Our kids are in public school but every Christmas and Easter the school seems to enforce that Christianity is irrelevant. How should we handle this?
We understand what it’s like to have kids in public school, because that’s where we put our kids, from kindergarten all the way through.
But here’s something we need to understand and keep in mind as Christian parents: it’s a public school. It’s not a Christian school. It’s not a religious environment. It’s a public school.
And because of that, we shouldn’t expect them to somehow cater to our spiritual needs. I never expected that.
Now, because of the neutrality they talk about—around Christmas, they try to make it a seasonal thing, rather than a Christmas holiday. They don’t even recognize Easter. You know, some Christians can get all upset about this. Listen, it’s a public school. Don’t worry about that, because you have Christmas in your home, you can celebrate it in your community, and God’s message goes out every year, no matter what anybody tries to do to squelch it.
So don’t worry about that. I think the better thing is send your kids to school ready to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, to show you what the message of Christmas is like every day that they are in that public school, to live out that resurrection message every day they’re in that public school. Then every day is Easter. It’s represented there. Christmas is represented every day by the way your kids go there ready to shine for Christ.
So we called it, with our kids, “glowing in the dark.” In fact, I would drop them off at school and oftentimes say to them, “Now go glow in the darkness.”
This is a great opportunity. Don’t expect the school to somehow cater to your spiritual needs. That’s not their job. Their job is to give them an education.
I don’t consider it antagonistic, because I assume the whole world is antagonistic to my faith. I say, “Let’s just go and make a difference there.”
And you know, one more thing. We need to be very careful that we aren’t some kind of a Rottweiler on the neck of the public school system, and are always over their screaming and yelling at them about the things they are unspiritual about. It’s a secular environment. That’s exactly what they look like.
Teach your kids how to flourish in the middle of that, to have a good attitude towards people, treat people with love and grace. Watch what happens.
I’ll tell you what: then the Christmas message, the Easter message becomes embedded in your kids’ heart. They live it out. They are real authentic. And there’s nothing that any public school system can do to squelch that message.