“Dad what do you think about this question. It’s RE and I have to draw a family tree. Show the current connections. Then describe the family relationships. Then talk about what the various religions might say about our family.”

####So we cracked on for 10 minutes. One current family tree was down on paper.####

“Dad it’s a bit thin. Look at the example one and then look at mine.”

The example one is all about quantity ours is about quality.

“Dad should I add in those family members not here anymore. That would fill the tree out.”

You can do anything you want. Why not just use our much reduced tree. It is how it is. Your just answering the question. Putting my old ‘at school’ head on, it might mean less to write about.

“I could include the pets….”

Why are you chuckling.

“I could then write about our extended family. If we didn’t explain that some of the names are pets then I could really make our family sound weird.”

Yes I dread to think of some of the things you could write about. The stories you could tell about the cat and dog…

*************************

But here’s the thing. Isn’t it about time that schools updated some of their teaching materials. Many children will not come from the classic family structures listed in the textbooks. How hard is it for a child to look at the set images when they may come from a broken home, or has a single parent, or has lost a parent(s) or has no brothers or sisters, or has a family set up which is different to the traditional view or has no family. Surely we can come about with learning materials that are a lot more sensitive to the needs of ALL children.

80 thoughts on “Smaller”

  2. 🤷‍♀️ My kids usually list parents and grandparents -the ones they’re related to. I always put a note about divorced or whatnot.

    Add the pets if you want to. It’s your tree. 🙂

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  7. Absolutely. My family tree would have looked like a stick and I don’t really get the obsession with religion. Is it supposed to help integrate society? What about agnostics and atheists. Are we ostracized in Britain? I m very out of touch.

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  11. Excellent point. Many kids don’t have that structural model these days. My kids haven’t had to do a lot of family tree type things, thankfully but my older three did have to list some things related to genetics over time for health class. Very lopsided. I know a fair amount on my side, but their biological father exited our lives for good long ago and there was much I never knew to begin with. I love the addition of pets

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  12. Oops. Hit that send button a little before I was ready. I was going to say, “I love the addition of pets. Good for Hawklad!” 🙂

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  13. What a a great kid, you have. Right on. Add the pets, the loved departed, everyone. They are all family and here with us in spirit and the pets are as close to family as you can get. It takes a kid like yours to make the change.

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  15. I agree, Dad. The education system may be impersonal, but teachers should know better when planning student activities. I experienced similar awkward situations when I raised my sons alone in Brazil. I joined them for their school’s day-long Father’s Day activities so that they wouldn’t feel left out.

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  17. That’s so true what you say here. Similar problems were raised when we had days at elementary school when moms, dads, or grandparents were called to visit their kids or grandkids. Some children didn’t have those people in their lives, or they simply could not visit because they had to work due to a difficult family situation. However, it always left some kids sad.

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  18. I honestly thought they had gotten rid of this, although I would love my son to give this a go, my partner has lost both his parents but his grandmothers are still going strong on both sides, so how would that be represented. Just a random gap, I am sensing my friends on here who do family trees would be outraged

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  19. Deffo include the pets! That said, a family tree is quite a sensitive and personal thing to ask kids to do. I got mine to do Louis XIV’s family tree. 🌞 👑

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  21. Gees, l never even touched base with ancestry at school – dad was always trying to prove the family name was connected to everyone but his own family. When l lived in Australia, l had no ideas who was on my family line except at that point 2 grandmothers, two grandfathers, my parents and one sistrer, l didn’t really know about my father’s family till l got back to the UK and then truly wished l didn’t know anything about them at all.

    I was astonished at the question Hawklad had to answer – but then Suze’s grandson down in Australia is trying to get into a Technical college and the five entrant questions he has to answer numbed to the core as they were more academic than technical …. but l agree with your assessment Gary – surely in today’s climate of education we have more qualitable and equality based topics that could be discussed.

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      1. No, but then schooling is very different to when we were at school and yet we survived and now kids have so many strange things that are considered ‘educational’ that it is startingly scary.

        New age education is seriously flawed.

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      3. Yes sadly it is, do you ever ask yourself – how would you fare in today’s schooling system? Considering all the changes?

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  22. Hawklad has such a great sense of humor. 😃 I really enjoyed reading that. Yes, pet stories would definitely make anyone’s family sound weird. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 ❤❤❤❤

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  24. Glad the pets made it!😂😂 I’d love to know how other religions view the Cap’n🤣🤣🤣

    How is ANY of this stuff gonna help Hawklad in his adult life? And why is any child’s homelife any of school’s business? Unless the school is employing social workers now?

    💌💌💌

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  26. Your last paragraph is so relevant. I once sat a MENSA test. (Only about 30 years ago) The very first question concerned savages boiling missionaries in a cooking pot. I decided the organisation was not for me.

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  28. Mothers day is so tough at our house. I want to enjoy being cherished because being a mother is so hard. But my (soon to be adopted) son hurts on this day. At school for the entire month, it’s draw pictures of mom, for mom. Make crafts. This is hard. I do the best I can to talk him through the month and enjoy what I can for myself. You’re absolutely right. Kids don’t have nuclear homes. I have to say, I’ve sat in on some teaching environments and they are TRYING to incorporate a more wider example of family.

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