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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that having the bloody class bear to visit should be banned?

164 replies

poshme · 09/03/2011 20:01

I know its stupid but i'm sitting here in tears beacuse i do not have a colour printer to print the pictures for the diary entry i am supposed to write for the bear. i cannot even cut out the crappy black and white ones cos this evening my 6 week old dd sreams if i stay still or put her down.
the sodding bear arrived on monday and has to be returned tomorrow with 2 sides of writing and pics saying what he has done for the last few days...while ds was at school and after school. And I know it is not a competition, but it gets read out and shown to all the class, and then our entry goes in the folder for all the next parents who get the bear to read.
my son is just 5. he can write a few words. he cannot layuot pics on a computer. why why why do they give us this stupid task??? i was a teacher so i really want to support the school but this is making me feel like a shit mum cos ours will look crapper than everone else's..

OP posts:
b1uebells · 09/03/2011 20:13

As a fellow teacher I sympathise, we have all these lovely ideas for our class but then when stuff gets sent home with our dc it's other way round!

Could you ask another mum to print out or just take in on memory stick and ask teacher to print off at school?

Don't worry though, drawings would be fine :)

beachholiday · 09/03/2011 20:13

Your 3 year old can@t print colour pics without a colour printer though Nailak? Or she really is a technological genius.

Nor does she have a 6 week old to look after I assume.

OP, I would compose something tounge-in-cheek about how the bear has been very very busy helping take care of the baby who is only 6 weeks old.

List all the things bear has done with nappies, baths feeds and all the rest of it and disturbed sleep.

(And then explain this is why there are no pictures, as bear was run off his feet and fell asleep before he could print all the pics etc etc).

Last thing you need with a new baby is the class bear as a house guest!

SeeJaneKick · 09/03/2011 20:14

Razzle Dazzle em. Have you got anything sparkly? Cover the bleeder in glitter and bows....sequins and twinkle.

People will be so Shock as they are confronted by your page they'll just think it's ace.

Original poster
poshme · 09/03/2011 20:15

sorry - slow typing one handed - lots of you have made me laugh! so tempted by so many of these...

OP posts:
HerBeX · 09/03/2011 20:16

Oh yes, glitter as revenge...

Put loads on so it goes all over her papers and falls in her handbag.

MavisEnderby · 09/03/2011 20:16

My ds is 7 and can't print out pics from computer.We have no printer.Unhelpful post(obv he is stupidHmm)

Don't worry OP.

What mme lindt said.

Don't beat yourself up.This option kind of explains the sit and more personalised than a printout.

TBH I think its ridiculous that primary ages are given homework full stop,whole other thread though

Congrats on the new baby:)

purplepidjin · 09/03/2011 20:16

Tell the truth:

Bear spent the week drying out in a darkened room because he was disgustingly pissed dirty.

Bear had to be kept away from the family due to the x-rated nature of breast-feeding.

DC thinks bear is a pointless waste of space and is scared because he looks like the monsters under the bed

GoodnightNobody · 09/03/2011 20:17

that is 1 picture only...ask him to choose the sentence thing he wants to draw about.

ours was usually:

Mon: 'we went to the park'

Tues: 'we went to the park again'

Wed: 'we played in the park'

or in your case 'mummy asked why we had to bring this sodding bear home?'

onepieceoflollipop · 09/03/2011 20:17

I have no proper printer either (nice to see I am not the only one :) )

Congratulations on your baby as well. :)

Astronaut79 · 09/03/2011 20:17

One small entry and no pictures. Bear was naughty, so got sent to prison. Did try to write a letter home, but it was censored. Grin

sims2fan · 09/03/2011 20:18

I've taught classes with a take home toy, and to be honest haven't really cared what the parents put that they did with the thing. The nicest entries were the ones that included hand drawn pictures done by the child. Once a parent had written that the toy had done x y and z and when I read it out the child admitted that it was all a lie and the toy had been at her house in a bag all weekend, which I found quite amusing! Personally I would find it funny to read an entry that said the bear had been on a confidential spy mission for a couple of days and couldn't possibly say what he'd been up to!

onepieceoflollipop · 09/03/2011 20:18

(forgot to say that another time we had the bear and left him in the car deliberately - the whole time, I was paranoid about losing him.)

I lied through my teeth (dd was only 2 at the time) and said he had been to Sainsbury's, and the park, and on the school run with big sister etc. Well he had, but he stayed in the car while we were at these places. Grin

travellingwilbury · 09/03/2011 20:20

I have no printer either and this would piss me off .

I also refused to make a model of a tudor house for similar reasons . I am yet to be chucked off the school grounds for being a rubbish parent .

Simple sums , bit of writing , yes .
Building a bloody dinasour or a forest in a box just annoys me .

ZZZenAgain · 09/03/2011 20:22

a model of a tudor house? yikes

I have a colour printer at home but it would take one heck of a 3 year old to sort it out, jams all the time and no-one is ever able to sort it out. Stupid thing

SlightlyJaded · 09/03/2011 20:23

what beachholiday said. A tongue in cheek explaination as to why there are no sodding photos of the bear contemplating art at an obscure gallery.

And if you are still crying, perhaps you could circle some tearstains on the page too and draw an arrow to them labeling them as the 'strange tears of exhaustion that DSs Mummy cried when the baby woke up for the seventh time in one night'

And actually a class of 5 year olds will love hearing all about a new born baby.

We had two sodding bears over christmas and forgot to take them to Oxford Street to look at the lights (the one thing we had promised to do), so had to superimpose them infront of a copyright protected image of the christmas lights (visualise me weeping in front of photoshop on boxing day). I was feeling very pleased with myself until I realised that these were the previous years christmas lights and any bugger who had been to see them would spot it immediately.

Honestly. The bears are more trouble than they are wroth.

travellingwilbury · 09/03/2011 20:23

Exactly zzz , it is doable apparently with a shoe box and lots of patience , neither of which I had or cared to get .

HerBeX · 09/03/2011 20:23

Oh yes we were supposed to make a model of a church at half term

Forgot about that one...

A church FFS

myhandslooksoold · 09/03/2011 20:25

If we get the bear he usually gets an adventure in the washing machine!!!

travellingwilbury · 09/03/2011 20:26

What the buggery are they supposed to learn by doing this shite ?

I always agree with the teachers in front of my children but I just couldn't be arsed to try and find the educational merit in trying to build a tudor house out of a shoe box .

Hulababy · 09/03/2011 20:26

Don't worry out it. DC draws a picture and writes a sentence underneath. And that is it. He is 5y. Don't fall into the competitive mummy trick of doing loads.

I work in a Y1 class and would be really concerne if such a task caused a parent of ours so much stress. You;ll be pleased to hear we don't have a bear that comes home.

pranma · 09/03/2011 20:26

How about:
'When Bear got to our house he was very tired after all the activities of the last few weeks so he went straight to bed and slept until this morning when we woke him up to go to school.'His favourite time was when ds went to bed and they listened to stories together'

MadamDeathstare · 09/03/2011 20:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

UnSerpentQuiCourt · 09/03/2011 20:27

MaryDances - ransom note is a great idea! My year 4 class did actually kidnap the KS1 bear and send a ransom note, along with a photo of bear tied up in a dark place (teacher's cupboard). Debated cutting off an ear but we decided against it. Apparently it caused trauma at bed time in several households.

onlion · 09/03/2011 20:27

my ds is 6 and Im GLAD he cant use the printer yet.

sybilfaulty · 09/03/2011 20:31

You could always do a bit of cutting out of pics from a mag / catalogue of things the bear did, ate or liked. DS can glue, you can write the text and then enjoy your new baby.

The children just like hearing about the bear. It's the other sodding parents who are competitive. Some parents went the whole hog on "here is the bear in our holiday house" whilst other parents had the bear going to KFC and watching telly. One very odd parent took the bear out after the kids went to bed to hear a classical concert. His was all documented on the lovely colour printer and took about 6 pages!

My DD drew a picture of the bear in our book and wrote a few lines. Twas ample.

Congratulations on the baby. Lovely news.

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