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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:
MavisEnderby · 09/03/2011 20:32
vitriola · 09/03/2011 20:32

I HATE primary schools giving out homework. They domn't have to - I know of a few schools where they don't, but some actually choose to, and it always seems to be things that parents have to do, while their child helpfully shouts instructions every now and again. DS had to make a Welsh love spoon a while back Angry

I really like the rehab suggestion.

Rhinestone · 09/03/2011 20:34

Just get a large black marker pen and draw a continuous black line across every line of the page. At the top write, "REDACTED FOR REASONS OF NATIONAL SECURITY". Grin

bran · 09/03/2011 20:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ZZZenAgain · 09/03/2011 20:34

a Welsh love spoon?

I'm so glad I didn't have to do all this, mind you other aspects of primary were bad enough without it but have blessedly blanked those traumas out for now. I would fail my dc totally if I had to build churches and all the rest of it. Good grief

eandemum · 09/03/2011 20:36

We had the Bear last week - and I found it v stressful too - although the teacher wrote the first entry setting the bar with the bloody bear eating sandwiches and watching TV Hmm all weekend!

ZZZenAgain · 09/03/2011 20:37

you could just have a black page with a pair of huge wobbly or just goggle eyes

On the next page: bear woke up in the middle of the night and SCREAMED because he thought he saw a ghost

MavisEnderby · 09/03/2011 20:39

Or..the bear has been stupefied in a Harry Potter spell gone wrong and has lost the power of rational thought.

aniseed · 09/03/2011 20:41

I'm sure the teacher isn't expecting lots of writing / pictures. It is actually better not to include photos with all the worry at the moment about photos of children. Teachers much prefer hand-drawn pictures and a few sentences in the child's writing (rather than the parents)

I'm not sure that this is the same as 'homework'. I am a teacher and I used to send the bear home as a 'reward' for the star of the week. They used to love it and it really boosted their confidence. It doesn't take long to do and if it helps the child then it is important.

HerBeX · 09/03/2011 20:42

ROFL at the nonplussed guinea pig Grin

hockeyforjockeys · 09/03/2011 20:43

You've been a teacher - just remember that you were never impressed with 'children's' homework that they had blatently never been near. You would of been delighted to see a lovely drawing and sentence done by a 5 year old, which only required a bit of prompting from their supportive but non-pushy parent.

HerBeX · 09/03/2011 20:43

Who was it who had the class guine-pig that died?

Or was that Outnumbered?

amidaiwish · 09/03/2011 20:44

we had the class bear for the christmas break! nightmare - DD2 kept insisting we take everywhere and take a pic but we kept forgetting him, and i spent my time backtracking our steps to trace the blimming bear, boy was i relieved to hand him over.

anyway, i think those that draw a picture are actually doing the right thing. I of course printed out some photos as that only took a few minutes, the easy way out.

OP don't beat yourself up. our bear was photographed next to 3 different christmas trees and 3 piles of presents. Ooh another tree! Ooh any presents for me says bear? Bear wishes you all a happy christmas.

get the drift? LOADS of things for you to write with a newborn.

  • bear changes nappies
  • bear keeps ds company whilst mummy is busy
  • mummy, bear and baby have a sleep

it wouldn't take many little drawings by your ds which you then annotate?

(Btw with a 6 week old you are more than entitled to feel like any extra little thing is just that one thing too much).

ZZZenAgain · 09/03/2011 20:44

it died? Ooh that's bad

Original poster
poshme · 09/03/2011 20:45

Thank you everyone for getting me out of my black doom mood. It is done. It is quite dull. It does say the bear enjoyed watching some very interesting programs on cbeebies. and that he slept a lot.

I was tempted to say that he had a fight with our dog and that he was shredded into small pieces (our dog used to do that to cudddly toys) but don't want to deal with the fall out of all the trauma.

Perhaps when I am past the newborn sleep deprived stage (and therefore less likely to burst into tears at drop of hat) I will say to the class teacher that its a rubbish task. or something.

It is so tempting to write an alternative few days - for the parents only to read - not for reading out to the class!
thanks all.

OP posts:
2plus2more · 09/03/2011 20:46

MaryDancesTheTango That is GENIUS!!!

We got a cheapy throw-away camera in the bag with our nursery bear so you had to just take a few pics and then it was up to the teacher to get them printed. Our snaps were always taken 30 seconds before we left the house to return the bloomin' bear to school.

With our bear the competitiveness was less to do with what you did with it and more to do with what you had for dinner. Everyone would write more and more elaborate homecooked meals! I almost always make home-cooked meals, but of course we have fish fingers and waffles just like everyone else so I deliberately did that on the nights we had the bear just to prove a point!

Rhinestone · 09/03/2011 20:48

I think you should say something. It's wrong to assume you have a computer, a digital camera and a colour printer. Not very inclusive to those who can't afford these things.

And wrong to assume you have the time and inclination to do 'parental homework' even if you do.

Original poster
poshme · 09/03/2011 20:48

hockey - I know. I really do know. But I don't deal well with disturbed sleep - it sends all my rational self away...

OP posts:
SooooCynical · 09/03/2011 20:48

Oh I hate this and I really don't see the point of it. On the weekend Bear turned up unnannounced at ours we were really busy which should have been a good thing. However it ended up with me at 10pm on Sunday cutting and pasting photos into the book and writing about it all. DS had shown very little interest in the whole thing and I felt like it was my homework.

The bar had also been set very high. There was the girl who spent a lot of time swimming and in the gym because she had her own swimming pool and gym at her house! Bear also went for tea at the House of Lords because auntie is a baroness. Felt very inadequate!!!

hockeyforjockeys · 09/03/2011 20:52

I'm the same - which is why you need to keep reminding yourself what your lovely, rational energetic self would have thought.

needafootmassage · 09/03/2011 20:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

loopy9 · 09/03/2011 20:56

Argh...at my DS and DD's nursery they have these bl**dy bears...argh I feel your pain. I am going to suggest tomorrow that they don't use photo's and insert drawings instead..thats a great idea. I make it up and end of taking pics of the bears when the kids were in bed!!! Oops!

The bears are always so late back the nursery is usually on my case..I am therefore hoping we won't get them ever ever again!

Good luck x :)

HerBeX · 09/03/2011 20:56

Ooh yes - or on a prison visit.

"Here is a picture of Bear being frisked by screws"

Would have to find random prisoner who wanted a visit though.

defnamechangedforthis · 09/03/2011 21:08

This has brought back memories I'd buried - but maybe it'll make you feel better so I'll share.

When we had the 'bloody class bear' dd was 4.5, bear arrived unannounced & we'd got a weekend of catching up with chores planned. Instead, desparate for something to include in the book we went & bought the xmas tree (1st of Dec, needles obviously all then fell off by xmas), decorated it, found various other random things to do & generally based the bloody weekend round said bear.

By the Sun eve I was knackered, chores not done, dd insisted on sleeping with bear...and woke up crying in night having pooed absolutely everywhere, had attempted to clear up herself & succeeded in spreading poo liberally over everything in her room. Including, obviously, the bear...

The one time she's ever done that, why why WHY did it have to be that night?? Somehow managed to put it (and her entire bed, pjs, everything) in the washing machine at 2am, (then disinfected entire room), put bear in airing cupboard at some stupid o'clock & got it dry in time for school.

Bloody class bears, grrrr

BiddytheKnackerwoman · 09/03/2011 21:11

Can't compete with the family who took 'Spencer' to Egypt complete with photo's of 'Spencer' at all the places of historical interest.

Feckin Spencer.