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AIBU?

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Original poster

ds has got a strange present from school...don't want to be ungrateful but.

70 replies

fridgealwaysfull · 20/12/2013 18:10

ds is in year 6 and in his school the PTFA buy each child a book for Christmas. He excitedly opened his present earlier ' A Photographic Guide to British and European Fungi'.

I know it's the thought that counts and all that.... but really?

OP posts:
Shallishanti · 21/12/2013 17:35

actually I needed just such a book only the other day when a mystery fungus turned up in my veg patch. Always handy to have a book like that. Help him to cultivate an opem mind, he may enjoy it.

FredFredGeorge · 21/12/2013 17:44

shallishanti wouldn't it have been safer to just go to the doctors?

wonderingsoul · 21/12/2013 17:52

about 2 years ago ds1 got a book about a boy granddad dieing and how to come with it it was a storie with a moral/lesson kind of book for christmas
i thought it was very odd at best and unaccatable at worse tbh.

it is an odd thing to give..unless theve been learning about this or its about to come up?

MidniteScribbler · 21/12/2013 19:00

I give all of my students a christmas/end of year gift of a book. I select them for each child, and sometimes they are quirky based on a particular interest, or even a running joke between the child and I during the year. Sometimes the parents may have no real idea of what has happened in the classroom, I gave one child a book about learning circus tricks and the parent asked me why. They didn't realise that it had been a joke all year between the child and I about 'running away to join the circus'.

Tigerstripes · 21/12/2013 19:11

I particularly liked this:

"Have just asked ds, who has no previous with funghi."

Xmas Grin
SpottyDottie · 21/12/2013 19:18

As much as I love books it really is an odd choice of subject! It does sound like it was part of a job lot......Hmm

As was "A fast and funny guide to Oliver Cromwell" Grin

DeWe · 21/12/2013 19:19

about 2 years ago ds1 got a book about a boy granddad dieing and how to come with it it was a storie with a moral/lesson kind of book for christmas
I thought it was very odd at best and unaccatable at worse tbh was that the one that the grandad loves woodcarving and leaves the boy all his tools?

I was coming on to say that ds got that from "Santa" at the school fair a couple of year ago. I nearly sent a message to the PTA saying that it really was inappropriate. I found it really hard as my dad is a woodcarver, and if dd2 had got it I think she would have thought it was true.

However I know exactly why it happened. The PTA buy sets of books (I think from the bookpeople) and parcel them up individually and give them out randomly. Now my own view is they should probably have extracted that one-but if no one had read it then they wouldn't have known.

I suspect the OP's ds had a similar situation. Teacher bought a bulk set of books and gave them out randomly.

Motherinlawsdung · 21/12/2013 19:38

They give out these books to encourage literacy. Not a bad idea, considering the standard of some of the parental posts on this thread.

RomulanBattleBagel · 21/12/2013 19:40

Presumably it is a book aimed at children rather than adults? If so YABU I think. If it's an adult one then that's a bit odd as a child might not get as much out of it

OutragedFromLeeds · 21/12/2013 21:28

They give out books on mushroom spotting, Oliver Cromwell and what to do if Grandpa dies to encourage literacy?! No wonder a lot of kids don't enjoy reading at school!

IamInvisible · 21/12/2013 21:37

That is a weird present.

Both of my DC like books but it would have probably just have been shoved on the bookshelf until the next time I did a charity shop drop. If my Gran had been still alive she would have looked at it with them because she used to go mushroom picking.

Moxiegirl · 21/12/2013 22:23

It's a shit present Grin
But so shit it's quite funny, my ds would find it amusing I think. He has all sorts of weird obsessions but fungi isn't one of them.

Moxiegirl · 21/12/2013 22:25

I suppose it might be useful to a teenager looking for magic mushrooms.

WhenSarahAndStuckUpTheChimney · 21/12/2013 22:27

It could turn out to be his favourite book OP.

DS is currently fascinated by one about flags of the world, he wants to read it every day. Just lots of pictures of flags with the name of the country under the flag and the capital city under that.

UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea · 21/12/2013 22:38

Count yourself lucky OP.

My nephew came home at the end of term with a crayfish. A live one. Which he is expected to now keep as a pet Hmm

GoodnessKnows · 21/12/2013 22:43

Funny. BUT the pressies I've thought were bizarre and , dare I say, cheap have often turned out to be my DCs' favourites.

edamsavestheday · 21/12/2013 22:46

A crayfish? Blimey. Makes a book on mushrooms look like a great option.

AdmiralData · 21/12/2013 22:55

I actually would love a book on fungi. However, initially when someone gave it to me I would laugh my bollocks off until tears of mirth ran down my face. Read it together, you'll probably enjoy it.

Caitlin17 · 22/12/2013 01:26

It wasn't a present but a prize , but I got a copy of Trollope's Barchester Towers aged 10. I did read it and loved it 15 years later.

MidniteScribbler · 22/12/2013 05:05

I couldn't send home crayfish. It might be confusing for those parents that already have crabs.

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