i think getting toddlers at nursery to line up and get 'wed' is inappropriate.

[weeonion]

Spending a day at home with a bad back. It struck me that getting pre schoolers to take part in pretend weddings organised by staff seems like a backward step. whatever else i may think about the wedding 2morro, i am uneasy with little girls and boys lining up to be married. what do you think?

[Oakmaiden]

I think it is odd.

But I also remember that I loved getting dressed up as a bride when I was a little girl. Although it was never "organised" for me.

Are they letting the little boys were pretty dresses too? My youngest son is very fond of pretty dresses.

[weeonion]

i also loved getting dressed up as a bride and using whatever lace cloths and doillies around to fashion into outfits. I think there is something different with that experimenting and role playing as opposed to the more structured thing linked with the royal wedding.

i cant quite pin point why i am uneasy with it.

[Abr1de]

Wouldn't bother me. I was always dressing up as a bride as a tot and even married my own brother once. Even the Royal Family haven't tried that one yet.

[EggyAllenPoe]

i also married my brother. so did my sister. (it may have been on the day of Charles &Dis wedding. can't say)

i think as we were older it was a positive feminist statement as it was very clear where the power was in the relationship....

[Abr1de]

Too right! I made my younger brother stand exactly where I wanted him to stand--behind me. He had a supporting role only.

[Selks]

I would not be keen if I found out that my nursery had done it with my child.

[aliceliddell]

Are they having civil partnerships next year? How about the harsh reality of pretend CSA orders?

[zandy]

I don't see anything wrong with it. It reflects a norm in their lives.

Our nursery has dressing up clothes and the boys equally as much as the girls like to wear the pink and frillies.

It is also, at this time, relevant to what they will be seeing and hearing a lot of in the community and on the television, and a major historical event they can emulate.

[bigbuttons]

They did it in dd's reception class today, got a photo of dd and her groom. Very sweet. I'd have chosen a different husband though..... bad future MIL material me.

[AMumInScotland]

I can't see why staff at a nursery would organise any kind of role play game unless they were using it to teach some important principle (sharing, taking turns, etc). Doing it for weddings does sound very strange. Different if children choose to do it to copy things they've seen of course.

[SybilBeddows]

It would be so easy to make it delightfully subversive and teach them precisely the opposite of compulsory heterosexuality ('Yes of course you can marry Joshua, Isaac; now, do you want to both be princes, both be princesses or one of each?')

[DontdoitKatie]

Was also going to say its compulsory heterosexuality lessons.

You wonder how much this is for the staff's entertainment.

Then again fine by me if they also teach children the history of marriage - men awarding themselves legal right to own women, their bodies, their property and their children.

[Bonsoir]

Probably nurseries should ban any form of role-play just in case some loon a random feminist finds it "inappropriate".

[Parietal]

I think role play is great for toddlers as long as the roles are unconstrained - James can be the princess and Susie can be bob the builder. Or whatever they like.

[ninah]

role play proper is spontaneous rather than organised, though - v child led. A nursery I worked for once got the children to stage a mock wedding at a church with costumes, roles like bride's parents, flower girls etc
when the vicar - yup, local vicar - asked the girl if she'd promise to be 'friends forever' with her husband to be she looked at him appalled and said Noooo!

[thefirstMrsDeVere]

My DS2 goes to a special needs school.
He got married today. He looked very worried, I really think he thought it was legally binding bless him.
It was quite fun listening to the teachers tying themselves in knots trying to make it as non opressively hetrosexual as possible.

.So children who knows what 'bride' means? Yes thats right Imran the bride is the .... well usually a woman'. ' Yes Cathy she does wear a dress, not always but mostly'. 'Whats that Mason? The man? The man is called a Groom and usually, but not always, the Groom marries the Bride'.

It was hilarious. Thank God for Political Correctness. I love it!

[SybilBeddows]

MrsDeVere

[suburbophobe]

Oh dear, fairy stories are alive and well

and they lived happily ever after, yea right!

[SpeedyGonzalez]

I don't have a problem with it. And surely it's obvious that it's a role play game because of what's happening tomorrow! Just as they'd have all made Easter-themed stuff last week and Mothers' Day cards earlier in the season. It's a topical exercise. That's all.

[practicallyimperfect]

I do mock weddings at school (secondary RE) however I ask for volunteers and regularly marry boys to boys and girls to girls. And the boys love being bridesmaids!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Lenin: I can't believe I pay my taxes for DS1 to have compulsory heterosexuality lessons...it's PC gone mad. I wasn't even asked for my consent.


Likewise a for MrsDeVere

[MillyR]

How do you marry boys to boys within the context of an RE lesson? Do you mean that you carry out the signing of a civil partnership instead? Or are you pretending this same sex marriage is taking place in a different country?

I'd be annoyed if my child was having compulsory heterosexual marriage ceremonies, but I'd also be annoyed if a teacher pretended that this country has actually given equal rights to same sex couples, because it hasn't.