As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, many schools incorporate a celebration into their lessons to teach students about the holiday’s origins. However, some parents are finding their lessons to be a bit problematic.
One mother of preschool-aged twins was taken aback when she learned that her children’s teacher was planning a Thanksgiving-themed program in which students were encouraged to dress as pilgrims.
Concerned the teacher’s lesson would glorify the Thanksgiving pilgrim story, the mom wondered if consulting with the school principal might do more harm than good.
The mother does not want her twins to participate in their preschool’s Thanksgiving celebration and dress like ‘Puritan jerks.’
The mom shared her concerns by writing in Slate’s parenting advice column, “Care and Feeding.”
She explained that her twins attend the public school preschool program, and she has had positive experiences with the staff and curriculum until recently.
“There is a Thanksgiving program planned, and our pre-k class was asked to dress as pilgrims,” the mom wrote. “I know many of us dressed in far more problematic attire and participated in ridiculous school activities that were not at all representative of what actually occurred, but pilgrims were awful people and I don’t want my kids to be dressed like Puritan jerks.”
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The woman has a point. The pilgrims have quite a dark history that involved the violent treatment of Native Americans, the disturbance of sacred burial sites, and even scalping as a form of punishment among their own people.
The mom decided to raise her concerns with the school principal.
“I discussed this politely with their principal and from all vague responses that I can gather, my kids will be singled out from participating and either separated to be with another class or not participate at all,” she shared.
Now, she cannot help if her reaction is doing more harm than good for her kids.
“I don’t want my kids to be singled out, but I also don’t want them being sold a lie.”
The woman was assured that her reaction was valid and she had the right to raise concerns about her kids dressing up like pilgrims.
“It sounds like you don’t want to make a bigger deal out of it than you already have (which, by the way, was totally appropriate— how do these kinds of things still go on!),” Hillary Frey, the woman behind the advice column, shared with the mom.
If her children would not be partaking in the Thanksgiving program, Frey suggested making a better use of their time instead.
“Skip school that day and take your kids to do something wholesome. Go to the Natural History Museum or the aquarium, or the local historical society. Or the trampoline park!” she suggested.
“They will forget that there even was a school event, and you can just avoid the whole thing — this time, at least! Your kids’ absence might communicate a point to the teacher, too.”
This mom is not the only parent concerned about Thanksgiving school events that encourage students to impersonate pilgrims or Native Americans.
When one mom got the annual notice from her daughter’s teacher that the class would be holding a Thanksgiving event where students were expected to dress up, she let out a frustrated sigh.
“I’m not OK with having my blonde, blue-eyed daughter of European descent wearing a stereotype of someone else’s race and culture as a costume,” she shared in Today’s Parent.
Instead, she used the opportunity to educate her daughter about the true history of Thanksgiving.
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“Part of my job is to set an example for her. So, I wrote a note to her teacher explaining why she won’t be attending the special Thanksgiving event. Instead, I took her to the local Native American museum, and then we’re reading two books on Thanksgiving written from a Native perspective.”
At the end of the day, your child isn’t going to remember that they did not participate in their preschool’s Thanksgiving program and dress up like a pilgrim or Native American if you do not want them to take part in it.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.
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