Traditional Mother’s and Father’s Day cards should not be made in schools to prevent children in single-parent families or with homosexual parents from feeling isolated, angry and upset, according to Relate, the relationship counselling charity.
The comments follow a recent article in the American journal Rethinking Schools, in which Sudie Hofmann of St Cloud State University, Minnesota argued that making cards or photo albums “might create feelings of insecurity or even anguish”.
Denise Knowles a family counsellor for Relate said that Dr Hofmann had a valid point, given the number of children who now come from “reconstituted” families. “We have to be aware now that the word ‘family’ is a broad term and that we cannot make assumptions” she added.
The proposal was dismissed by the National Union of Teachers, however.
Steve Sinnott, the NUT’s general secretary, said: “To consider abolishing something that gives great pleasure in order to protect children who probably don’t need protecting works on the assumption that teachers have no common sense.
“Teachers are far more intelligent and innovative than these suggestions give them credit for.”