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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Geocentric · 10/03/2011 13:14

lovename they chose seahorse for the name of their class (they voted for names in the beginning of the school year) - thus the mascot choice. I'm guessing the teacher has some sort of sea creature project lined up for them... Grin

They pick names out of a hat to see who it goes home with, though, which seems fair!

RU4real · 10/03/2011 13:15

Oh! Honey, hope it's ok now. Keep it simple and stuff the neighbours....My 5 year old drew and cut out pictures, and I spent 5 minutes dotting out the words for her to write over - this was a compromise as the 5 year old idea was to cut words out of the paper and stick them on to the book!

lovenamechange100 · 10/03/2011 13:16

Oh thats nice, an yes that dos seem fair, often with rewards systems its the same kids who get the stuff all the time.!

Good luck with your repairs Geo

suzi2 · 10/03/2011 13:17

My DS is 2nd last in the list to get the class bear in a few weeks time. I'm looking forward to reading the other entries so I know what I'm up against. Though the last child has an exceptional mother and lives on a farm so they might trump me Wink.

My friend made the class bear do all the cleaning elast year and took photos of it being a slave all weekend. I think that's a great idea.

bronze · 10/03/2011 13:20

pants too late

I was going to suggest not taking him back but just writing in the book Teddy ran away but he promised to send postcards. then mners could send postcards from wherever they are written from teddy

CarrieJ · 10/03/2011 13:28

Why don't you get your ds to draw a picture of the bear in bed and say he got bearflu and had to stay under a duvet for two days.

Poor bear.

Poor you!

fifi25 · 10/03/2011 13:37

bronze lol Grin

alexandra65 · 10/03/2011 13:45

Fantastic thread, glad you managed to get the book done, and hope life gets easier soon .... Im still chuckling bout the guinea pig with the sombrero/peruvian hat.

In my sons book like this I did have a chuckle that one of the first things that one of the Mums did was to put the bloody bear in the washing machine.

I dont have a printer at home either x

IWantToBeAFairyWhenIGrowUp · 10/03/2011 13:48

I love this thread, its so funny.

We have a class elephant who goes home with the nursery children (they are 3-4). He has been all over the place and over Christmas week he went to Lapland and met father christmas.

All we did was go to the park, feed our chickens (and found an egg) and made a card for Grandpa's birthday. We did do a couple of photos but there were drawings in the book too from other people.

I actually think its quite nice to do but certainly not if you are getting stressed over it.

Habbibu · 10/03/2011 13:54

Write a report saying that social services came and took the bear as they felt that all this moving around wasn't good for his emotional stability and that they'd be in touch with the teacher in the morning.

poshme · 10/03/2011 13:58

Bronze that's brilliant! Well dd will be at school in18 months so I will store that idea up for when she brings bear home.

Ds did ask this morning why the pics werent in colour Sad but was very happy with my explanation of " it was either black and White or no pics". Am feeling much better today- only woken twice in night, so feeling a bit foolish over how upset I got...!

However, upside is that I have loads of great ideas of what to write next time for dd1 and dd2...In fact, I'd love to get the bear first so I can set the standard with my roadkill/ running away/ being in rehab diary... And I loved reading all the suggestions- keep them coming! And the sombrero???? What's that about!

OP posts:
lovenamechange100 · 10/03/2011 14:05

glad it lifeted your spirits posh, things can always seem a lot worse/difficult when tired late at night. Dont worry about DS he wont dweel on things like that at this age.

Yeah Im almost jealous I wont be having a bear to stay now!

Well done MNetter Grin if errt hat ok to say Hmm

MistyB · 10/03/2011 14:17

I used to joke about urban myths of Mums loosing the school / nursery bear and hoped that it would never be me!

I was horrified when I was handed Barney before half term when my DD said we were going abroad. I stupidly joked about leaving Barney at airport or in the hotel. Barney didn't even make it out of the UK, lost between home and Sainsburys. Cue me looking for a replacement among the Steiff bears in the only toy shop I could find in the centre of Geneva - luckily a friend recommended somewhere more reasonably priced.

I think it is just plain cruel to give the institutional bear to anyone clearly lacking the organisational skills (as I am!!) to deal with the **y bear on top of my three kids!!

crazyartistcatlady · 10/03/2011 14:20

We once had the bear, I wrote a letter to the class from the bear saying sorry he hadn't done anything apart from lie in dd's bed all weekend, he'd had a temperature!

Condensedmilkaddict · 10/03/2011 15:01

Inspired by this book:

www.amazon.com/Dougal-Garbage-Dump-Bear-Matt/dp/1929132786

'Roger' got up to a lot of mischief at our house including eating all the honey without asking, fighting with the cat and coming home late.

But (hijack) this really is the best kids book. Ever.

Ds is 13 and had to bring in his favorite picture book for school.
He chose this, and the teacher ended up reading it to the whole class and buying her own copy!

Condensedmilkaddict · 10/03/2011 15:03

Aargh.
I am a grown woman. Why can I not do links??
Its Matt Dray's Dougal the Garbage Dump Bear.

Condensedmilkaddict · 10/03/2011 15:04

www.amazon.com/Dougal-Garbage-Dump-Bear-Matt/dp/1929132786

Condensedmilkaddict · 10/03/2011 15:05

Hooray.

Onetoomanycornettos · 10/03/2011 15:14

We have a class dog puppet which is way better than the bear (I have had a bear visit too). It's better as the children love talking through him and I found out loads of interesting stuff about the way they see the world.

But our parents aren't competitive really, all the entries are written by the children and consist of 'Doggy had fish and chips for tea' 'Doggy went to see my granny', no fancy trips or boasting.

It's the only thing I have liked from the school and I didn't count it as homework, they could definitely do it themselves (draw piccy, write a few lines if poss). My daughter had him for a whole week and slept with him in her bed every night, it was incredibly special for her in a way I hadn't expected.

HipHopopotomus · 10/03/2011 15:18

FFS homework for parents!!!!!!! I don't have a printer at home (let alone a colour one) so I'd be stuffed. Would they accept a photo diary on FB (about as far as I could stretch)?

OP you have my sympathy to be subject to such copycat (a la "Same Smile" I am guessing) utter crap.

dawntigga · 10/03/2011 15:34

YANBU here are some of my diary entries:

Day 1:
Mr TigTog, Mama and I went to Ikea where Mama says dogs are not usually allowed in Ikea but Mr TigTog should be ok as he looks more like a rabbit than a puppy. Mama bought candles as she says you can get arrested for leaving an Ikea without them. Mama says that trying to put Mr TigTog in the toilet is Not Done and that putting babies in there isn't either. She says somebody called Social Services come around and Have Words if you try to do that with babies.

Day 2 (which I didn't actually put in but wish I had):
Today we went swimming and did not drown. Mama says that you can't take dogs into swimming baths as it's bad for their skin, however, the first bit of stagnant/stinky water and they are straight in there and No Mistake. Then we went shopping Mr Tig Tog came with us, Mama said that normally dogs aren't allowed in shops unless you are in France where dogs (especially in Paris) have a higher standing than the English.

After lunch Mama tried to get me go to sleep with Mr TigTog, I did not want to go to sleep and threw up over Mr TigTog instead. Mama says that throwing up on dogs is Frowned Upon and V difficult to do as they move quickly, although not as quickly as hamsters in balls do. She said not to ask how she knows that. Mama then had to wash Mr TigTog in the washing machine to clean him with all my bedding. She says that doing this with an actual puppy will bring something called the RSPCA around as this is Not Done and although, she'd like to put me in the washing machine with him I just got a bath. Mr TigTog spent the rest of the afternoon on what Mama calls Mr TigTog's Roundabout which normally just has clothes on it. She says that pegging puppies up by their ears can only be done on special occaisions but can be done to little boys at any time and that is why Dada has such big ears.

Eventually I had my nap and Mr TigTog came in because it was dark, he is sitting on the radiator downstairs and Mama says his bottom is getting all toasty. He shall be going back to nursery tomorrow with me. Mama asked Dada if it would be possible to leave us both there but Dada says that children aren't like potplants you can't just give them to somebody else when they get tiresome so I think that Mr TigTog must be either a cactus or very tired.

WouldLoveToHaveHadTheBallsToPutDay2InAsWellTiggaxx

DumSpiroSpero · 10/03/2011 18:18

Feeling your pain! Dd's school has an Andrew puppy, a school bear and a sodding French sheep which come home in relay. They don't set homework but was a bit Blush when her teacher collared me in the playground because we'd forgotten to take Christophe back 2 days running.

poshme · 10/03/2011 18:30

Update- having been panicky cos they were going to be showing class/ reading diary today... They didn't- so DH could have printed in colour at work today- or I could have added some MN suggestions. Typical!

OP posts:
MrsGuyOfGisbourne · 10/03/2011 18:31

YANBU - I think its a punishment for parents - we got the sodding thing one Easter holiday and had to take it skiing to Norway - I was terrified it would get lost (presume tho they musht ahve spares?. I drew the line at schlepping it round Chessington World of Adventures, much to DS's chagrin.
DS wanted to take it to bed with him Hmm so I put it thru the washing machine covertly first - cloak and dagger stuff Grin, oh, and don't get me started of the tyranny of the frigging diary.

DeWe · 10/03/2011 18:43

A friend's entry went "Mr. Bear went on a journey and didn't come back." Older sibling had thrown it up in the air when messing around and it disappeared over a wall and they couldn't get it back. Mother was terribly embarrassed.

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