Dria El
October 10th, 2001, 10:31 AM
"I'm A Real Witch"
by Jeannette K. Waldie
For my six year old son, Owen, dealing with Christmas and Easter have not been too much of a problem. I think part of the reason for this is that we have always tried to put him in a ethically diverse environment when possible. The daycare he attended in New England celebrated Chanukah as Christmas. Since Owen's best friend at the time was Jewish, I was able to use his friend as an example of other religions and celebrations to help explain why we don't celebrate Christmas. It seemed to make it easier for Owen to know he wasn't the only child he knew who didn't celebrate the Christian holidays. Now that we live in Houston, I hope to teach Owen about Hinduism and the Muslim faith as examples of how some of his school-mates celebrate different holiday.
The main issue I have concentrated on is the myth of the "evil" witch, which not only appears at Halloween, but in cartoons all year around. I have handled it in two ways. First, when I became comfortable with his day care providers, I was able to ask that Owen's class room had no illustrations of green-faced witches during Halloween. (I was lucky, I admit. The owner was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts and so was accepting of witches.) I plan to have the same discussion with Owen's teacher at the Montessori school he attends next year to see if I can get the same cooperation. This, of course, depends on the open-mindedness of your child's teacher and the school.
When talking to Owen, I have always explained the evil, green-faced witches as being pretend just as stories and cartoons are pretend. "Real" witches were not like that. "Real" witches were good and then reminded him that mommy and family friends were witches.
We also teach Owen the concept of "An So You Harm None" by asking him if he would like to be treated a certain way when he does something wrong. We tell him to always treat others how he would like to be treated. And, when faced with an example of death (such as finding a dead animal during a walk) we teach about the cycle of life. Other than that, I have never made a big deal about being Wiccan. I feel letting my son watch what I practice as a faith day-to-day and in circle is enough "teaching" for him at the moment.
by Jeannette K. Waldie
For my six year old son, Owen, dealing with Christmas and Easter have not been too much of a problem. I think part of the reason for this is that we have always tried to put him in a ethically diverse environment when possible. The daycare he attended in New England celebrated Chanukah as Christmas. Since Owen's best friend at the time was Jewish, I was able to use his friend as an example of other religions and celebrations to help explain why we don't celebrate Christmas. It seemed to make it easier for Owen to know he wasn't the only child he knew who didn't celebrate the Christian holidays. Now that we live in Houston, I hope to teach Owen about Hinduism and the Muslim faith as examples of how some of his school-mates celebrate different holiday.
The main issue I have concentrated on is the myth of the "evil" witch, which not only appears at Halloween, but in cartoons all year around. I have handled it in two ways. First, when I became comfortable with his day care providers, I was able to ask that Owen's class room had no illustrations of green-faced witches during Halloween. (I was lucky, I admit. The owner was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts and so was accepting of witches.) I plan to have the same discussion with Owen's teacher at the Montessori school he attends next year to see if I can get the same cooperation. This, of course, depends on the open-mindedness of your child's teacher and the school.
When talking to Owen, I have always explained the evil, green-faced witches as being pretend just as stories and cartoons are pretend. "Real" witches were not like that. "Real" witches were good and then reminded him that mommy and family friends were witches.
We also teach Owen the concept of "An So You Harm None" by asking him if he would like to be treated a certain way when he does something wrong. We tell him to always treat others how he would like to be treated. And, when faced with an example of death (such as finding a dead animal during a walk) we teach about the cycle of life. Other than that, I have never made a big deal about being Wiccan. I feel letting my son watch what I practice as a faith day-to-day and in circle is enough "teaching" for him at the moment.