School santa book appropriate?

Honestly it's a generic book that would have been able to give to anyone. Some lads would have been "huh?" to the football book.

That’s great that one girl liked it.

And in the case of the World Book Day gifts that were distributed, I’d hazard a wager that some of the child’s class also liked their free book.

Just as in your example, there may’ve been teens that were not happy with your choice.

It doesn’t mean that you failed, just as it doesn’t mean that your child’s class teacher failed either.

I adore the Mr Men books (even as a Uni student, I’d buy one a week for my then 14 month old son). But they’re very different & easier to flick through and read than the Year 1/2 teacher having to browse through the entire book delivery to tailor a book for every child in the class.

As an ex KS2 teacher myself, that’s bonkers to think they’d have the time to do that!

Instead of moaning about what you seem to perceive as a failure of your child’s teacher, why not sit down & read the book before making a snap judgement (as it seems in this case) and then use it as a tool to help encourage your child to (perhaps) look at maths in a more practical way. Surely, as someone who has worked in the classroom, that’s obvious?

And ungrateful.

why don’t you help the school or community with fundraising? Maybe if you knew just how much thought, effort and planning went into these things you’d be a bit more appreciative.

OP feel free to join the PTA, organise Santa, collect, store, wrap and distribute the books next year - making sure you have taken care to ensure the book is well matched with the recipient.

probably wasn't a teacher but the PTA - and they just had to mindlessly wrap 400+ books

It's not a very good choice of book. If id been a teacher wrapping books I would have put that to one side as not very suitable.

I think it’s a weird topic for that age too but I’d just take it to the charity shop.

I’m sorry that your son wasn’t happy with the book.

We are always grateful when food isn’t used as a gift/treat/reward. Having a child with multiple allergies means facing constant disappointment, especially this time of year. I am constantly making and carrying my own treats around in an effort to substitute all the unsafe food handed out. It’s time consuming and expensive. Free from items aren’t always sourced by schools and aren't suitable for all allergies.

Schools can’t cater to everyone in a situation like this. There was probably a child or parent that was happy to see a book, and not a chocolate coin or biscuit.

Its aimed at 7-9 year olds so I think its appropriate.

Its a free present from school - most schools are struggling so its not going to be a top of the charts popular book.
Our PTA pay for our Santa books. Its not personalised per class but a bulk buy on age appropriate books usually a 10 for £10 deal we can find. It takes an age to source the books, get them delivered and then wrap the books.

Just be grateful your DS got something. I know alot that do not get anything from schools/PTA funded at Christmas.

So you’ve bought Mr Men books for your Year 11s before? I do hope you didn’t categorise the kids with negative Mr Men traits like Mr Greedy, Mr Uppity, Mr Smelly, Mr Grumpy, Mr Angry…

I’d argue that the Enterprise book is a perfect title to give to a child struggling with maths, as it takes a different approach to having fun with numbers (through real life application) and therefore helping to encourage your child to enjoy maths & thus engage more with the topic.

And yes, there are definitely families out there who have little to no books in their houses, beyond those brought home through schemes like World Book Day. It’s naïve to think otherwise. For some, books & literacy skills simply aren’t a priority.

I’ve said on a previous post some time ago that _any reading should be encouraged; even a trip to the local shops can be used to familiarise children to letters & words. Likewise it can also be an opportunity for applying real life numeracy skills. House numbers, prices on supermarket shelves, hopscotch markings, even car number plates can help basic numeracy skills.

A book that you as a parent could sit & read together, and explore a different approach to maths can only be a good thing.

Why are modern parents never happy with anything?

It’s a gift. If you don’t like it, chuck it in the charity shop bag.

ALL books or indeed anything that has words can encourage literacy ,

how can you be sure your gift to the teacher and t.a will be perfectly matched to their likes and strengths ?

how would you feel if your teacher gift was criticised on here ?

If they literally don't have a book of their own by school age, then their family must be throwing away all the free books and making an active choice not to have books in the house. It isn't from poverty, and this free book will go where the other free books went. It is not the case that there are lots of humble and deserving waifs just waiting to cherish any random book they are given, if only someone is kind enough to give them some book nobody else really wants.

And when it is wrapped up in Christmas paper and given by Santa, I remain fully convinced that this is a disappointing gift. Like being promised a treat and then given a sprout is worse than not being promised anything.

Anything that has words and is of interest to a child, encourages literacy.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s the guiness book of world records, a joke book, a car manual or a magazine.

If this isn’t your child’s thing then that’s ok but the people who gifted it weren’t to know that.
They can’t get it spot on all of the time.

Some children would absolutely love it and would choose to read it over other types of books.

It was a free gift from Santa.
I hope you don’t give this attitude to your DC because most kids would be very grateful to receive a gift, regardless of what it was.