The Oracle

that first one....thats us too. sometimes we have to chose between the prospect of going to court or in the alternative losing our flat and being homeless.

whenever rhiannon says she wants something i either try to make her something similar from odds and ends (like when she kept asking for two weeks if she could have an omnitrix and could we go to 'the omnit-trix and watch shop and afford her one', and my friend gave her a watch she didn't use), like a wand, or the rocket i made from kitchen roll tubes and foil. other than that all i can say is 'i want doesn't always get sweetpea'. but i save that for when she gets her most demanding.


i had to try and explain to rhiannon what dying meant today. she loves to pick random flowers and gets a bit down hearted when they die. up till now i've said to her 'when you pick a flower honey, its going to die eventually'. she seemed to understand that. but today she kept going round saying everything was dying. i would be leaning forward trying to take the pressure off my back (i was folding washing and there was lots of it) and she came up to me and asked why i was dying.
now some of you know that my husbands aunt is dying. we thought she had months, but she's gone downhill so fast that she now has a few weeks. luckily turk wasn't home when she said it. he would probably just snap 'don't say things like that', but it would hurt him inside.
so i took her aside and tried to explain it to her. i told her that everything has to die eventually. just like when a flower dies when you pull it out of the ground, people die too. at this point i told her about aunty wendy, and that she was dying. rhiannon asked why and i said it was something we call cancer. i told her it was very say because it means you don't get to see that person again and i told her that when we die we go to a place called the Summerland to have a rest. being an intelligent little almost four year old, she said 'and when your there it doesn't hurt anymore'. that bought a little tear to my eye. i said yes thats right. she then said 'and when i go to the Summerland i can see aunty wendy again.'. this was one of those rare times where she actually looked at me when i spoke to her and she didn't try to play or move.
so in the end i asked her not to say about things dying any more because daddy would get very sad. she promised she wouldn't (she slipped once or twice, but hey she's three) and then she said 'i love aunty wendy. i'll miss her'.
i think she understood what i was telling her. i mean how do you explain how sad death is but its also not sad because its just a beginning?

rhiannon has her first day at school septmeber 7th i think it is. and she won't shut up about going to 'big school'.
the only concern i have is the schools RE curriculum. it is very christian oriented, and when i was at school (well down here in the wsouth, up in notts it was a truly great curriculum going through lots and lots of religions equally, and once or twice watching father ted) it was only christianity. we plan to talk to her teacher about it and say we will teach her about different religions. if muslims and sikhs can do that (i'm not religion bashing there seriously, but its true. i am not demeaning them or their religion) then i don't see why a pagan parent can't. especially as my sisters in laws daughter, laura went to the same school and she went home and told louise that she was going to hell for not believing in God. so i am a tad worried there.

Branwen, believe it or not by law you have the right to ask that your child is taught a broad spectrum of religion. Also due to our nice new shiney religious belief laws, Paganism is deemed as a belief system that must be honoured (great isn't it).

You can actually request that your child is not involved in overly Christian affairs and also you can request that she is allowed to freely express her own religious beliefs. Sadly there isn't a curriculum yet to cover all Pagan beliefs but there are some trials being run around the country for Wicca. Its well worth going in and speaking to the head master/mistress and enquiring what their policy is, that way you can have peace of mind while also assuring your daughter isn't going to be told she's going to hell.

I'll tell you this, if the RE teacher does that, go directly over the schools head to the LEA and play havoc!!

Something that might also be of use to you

http://www.paganfed.org/comsrv-educ.php

Its a nice little section about how religious policy in regards to education is sorted. Might be worth finding out more about whether Paganism is respresented in your local area. If it isn't, I'm pretty sure you can fill that possition (hint hint lol)

Considering the topic and not to mention we are quite diverse ourselves I thought I'd start a new thread on this and we can really get tot he crux of things. I know I'm no parent but this is an aspect of our societies that interests me greatly as one day there may well be a little cadno or crystal running around lol.

And yes I really should learn to post in one go, but you know what idea's are like, they come to you just after you clicked submit lmao!!

well me and turk agreed that we would raise the kids religion neutral, what with me being pagan and him being athiest. i wouldn't mind so much about the RE curriculum if it truly taught an equal view of all religions. i remember myself in notts i became very interested in judaism thanks to my RE lessons.
another problem is that i'm pretty sure rhiannons school is CofE, and i read in the supernanny magazine a while back that they are planning to introduce 'daily worship'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/200 ... schools.uk

and i'll be (insert rude word here) if i'm gonna let the government indoctrinate my daughter. so a chat with the head is in the pipeline!

Hey you know me, I'm one for knowing our rights if it kills me. And believe me getting that info wasn't easy, took me nearly 6 months of badgering both Westminister and the national assembly!!