There have been NZ news reports that childcare centres will face major fines if children take part in activities such as making Christmas tree decorations or Easter Egg hunts in Australia as part of new regulations to take effect next year. 

But take heart if you love eating Easter eggs and making decorations – such things are not actually being banned in Australia.  In NZ there are no regulations or licensing criteria banning cultural or religious celebrations.  

According to leading Australian early childhood expert, Dr Anne Kennedy there has been a bit of a media ‘beat-up’.

“Fines are not new in our childcare regulation system, and each time we have proposed new regulations at State or national level, we have similar media 'beat-up' or scare campaigns about banning celebrations or other things”.

There is a positive dimension to  the publicity surrounding the introduction of new childcare regulations in Australia.  It is stimulating discussion and reflection on how and why different religious beliefs and cultural celebrations are recognized or not within early childhood services.

Dr Kennedy says “I think this is a good opportunity for us to think carefully about celebrations, what they mean to families, children and communities, why they are important and what should the early childhood service do in response to them.

The Australian Early Years Learning Framework asks educators  “to honour the histories, cultures, languages, traditions and child rearing practices and lifestyle choices of families” (p. 13).

According to Pam Cahir of children’s lobby group Early Childhood Australia, this means for example that "if you have a centre with a high Muslim population you're not going to be asking them to decorate a Christmas tree" (The Australian 4/4/2011)

The Framework encourages educators to reflect on what might be taken for granted practices (e.g. we always have an Easter bonnet parade at our Kindergarten) and whose traditions are privileged (e.g. Western, Christian only).

“If a service is in a predominantly white, English or European community and consultation with families indicated that Easter egg hunts were a typical family tradition, you might decide to have something similar in the centre and involve families in this as a social, fun, end of the term activity” Dr Kennedy suggests.

In another context, as was reported on the Early Childhood Australia electronic Forum recently, a service might have families and staff with different religious beliefs - Muslim, Greek  Orthodox, Christian, Jewish. In this case, consultation might indicate that families are happy for educators to celebrate Easter and to talk about aspects of this celebration (new life and eggs as a symbol of that) as long as there is recognition for their special feast days or celebrations.

Dr Kennedy says it’s not uncommon for a service with a range of ethnic groups to recognise and celebrate the range of traditions represented amongst the families.

“I know of a service with a significant number of Asian migrant or refugee families and a small number of refugee Muslim families. Chinese New Year is celebrated and Diwali the Hindu festival of lights, and at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim families invite all the other families to join with them to celebrate with specially prepared food, the end of the fasting period. This sharing of celebrations is appreciated by all the families, children and staff and they enjoy learning about different traditions”.

Though if educators think that the diversity in beliefs within an early childhood service community makes it too difficult to celebrate every one's special days what some services do  is pick one or two national celebrations.  In Australia, this may be 'children's week' and National Aboriginal & Torres Strait islander week, and in NZ ‘children’s day’ and Waitangi Day.

For more see:

Celebrating Easter and Easter Activities with Young Children (click here ... )

Fun and practical ways for early childhood programmes to celebrate Diwali, the Indian Festival of Light (click here ...)

Christmas Ideas and Fun Activities for Educators, Parents, and Children (click here... )