The trap

Where is it written in the teacher manual that we are supposed to uphold and defend the existence of leprechauns? I had NO IDEA that people actually tell their kids that leprechauns exist. NO IDEA. Thank goodness Clara's teacher got to the business of discussing St. Patrick's Day with her class before it came up with my own students. When Clara came home explaining that her homework assignment was to make a leprechaun trap, she gave me very detailed ideas about how to catch the small, greedy men. After listening to her for awhile, I said, "You realize that leprechauns are just imaginary creatures, don't you honeybun?" It is not entirely surprising that she didn't believe me. She chose to believe her teacher. So, I asked her teacher about it (who happens to be a friend of mine, because I happen to teach at the same school), and she let me know that there are many families at our school who place leprechauns in the same realm as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Who knew? So, I have to go along with the whole thing as well. I would be pretty ticked if some teacher carelessly debunked a family myth of ours with a casual remark comparing leprechauns to unicorns (I hope they don't believe in unicorns, as well...). I guess I can live with this, but I have to say that I liked it better at my old school, where nobody was allowed to celebrate any holidays. We just celebrated learning, and let the leprechauns chase rainbows somewhere else.