actually went to school with a boy that was Jehovah witness. I graduated in 1992 so it has been a while. But he and his parents just opted for him not to attend the parties. I don't think parties of any kind were part of their religious believes. But anyway the subject is the goodie bags this is my suggestion
I bought some of those mugs that you can get from Joanns or Michaels and took the paper insert out and stamped with pumpkins (no faces) then put it back in the mug. I filled with apple cider mix, pumpkin pencil, and pumpkin candies. I also put a little stick with a sign that says happy fall y'all. I am planning on selling them beside my halloween mugs at the craft fair next weekend. my thinking was for those that do not celebrate halloween.
I agree with MonTigg...I would see if you can continue with the party as planned and just make up a "plain" goody bag for this child...if everything keeps getting banned b/c of one or two kids the majority will have no memories of a childhood!
Good luck...thats why my room parent days are over!!!
Not that I agree, but...I guess I would do as the teacher requested and make it into more of a fall/harvest theme. I'm sure most of the kids will still see it as their "Halloween" party and as long as there are treats they will be happy. In my town there are plenty of Halloween activities for the kids to be involved in. Your post made me think about the school my kids go to. They don't do anything for Halloween...it's not even brought up. I'm not sure why. I'm bummed because I like to have any excuse to do little crafty things for the kids. Anyway, good luck and I'm sure you'll do something wonderful that will make everyone happy! (actually...is it ever possible to make EVERYONE happy?)
I have some very reiligious friends who don't celebrate Halloween either. They celebrate "hallo-leuia" "pumpkin patch" and even "trick or trunk" where the kids get goodies out of people's car trunks. Hmmm...ANYWAY, I was a preschool teacher for a little while in a Baptist environment, so we did the typical Fall stuff - scarecrows, leaves, pumpkins, crows (which are spookier to me than costumes!), and hay bales.
Funny story - I was in WA state when they had this huge uproar in Puyallup because the school district prohibited Halloween itself! No trick or treating, as they didn't want to offend the residing Wiccans. Well the Wiccans went public to say it was no big deal, that there was no offense taken, let the kids have fun! But the district held their ground anyway. :(
Oh, and one of my friends in high school was a Jehovah's Witness - they don't celebrate Xmas either but she was sure quick to take any presents from us and not give any back. :confused:
I'd be surprised if the child was allowed to partake at all. When I grew up there was a JW child and he wasn't allowed to do anything at the parties. I don't think he even stayed in the room. And it was for any party. I don't believe they celebrate birthdays or any holidays for that matter. So I'm not sure changing the "theme" of the bag will matter...other than to appease a few people. Grrr.
At our school we don't do "halloween" (because of all the stupid hoobaloo). They dress up as their favorite book character (boring) if they want. We have a Harvest Festival. Nothing can say "halloween" on it. I'm in charge of teacher appreciation for the PTO and I decided to start "BOOing" the staff. I had to make sure there was a way for the staff to opt out if they didn't want to participate (to hopefully avoid hard feelings for being insensitive). All the regular tags I stamped and then if they didn't want to participate I made plain white tags (with no image) for them to put on their box.
personally the boy could stay home or go to the office or something. We can not keep putting a stop to all... isnt the rule of thumb Majority rules?? That is how I see it.
I know a little bit on the subject since I was married to a man who was trying to become a Jehovah's Witness. They do not celebrate any type of holiday, Christmas, Mother's Day, 4th of July, birthday's and especially not Halloween. I would be very surprised if this child's parents would even allow them to stay in the room during any type of party. Maybe you could talk to the teacher to find out if she has spoken to the childs parents to see if they will even let their child attend the party even without a Halloween theme. Since JH's have very strict rules about such things I doubt the child will be allowed to stay. That way you won't have to change everything you planned until you know for sure. If they would let the child stay I think the nice thing to do would be to change it, after all, at that age did the child really choose to be that religion?
I'm a room mom and our school has opted to do the harvest festival theme. No costumes at the school, but they do have a Costume Party on a Saturday at the preschool.
Anyways, think Thanksgiving type decorations and you'll have your inspiration for stamping a goodie bag. And be ready for Christmas celebrations to become "winter" party.
Here is the thing. Why should 16 other kids have to not celebrate halloween no he did not choose his reglion like i did not,but he has to learn that he does not celebrate holidays and he is going to have to go through life that way and he better start learning now because he is not always going to come across people in his life like his teacher/ the teacher contacted the mother and came up with this plan not the other 16 mothers, since they do not celebrate and are very strict on it, the mother should have thanked the teacher and told her those are their beliefs, and he would not be in school that day and let the other children have their celebration along with the whole school, why should one of my children not be able to even have halloween books in his classroom the whole school is celbrating that day the lunch menu is even halloween themed. shall the children close their eyes when my younger daughter walks through for the halloween parade ?? Is it fair to my child not to be able to acknowledge halloween on that day, or speak of it for his seven hours in school while the injoing classrooms are have their party. this is their choice as it is my choice what religion i want to be and they need to also know halloween is part of americas culture and if they don not want to be involved stay away I am so upset that i even have to be having this problem my boy is 6 years old. I take pride in being involved in my childrens school activity, academics, and everything they do, I am tired of this problem. It simply should not be an issue today.
one more thing How would you like to sit down at my dinner halloween night when two of my children talk about their halloween celebration at the same school and my son has nothing to say. it is heartbreaking to me and I will not allow this, wht happens at christmas do we take that off the calendar too. Who has the right to tell me October is not about halloween it is on my calendar, ask my 3 year old what holiday is coming up and she will answer you. For a teacher to not acknowledge the day is wrong, All three of my children know all their holidays, Hanukah kwanzaa they learn this in Catholic and public schools, The whole class should not have to change for one !!
OK - I agree that in trying to be tolerant of this one kid we are depriving other kids - so is that being tolerant of them and their beliefs?
But...I'm sorry, the peanut issue is a whole other ball of wax. If the kid is deathly allergic to peanuts then I think that the school is great to keep it away from him. Some people get sick from peanut dust or even residue. This coming from a mom whose dd begged her to home school her last year. But, alas, I'm a single mom and home schooling for me as for many others is just not possible.
OK - I agree that in trying to be tolerant of this one kid we are depriving other kids - so is that being tolerant of them and their beliefs?
My thoughts exactly. Everyone has a right to celebrate or not celebrate certain holidays. But if one person's belief's is to not celebrate anything, then the rest of the school should not have to cancel all celebrations. One of my co-workers is a JW and she just doesn't celebrate birthdays or other holidays with us. But our company does not ban having birthday treats brought in. This person just does not sign cards or eat the treats, or come to our Halloween Party. But she does get holiday leave and pay for the holidays she doesn't celebrate! Hmmmm.
At our school, because of certain people & their beliefs have a fall festival. As long as the theme stays away from witches, ghosts and black cats...there shouldn't be a problem. I am not familiar about Jahovis witness (sp?), however, I wouldn't see how anyone could have a problem with the celebration of all things fall. Good luck!!
My daughter is in preschool this year. I'm doing the halloween party. But I was just informed they cannot wear costumes. So now after reading this post, I had better check what else they don't allow. The craft I made is definitely for Halloween, not just fall related. What have things come to?
What a horrible situation. And your child is only 6 years old. What happens next year? and the year after that? This is also the first major holiday that school celebrate with a party. What happens when Christmas and Valentine's day come around? Should your sons class be expected to put all holiday celebration on hold because of this one student? I DON'T THINK SO!!!! Halloween is an American Holiday. St. Hallows Eve is a religious holiday. I know this is a public school, but you are not forcing him to participate. It is not a graded class requirement, just something nice you are trying to do for the kids so they can have a little fun once in awhile at school. If the parent doesn't want the child to participate fine, but to make the other kids cancel their fun for him is going to cause this child more problems than they want to deal with. The other students will KNOW who is to blame for them not having a party like the rest of the school.
Jennifer ~ You should talk to the teacher again and see if this child is even going to be attending school that day. Last year in my daughter's class there was one girl that was a Jehovah's Witness and she did not attend school on any of the days they had a holiday party (Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day).
If the whole school is celebrating Halloween as opposed to celebrating "fall", that is unfair to your child's class to not be allowed to do the same.
When my kids were in elementary school (my youngest is now a High School Junior, so it has been a while), they had fall festival, a winter party, a bunny banquet, etc. so as not to upset anyone (sure - many Christians were upset we were not celebrating Christmas, Easter, etc.!). The kids who were JW left the classroom during any party, during the pledge of allegience etc. Unfortunately you can not please everyone. Gee, it is hard enough just getting a dinner on my table that all of us like!
My daughter's school doesn't do Halloween parties, which I am thankful for. NOT because we don't do Halloween, as we are all for trick-or-treating & such. But I'm glad because they go to school to learn. They are going to spend the whole evening running the neighborhood & gorging on candy & such. I don't feel that they need the school day to "prep" for this. We only do treat bags, handed out at the end of the day. And there are no costumes.
Our schools only do 3 parties: Christmas (called Holiday Party), Valentine's Day & End of Year. The Holiday & Valentine parties present an opportunity to discuss loving & accepting our neighbors, sharing, giving, being a friend to all, etc. At the end of the year, well, we are celebrating the end of another school year, saying goodbye to friends & teachers. I can SEE the point of spending more time on these topics. But Halloween is all about costumes & candy. There's no lessons or values to learn.
If a school wants to have more parties, then have them serve as a reward. The class that reads the most books, or collects the most canned goods, or has perfect attendance, gets a pizza or popcorn or ice cream or movie party. Reward the kids for a positive action. And these types of celebrations don't offend anyone's beliefs or religion. Don't just have parties for the sake of having parties. It takes away from actual classroom time.
This, of course, is just MY opinion on the matter.
__________________ Kelly He's BACK! (456 days, could you do it?)
Our school system has even banned food as rewards. No more pizza, ice cream, cake parties for being first, doing the most, etc. Also teachers can't use candy, etc as classroom treats/rewards.
It's a politically correct world out there. Be careful or you might offend somebody. Sorry but "somebody" needs to have tolerance for other's beliefs too. Halloween is what you make of it.
My granddaughter's school is just doing a "harvest" themed party for Halloween too. No costumes are allowed except the kids can dress up as scare crows. Personally, I think that's scarier for my 6 year old granddaugher than the princess costume that she wants...lol! Halloween is actually a religious holiday, so I suppose that's why school boards get so nervous about being sued if there are any celebrations. Here is a great description about how our current Halloween evolved, and this is in the federal government's library of congress, of all places! http://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html
But actually, I like the old days when I grew up (I'm in my 50's so that was before everything had to be polically correct). I agree with Kelly that school is for learning, but I also have to think that there is a place for fun and celebration, and learning about different cultures, traditions, etc. I really dislike the fact that there is no longer Christmas celebrations anywhere too. Instead of teaching children the different celebrations of Christmas, Hannuka, Kwanza, etc., we completely eliminated all of them and call it a "winter" party.
Well, I'll get off my soap box now because I know this can be a touchy subject. But I'm all for celebrating Halloween to the fullest, including all the cute stamping candy gifts that some of us plan to make for the teachers!
Our school has ditched Halloween celebration. Parties are only Winter vacation and Valentines Day, which are viewed as secular.
The kids do get to dress up on Pajama Day, Crazy Hat day, and "come as your favorite literary character", which my 2nd and 4th graders have proclaimed to be lame. The 2nd grader says he wants to be Lowly Worm from World of Richard Scarry, so I have to find him a tyrolean hat and a giant sock to turn him into a worm.
:rolleyes:
I just deleted all the politically incorrect stuff I just threw up. I guess all I really need to say is Happy Halloween (NOT Fall Festival), Merry Christmas (NOT Happy Holidays) and Happy Easter (NOT Spring Festival). Is Thanksgiving still safe or do we need to start calling that Happy Day of Eating until you Explode?
And for the record ... JH cannot celebrate anything nor can they receive gifts OR goody bags so go ahead and make your bags just as you planned to.
I'm room mother of DD#2 this year. (second grade) I too have a kid in the class that won't be celebrating but he won't be there at all. I thought it was the same kid that she had in her class last year but that isn't the case. Last year she had a kid in her class that didn't come the entire week of Halloween cause the teacher would be using different worksheets etc that had ghost, witches, etc on them!
DD felt sorry for him around Christmas time as they make stockings and take items in (pencils, glue, candy, etc) to fill them up. So she still took him the same item she took for the other kids (pocket envelope with hot chocolate) but she stamped Little Trucks on it and told him it was a treat (snack) from a friend. Wether he took it or not, I don't know.
This is my 24th year as a public school educator. I have had several JW students. The thing that always got me was they couldn't partcipate in any of the celebrations, but the parents always demanded their goody-bag when they picked them up early. Just give him a plain bag w/ treats.
LOL. I am 48 with many years of Halloween under my belt and that of my childrens. Halloween is an American tradition ...all out and to the 9's (just ask Wally World) When did we as a country begin to worry about others perception of our holidays and our traditions of celebration. I could wax prophetic about all the "old tyme decorations and costumes" my parents and now I used to enjoy....when did our Halloween become "suspect"???? Forgive me my ponderings...I will NEVER give up my memories of what I hate to lable "American Halloweens". When did we let others dictate our memories and that of our kids?? Hate me if you will..........
HELP ME PLEASE FOR SCHOOL PARTY
