religion is like smoking

My children's (government) school has been sneaking in some religious stuff- rciting the creed (prayer) at assembly and recently employing a chaplain.

So even though I am busy with other problems in my life at the moment (legal, housing, unemploymeny, financial, depression) i have found myself looking into this one because I feel I have some sort of control here.

So I read blogs and articles and I watch videos and talk to people, friends nd otherwise, and I have come to the conclusion that religion is like smoking.

Too many people use the excuse "But what harm does church do? They give people hope and community, and they don't hurt anyone."

Well, one cigarette is inlikely to do anyone major harm either. But it has an inbuilt device (nicotine) to make sure you don't stop at one. I liken this to the 'love-bombing' of new members of a church. Sucking you in.

And more annoying is that we know smoking kills people, and yet people take up smoking everyday, STILL.
We have seen the wars, family breakups and hatred religion causes, but we still allow it. At least we TAX cigarettes.

Smokers claim to get a high when they light up, and its been medically proven that smoking is pleasurable, in the short term. And quitting is a nightmare! we KNOW it is harmful not only to the smokers health, but the people around them also.

Laws have been written saying you cant smoke inside restaurants, public buildings, public transport, even private cars being used to transport children, but we still allow the cancer calld religion. Because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

I don't like people smoking around my children and I don't like people preaching around my children. You wouldn't put up with people smoking around your children, don't allow the preaching either, it's just as toxic.

Children say the WISEST things

I don't know why I haven't thought to share this before. Oh well, I'm sharing it now.

We live in a very multicultural area, and the kids go to a multicultural school (loads of migrants). This is awesome, I really love it.

Anyways, for as long as I can remember, Miss 6 has always referred to "Blonde" skin(caucasion) and "Brown" skin (as opposed to Black). Does anyone else think is is TOTALLY awesome!?!

It's more accurate for a start, as none of us actually has black OR white skin, and in true "To Kill A Mockingbird" innocent child style, it sends the message that skin colour is about as important as hair colour.

We need to start a revolution on this. Maybe kick racism in the balls once and for all. I need to get some influential people on side. Any suggestions?

Miss 6 even asked me one day (back when she was in Kindy, so 4) if she "could have brown skin like he friend B****** for her birthdy, because its beautiful"

Public school for us, for now

So every once in a while you are involved in a conversation which makes you stop and think about major life decisions you have made. This is a good thing - people change, priorities change, times change. So I just did a quick reassessment of my decision to send my daughters to public school.

So when it came time for my eldest daughter to start kindy I made appointments, and did inspections and interviewed teachers at the local public schools. Private was not an option, finding one without a religious (patooie!) base is difficult, and to be honest, well out of the price range of a single mum. Then we suddenly had to move a week before the school year commenced and all the hard work I had done finding the best of the local schools went out the window. I made 2 phone calls with the help of a street directory and enrolled in the most convenient to me. The stress of the sudden move and rent double that of the old place far outweighed any need I felt to get the choice of school perfet. That sounds terrible, but you do the best with what you know at the time, and I'm OK with it.

So the local Steiner school had a fete/open day that year and I made an effort to go along an actually check out the school to assess whether it was right for our family. I didn't know much about the Steiner method (no internet access) but went in with an open mind. The dealbreaker? Prayers. On blackboards, in workbooks, everywhere! No, no, no, that wouldn't do.

So a show on ABC called "This is Emily Young" caused me to consider home schooling more seriously. Emily (who I presume is home schooled) goes into the real world, questions the people who work there, and participates to learn. I am excited by the method of learning. Of course the student/teacher ratio is a bonus too. But who am I kidding? While I think I am smart enough to home school my children, I also feel that they would be missing out on other important things by not attending mainstream school (the benefits of mainstream public school in another post).

Back to today, where I am reassessing my quick decision to send them to a local, convenient school. Am I happy with their school? Yes. What are they missing out on that they might otherwise benefit from by being Steiner/home schooled? Nothing really. And I think this is because (quite subconsciously) the things I like about the other schooling methods have crept into our normal home life. Everything we do is an opportunity to learn - cooking, cleaning, washing, talking, shopping, driving, even watching (Gasp!) TV. Now I'm not pretending to be perfect, my kids watch too much TV and sometimes "Because it is" is the best answer they'll get from their tired, old mum- but it works for us. And maybe in a couple years something else will make me 'reassess' and I feel good that I can objectively do this.