I have to disagree with you Brittany - a child's mind is not "quite narrow"!

It's a good thing schools expose our children to other's traditions because there are a lot of "quite narrow" minded parents out there who would never do so!

For a different prospective, read this posting from the SF Chronicle's parenting blog:

http://tinyurl.com/2tpzh2

Sounds harmless to me. In fact, it provoked a good discussion with you and your child about different religions and cultures. I grew up in the rural south in the 60s and didn't really encounter any other religions until I went to college. Catholics were considered exotic!

I think you're making a bit much of this. This is America, where we have a mix of cultures. Because December is a time where we like to celebrate our holidays, the way that non-religious schools can do that is to learn about all the cultures' holidays. A simple, "No, we don't celebrate that one" is enough when she asks if you celebrate Kwanza or Hanukkah. If she asks why, I think something equally non-judgmental will do the trick.

South Florida has such a large mixture of cultural and religious backgrounds if the school is going to address Christmas then they shouldn't be empathized it at the expense of other holidays.

Imagine how some of Lily's classmates would feel if their holidays were not represented in the classroom. Imagine how confusing it would be for them.

In my opinion it has to be all of them or none of them. You daughter in not being exposed to other holidays/religions because her teacher wants to expand her horizons - it's because of the reality of multi-culturalism in the student body.

Elisabeth's daycare/preschool class is sharing the same experience as Lily - Elisbeth has come home singing mangled version of Hanukkah and Christmas songs. And Elisabeth's two best friends (one boy and one girl) are both Jewish. Eliabeth other friend that moved away was Persian, so goodness knows what she celebrated.

Of course I might be bias in that my 3-yo daughter comes from an inter-faith marriage - so we celebrate both the Catholic and Jewish holidays in our home or with the respective side of the family.

As a follow-up, in some ways this exposure seems to have emphasized to Lily that we are not "one'' as people, we are divided into groups, in this case into religions or cultures. I do appreciate the value of teaching that to children, but as I said, at this age, she seems to be hung up now on the fact that unlike what she thought up until now, she is actually very different from a girl who might sit next to her. I saw her ask a little girl in a public restroom, "Oh, you're Jewish?'' because she said something about celebrating Hannukah. At this point I'd like the children to embrace each other without knowing about the divisions and differences. Maybe I'm naive.

The constitutional freedoms we fight for in this country don't belong to EVERYWHERE!!

Lily's right. We are not one with regard to our religion. It's what makes America great. We are one when it comes to other cultural aspects (Thanksgiving, apple pie, etc). The fact is the December holidays have religious underpinnings, no matter how secular you make them. My son's not there yet, but I don't think I'll be upset when he recognizes someone has a different relgious culture, as long as he is respectful.

Actually, I think your mind is quite narrow if you can't expand enough to include other religions. Your daughter is going to be exposed to many, not just Catholic or Jewish, and you should encourage her to respect all but to follow yours. It's naive of you to think you can keep her sheltered into knowing only about one. Our children know about Christmas, although we do not celebrate it. They also know of Kwanzaa.

As someone with Judaism in your background, you should be ashamed of yourself. What, are you afraid she'll want to convert? Thankfully, people are realizing that not everyone celebrates Christmas. My parents had to bring us presents from Santa when we were young so we wouldn't feel left out. I have second cousins who insisted on having a xmas tree. It's because Christmas is practically shoved down our throats starting in November and earlier. I think it's great that your daughter is learning that there are other holidays celebrated. Perhaps there should be no mention of any holidays except in your own home or synagogue/church? Stop being so afraid of people who aren't like you.

Why are most of your posts so miserable? All of your points really are so silly. However, I do enjoy your post the most because they are at least entertaining. I always like to read them to someone and usually have a good laugh over them. If you ever actually started worrying about ANYTHING remotely important I'm sure your head would explode, you know with all your silly worries also.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. What I have noticed is that the traditions of Hanukkah and Kwanza are being taught in the schools as part of culture (and not religion), while the traditions and background of Christmas is not being taught at all. I was also offended this year when my daughter came home talking about both Hanukkah and Kwanza. When I asked if they were also learning about Christmas, I was told that they were not. So, I called the school and complained. Hanukkah is a religious holiday and should not be discussed in public school without equal time being given to Christmas. Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday that is only observed by a very small percentage of the people for which it was created. My suggestion is to give equal time to all three observances, or not time at all.

Cool, someone finally agreed with me! I think the teachers should leave it to parents to discuss holidays and spend their time getting the kindergartners ready for the FCAT.
... JUST KIDDING about the FCAT part.