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A Sydney radio listener has recounted a bizarre story: her four year old grandchildren were forced to say sorry for colonialism at preschool.

A class of four-year-olds at a Sydney preschool have been told by their teachers to apologise for British colonialism, in the latest bout of woke madness in Australia.

The events were recounted on Monday by the grandmother of twins who attend the preschool, during a phone call with Chris O’Keefe, the host 2GB Sydney’s afternoon drive program.

The caller, named Kim, explained that earlier this year, her granddaughter and grandson came home from their preschool in the Shire in with “sorry” cards they had made with the help of their teachers. The activity took place on National Sorry Day.

“Sorry for hurting you. Sorry for hurting your land,” one card read, in the handwriting of one of the teachers, with illustrations by one of the children.

“Sorry for hurting the Dharawal people,” stated another card. “We will be kind now.”

The children’s grandmother was not impressed. She told O’Keefe, “It was just outrageous. Talk about woke with a capital ‘W’.”

What Do Four Year Olds Have to Say Sorry For?

Kim recounted that the preschool teachers provided no explanation of the day’s activities to her grandchildren’s parents: “The kids just came home with the cards.”

According to Kim, the children’s parents — her son and daughter-in-law — were “not impressed, not at all”.

The day’s activity also took a toll on the young children.

“They were very very upset when they got home,” Kim explained. Her granddaughter in particular “felt really guilty, she just couldn’t express herself,” the grandmother added. “She’s only four.”

Kim recounted to O’Keefe how she responded that day.

“As a grandma, I said, ‘You’ve done nothing wrong. That’s all in the past. You have nothing to worry about. You’re kind little children. You don’t have to worry about that.’”

Reflecting on the event, Kim declared, “They don’t have to be indoctrinated at preschool,” adding, “I don’t know why we have to make our little children feel guilty for the sins of our fathers.”

“If this is what’s happening at preschool, Chris, I’m worried about what’s going to happen next year at kindy,” she quipped.

Should German Children Say Sorry for Adolf Hitler?

In the days leading up to Kim’s phone call, Chris O’Keefe had been fielding his callers for similar anecdotes.

“We have been absolutely overwhelmed with different examples of this,” O’Keefe said during the program on Monday. “I’ve had picture after picture, story after story. But this one almost made me fall off my chair.”

After Kim had shared her story, O’Keefe made his thoughts on the subject loud and clear:

What sort of teacher makes a four year old apologise for the sins of the British colonialists 200 years ago? Fair dinkum! It is ridiculous. Should every German child apologise for the sins of Adolf Hitler? Should every four-year-old Cambodian apologise for Pol Pot? Honestly, it’s almost borderline sick this stuff…

I can’t believe I need to say this out loud, but four year olds should not be made to feel guilty for stuff they have not done. They’re four-year-old kids. Four. Let them play with Play-Doh.

O’Keefe was also perplexed by the relevance of such an activity in a city as ethnically diverse as Sydney.

“We’re a multicultural melting pot, Sydney, and there would have been kids in that preschool who were four years old who would have been the sons and daughters of first generation immigrants,” O’Keefe explained.

“So what have they got to feel sorry for?”

Chris O’Keefe has asked for anyone with a similar story to share to contact him at 2GB Sydney so that he can raise the issue with Prue Car, the NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning.

Image via Unsplash.