How many metres of bookshelf do your children have . . .

[Takver]

and do they ever get rid of books?

DD currently has 2.5m of shelves (I just measured), another metre of books along the skirting board, plus generally another 8-10 books out from the library . . . I am thinking of suggesting a one in - one out policy . . . am I being unreasonably heartless? Not entirely sure where more bookshelves could fit in the room, it is not that big . . .

[Tinker]

Oh no. I sense another subject to become competitive about.

[Takver]

Damn, not trying to be competitive, just trying to clear up and despairing . . . if it helps they are mostly rainbow magic and magic kitten

[Tinker]

I'm only teasing (and mentally (over)estimating what we have )

[Takver]

Perhaps I should institute some kind of quality control - you can only leave them all over the house if they aren't crap?

[andlipsticktoo]

About 111m but I have 3 dc

[andlipsticktoo]

Whoops that should be 11m!

[JustKeepSwimming]

I have no idea, lots!

But am interested in the 'do they ever get rid of them?' question!!
or is it up to me? (hard enough to get DH to part with a single book!)

Love books btw, just wish we had a library to fit them all in....

[JustKeepSwimming]

LOL i believed the 111m!!

[Takver]

LoL at 111m, sometimes it feels like that round here. I do remember someone mentioning selling rainbow fairy books on ebay, perhaps I could appeal to dd's mercenary instincts. Since they all have the same bloody story anyway, I don't see how a few less would make much difference.

[JustKeepSwimming]

Well if she's happy to sell them (prob just to buy more though!) then go for it!

We still have shelf space so i'm not too worried, but when i think forward and think if we buy/acquire as many books per year, per child as we have so far........

And of course keep the old/baby ones as we keep having more babies......

And we keep buying/acquiring more grown-up ones...

[NorthernLurker]

I've got about 10 metres for three children. Periodically I go through it and sling the not read/overly cute/disintegrating stuff.

[Spidermama]

I think it's good to get rid of books. I've never understood this middle class obsession with hoarding books. In my view, they should keep on moving around.

Obviously there are some special ones which we want to hang onto, otherwise we should let go of these dust catching, shelf hogging things.

My 4 kids have about 12 metres of bookshelves which is too much but I am forever weeding out books and bringing in new ones.

[Takver]

I will show dd your post, Spidermama, you talk sense.

So far most of my successes have been with passing on books to small friends and relations, so I will try that card if the ebay one fails.

[FAQtothefuture]

oh lord knows - I haven't unpacked all the books yet - filled one "standard" (you know average bookcase you can buy in argos/ikea etc) bookcase, DS1 has got 2 small shelves on the shelves under his cabin bed and I've got a couple of boxes still to unpackk...........

Get rid of books - NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(well only ones that have been ripped/chewed beyond repair - I can't stand damaged books and would rather source another on ebay/2nd handbook shop than have a destroyed book on the shelf ).

They have books on their shelves that belonged to my DB and I when we were little (so proper Hansel and Gretel and other lovely gruesome endings in fairy tales

[FAQtothefuture]

LOL @ middle class obsessions.

My dad thinks I've become a snob - ie I'm now not working class enough for his liking (his resolve on this subject was strengthened a few years back when I confessed that the bright red Skoda - you know the lada skoda type - not the nice new ones - was embarassing for me as a teeanger).

Anyhow, I digress, when they had to move into a smaller house they had to sort out their collection of nearly 10,000 books and reduce dramatically.........and they're working class as they come

[troutpout]

I halved ds's about 2 years ago (he has about 2 metres now
I took a 1/4 of dd's old baby and toddler books away about a year ago and sold them on ebay in lots of 6 or so.

[theyoungvisiter]

don't do one in one out - that's mean - but do weed regularly.

I weeded my bookshelves recently (I have metres and metres and metres - easily 35-40m and it was far more pre-weeding) and got rid of about 12 cardboard boxes just by taking out the repeated editions, tat and falling-apart stuff.

A good tip (if they are older kids) is to stack books two-deep in the shelves. Most standard bookshelves are deep enough to fit two sets of paperbacks. Obviously this doesn't work with picture books and odd formats though, and you do have to group them by size for it to work well.

Then occasionally you can rotate and have lovely surprises!

[paisleyleaf]

I find it so hard to get rid of books.
My DD's 4, and we've still got quite a lot of younger (maybe even babyish) books - as I think 'ooo that might be good for her to read herself'.

[Meglet]

2.9yo DS has about 3 metres (one of the wide Ikea Billy bookshelves)

11mo DD has about 1 metre (one of the slim Ikea billy bookshelves)

As they are so young they haven't really grown out of any books yet, but I do throw out the ones they chew and rip to shreds.

[YohoAhoy]

I love books, we have loads of them and I find it very hard to get rid of any thing but absolute tosh.

I love having them around - to me they're as much a part of the furniture as our chairs & tables.

I can understand people feeling differently, but can't quite see what class has to do with it?

[ByThePowerOfGreyskull]

Ds1 has 3 meters
DS2 has a wicker box full

I am plamning to take them to the local baby group and sell some of them on for 50p each

[Takver]

Sadly we can't do two deep as the shelves aren't wide enough. DH and I have a fair lot of books ourselves, but we're pretty good at passing on the 'read and forget' stuff, which is I guess the habit I'd like to persuade dd into.

However . . . the house is now moderately tidy . . . I have ejected all the random sticks and shells . . . I did manage to get all the books onto shelves somewhere . . . and so I am now feeling less heartless/despairing

(And must confess that amongst the things that I had to home was a copy of Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field which dd won't be old enough to read for years which I saw for 80p this morning & couldn't resist, so I guess I'm partly guilty too.)

[PinkTulips]

dd is 4 and ds1 is 3.

all told, between the playroom shelves, the stack in the dining room and what's in their bedrooms i's guesstimate about 3m of books

i'm a serious bookwprm though and was buying books when i was preg with dd before i bought baby clothes

[Yurtgirl]

Yoho I didnt get the class reference either!

DS and dd combined have about 4m - they would happily triple that given the chance
They havent got into novels yet so its just picture books and big reference books atm

I encourage weeding of all their posessions every 6 months and try to limit their shelves to "quality stuff"

DD who is 5 told someone recently "Mummy doesnt like Dora!"