This might be you. You’re not raising your kid with a religion but you’re the only parent who has opted him out of religion. All the other parents don’t really seem to believe in any of it but they just go along with things so their little one doesn’t feel left out. The school is being difficult because you’ve opted your child out. So you decide to join the Parents’ Association to see if you can make people aware that not everyone in the school is comfortable with religion being shoved down every child’s throats? You get to your first meeting and…
Are Parents’ Association meetings allowed to start with a prayer? Well, they can if the prayer is in line with the ethos of the school! If you are in a Catholic school, don’t be surprised if every meeting starts with a prayer. Don’t be surprised if you are the only one in the room not blessing yourself even if you know nobody else in the room has set foot in a church since they baptised their child. Don’t be surprised if some of them are smirking while they’re doing it because it’s twee.
And before you give out and say that it’s completely unacceptable and so on, just remember that this is basically how your kid feels every day in school. That’s not a criticism of you as a parent. That’s just how it is.
