Christmas is coming, buy stuff.

This year seems very much to be the year of the Christmas advertisement. Now of course every year is full of Christmas ads from about the end of October, but this year it feels different. This year there is an element of competition - each shop trying to be that little bit more subtle, more clever, more deep, more philosophical, more....Christmassy.

This years offering from John Lewis is great - but then I love penguins so I was always going to love that one. The tune is awesome too although I suspect that by the time Christmas actually arrives then much like last year I will be sick of it. The Debenhams one is pretty nifty too - very festive with lights, decorations, toys and the obligatory cute kid. There is even the controversial one from Sainsburys. Are they disrespecting the heroes of the First World War or reminding us of the message of peace which is at the very heart of the Christmas story? Discuss

However the ad which is really irritating me and which I strongly object to this year is the Waitrose one. You must have seen it, where the teacher singles out the loner in the class and forces her to single handedly create and sell enough gingerbread for a small primary school Christmas Fair, resulting I am sure in about three years of therapy in later life.

There are a number of issues with this ad, firstly no self respecting half decent teacher would ever do that and neither should they. Where is the collaboration? Where is the teamwork? Where are the strategies to get the socially awkward child to make new friends by entering into an enterprise project with other understanding classmates?

On top of this, once home her parents leave her to both shop and try to cook the gingerbread all on her own. After several failed attempts the poor girl has a complete breakdown screaming that she doesn't want to do it. It is about this time that I am screaming at the TV that she doesn't have to and what are these heartless adults doing forcing her into it?!

Eventually she cracks the recipe only for some hearltess bastard advertising executive to suggest that the dog eats them next and she has to start all over again. And the link with Waitrose? Well you could argue that the only adult who seems to help the poor girl is the shop assistant in said grocery shop who helps her to find the ingredients. I am wondering whether this Waitrose employee ought to be informing social services about the poor lot of this girl.

Now don't get me wrong, I am all for challenging children, for encouraging them out of their comfort zones, for pushing them to try new things and aim for new goals. However, I have seen at first hand the result of putting children under too much stress and pressure. In fact as a teacher and also as a priest I still see it in schools. Constant pressure to attain, excessive pressure to work lamely called 'character building' or 'stretching' whilst the poor child feels as if nothing is ever good enough and those who cannot cook gingerbread (insert 'play sport', 'dance', 'do algebra', 'write eloquently' here) are left feeling second rate rather than being encouraged to find their gift, their skill, something they enjoy. Where is the wholistic development?

Am I being a Christmas humbug, am I just a left wing teacher with crazy ideas about children being children? Maybe. But in a society where these is so much pressure already associated with Christmas, pressure to be a happy family when actually that might not be the case, pressure to purchase gifts and food you cannot actually afford, pressure to enjoy that one day a year even if you may find it a particuarly hard time, pressure to be with people when you might rather be on your own and pressure to make gingerbread when you just don't want to do it, in that society perhaps the story of the birth of Jesus, the one who came to bring freedom and life, would be better represented by a young girl who is so sure that she is loved, so sure that she is worth something that when the teacher asks her to look after the gingerbread stall she has the self confidence and has been equipped to say "No thanks."