A supply teacher in the US is coming under fire after she told six-year-old pupils that 'Santa isn't real and parents just buy presents and put them under their tree'.
But she didn't stop there, no no no. While she was at it, the teacher also told the children that elves, the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny and magic aren't real. Oh, and reindeer can't fly.
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Well, at least she didn't strictly discriminate against Christmas.
The demolition of all things magical took place at Cedar Hill School in Montville, New Jersey, last Friday. Come to think of it, Friday was the last day of November... Perhaps the teacher had just had it up to here (really high) with pre-December Christmas chat?
Parent, Lisa Simek, shared the details of the fantasy dismantling class in a post on Facebook, criticising the teacher for trying to 'crush' the children's spirits.
She said: "She told them Santa isn't real and parents just buy presents and put them under their tree. She told them reindeer can't fly and elves are not real - elf on the shelf is just a pretend doll that your parents move around.
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"She did not even stop there: the tooth fairy is not real because mom or dad just sneak into your room in the middle of the night and put money under your pillow, same goes for the Easter bunny.
"She told them magic does not exist. There is no such thing as magic anything.
"A grown woman tried to crush our six-year-old's spirit, along with the spirits of the other 22 kids."
Wow, that is a lot for a child to take all in one sitting.
The parent went on to say that parents were now doing their best to minimise the damage done by the Scrooge-like supply teacher.
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She said: "Many of us parents have been doing damage control since the kids get home from school today, but coming from an adult this is definitely the kind of seed that was planted deep inside of their sceptical, perceptive and inquisitive minds."
Following the incident, Principal Michael Raj sent a letter to parents stating that he had spoken to the teacher about 'her poor judgement'.
According to WKRG, the letter opened as follows: "I am sending this letter so that you are aware of the situation and if the conversation comes up at home over the next few days you can take appropriate steps to maintain the childhood innocence of the holiday season."
Undoubtedly, the teacher crossed several lines in her tirade, but you have to wonder if there is more to this story; supply teachers don't generally get an easy ride from pupils.
But Christmas hasn't been cancelled for these children, thanks to the power of the internet.
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After the story went viral, a High School class has volunteered to write the pupils letters from the North Pole in order to restore their belief in Santa and his magical posse.
An updated post from parent, Simek, reads: "Mrs. Casey Daniel, an English teacher at Toms River High - East High School in Toms River, and her journalism class have volunteered to write the children of our class individual, personalised, whimsical letters from the North Pole as a part of their creative writing holiday project.
"A great big THANK YOU to this wonderful woman and her students for taking the time and having such big, kind hearts!"
A Christmas miracle saves the day. There you go kids - it is all very much totally and completely real.
Featured Image Credit: PA