To suspect a causal relationship between effing World Book Day and family breakdown?

[Blu]

Long. No soplogies - I need to get this off my chest!
DS has a perfect Willy Wonka outfit. He decided last week that on no account would he go to school as WW and insisted that he wanted to go as a dinosaur from his dinosaur encyclopaedia. With sinking heart I agreed and did my best to rise to the occasion.
Bought tubular dishcloth roll from Halfords.
Spent Sunday with DS painting it all with brown and green dinosaur skin design.

Got up at 5.30 a.m (after late work meetings last night and Monday night). Struggled to sew it all together - tubular body, sleeves with carboard claws made by DS, tail, stuffed with slightly inflated Tesco bags to give bulk without drag-it-down weight. Ruched the tail up by sewing along it, giving it a pleasing upward curl.

DO comes in and makes coffee, muttering about why don't I reduce my hours and concentrate on parenting a bit more.

DS puts on outfit - it looks much better than I imagined it could.

DS gets out onto the doorstep to leave for schol. Stops. "I don't think I really want to go as any sort of character".

DP tells him he looks good, DS is adamant and starts to take off Authentic Iguanadon outfit.

DP whisks him upstairs and returns 5 seconds later with blue IKEA knight cape and Narnia book.

"He's going as Peter or Edmund from Narnia".

We stomp off to school. 4 other boys are in IKEA knight outfits. No-one has anyhting half as good as an anatomically correct home-made Iguanadon.

I return home with the intention of putting DS into care, divorcing DP, sending a letterbomb to the HQ of World effing Book Day, and committing myself to a mental health establishment for treatment of the effcts of these initiatives on anyone who is a WOHP, single parent, SAHM with smaller children in the home to care for, SN children to care for or anyone even slightly creatively challenged.

"DP comes in and makes coffee"

Oh dear, poor you. That's why my WBD thread was entitled "alpha mum or minimalist approach?" as i feared investing lots of effort and then having it thrown back at me. At school this morning, the full spectrum from 'knight in armour' to 'crying child in uniform whose mum forgot it was WBD' could be seen.

I had total respect for the 'oops-we-forgot' mother who was shoving her ordinary-clothed-dd through the door saying 'You're going as YOU! The main chracter in your autobiography which you will be writiing in a few years!"

pmsl it is never worth putting in the effort for these sort of things ,you have learnt valuable lesson ,soooo funny

blu. I have to say there were "words" in our house this morning. Our little saga goes as follows:

DS slightly miffed at going in homemade Willy Wonka costume last year (even though teacher said it was great) when all his mates were in spiderman and powerranger suits. So he decided that he wanted to go as a pirate and so told me that his favourite book was the Ladybird version of Treasure Island. I went along with this. The letter from school said to make "poster, model or hat". So I spent time over the weekend (despite also having his party to arrange and run) with DS customising a large piece of lining paper as a treasure map - drawing and stamping on it, rubbing it with a wet tea bag, burning the edeges etc), and making an old tea box into a treasure chest, plus making treasure to go in it. DH contributed an egg cup painted gold with "jewels" stuck on as a goblet.

I leave for work at 7.20 am, so get the children up and dressed for then and leave DH to give them breakfast. So last night I negotiated with 2yo DD her clothes and hairclips/bobbles. Then I checked DS's uniform and what he wanted to wear re. the pirate. And he said "you get it out". So I did. Then this morning he decides that the pirate skeleton top (it's a halloween costume) is too "fluffy" and he doesn't liek to wear it. And DH is going "just leave it, can't he just put it in a bag" and being unhelpful. And I was saying that we agreed it last night. Then DH said that he wasn't consulted. He knew what we were doing but chose to sit at the PC doing his fantasy football team, then chooses 7.15am to criticise how I have done things. (He had previously criticised the shape of the treasure chest after it had been made). DS decided he wanted to wear an age 3-4 (he is 6) Captain Hook jacket, but then decided it was too small. I just put all his costume in a bag with the treasure map and chest and left it to go the CMs with him.

DH had already put DS in a bad mood by coming out of the bathroom and telling him off because DD said he had poked her. Well maybe he had but there was very good reason for it and I had dealt with it. So then I am trying to get the DCs washed and DS is saying "I don't want to live here anymore, I always get in trouble". That was 7.10 am

sorry i love WBD but my kids 3 schools arent doing dressing up this year

much to my dissapointment

Sorry

"I'll get me coat"

have bought costume - i hate this sort of stuff...!

What costume did you buy, BK?

another pirate one from woolies - rather gorgeous it is too... only a tenner.

all that effort for nothing Blu It is funny reading it here but I have had stunts pulled on me like that too and I know how much it hurts (with a really ace clown costume in Yr1 as it happens, these scars fade only slowly).
If there are reports of a child found throttled with a piece of green dishcloth we will have to report this thread to the Met you know
FWIW I think events like this really flick creative people on the raw. If you know you can make something to professional standards you want to do it, not take the slacker's way out of just throwing money at the nearest nylon fancy dress emporium
Ds and I cooked up a lovely Just William costume last year, he really looked like the pictures in the books and all the teachers loved it. However, everyone else was crackling about dressed as Krazy Kow or Harry Potter and some of his classmates called his costume stupid.

Eeeek , cross-posted there BK
Was just trying to cheer up that Blu y'know
We do have lots of crackly costumes as well, I hasten to add - (marina keeps digging and hits Oz in record time)

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Oh Blu, that's so funny, only not for you, obviously. You should force him to wear it, photograph him and post it on MN as his punishment!

how simply lovely to have the time, marina, and not be a "slacker"... i made lovely costumes when i was on mat leave - now that i'm back f/t it depends how busy i am whether i need to "slack" or not.

Our school is doing it tomorrow. I am not very creative so took my dd's to woolworth's at the weekend to buy their costumes. Dd1 who is 7 choose Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean and dd2 who is 5 choose cinderella. Last night dd1 told me she thinks it will be embarrising wearing the dress she choose at the weekend (great now I've taken the labels off so cant return it), and she thinks she would like to wear go as the girl from Charlottes web so can I get her some dungarees to wear. I'm working today so told her she would have to wear the costume she has or something she already has at home.

The thing is, I'm truly hopeless at anything to do with craft. I should never have agreed to attempt it. Woolies is obviously the way to go in support of the nations's literacy strategy!

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we have it tomorrow, and everyone has to be a pirate.

I haven't done anythinga bout it because I have a vague notion that there is an old captain hook thingy in the bottom of a box in the playroom which will do with a pair of ripped trousers and a tshirt.

am I a bad mother?

Oh you old misery. 'Learning objectives' They love it.

You can do all sorts of other things as well. We have a storyteller coming in, and a book sale, and special library sessions...and dressing up!

I have e-mailed you the world's most sincere grovel bk . There is a back story relating to Mister Krazy Kow which has skewed my judgement somewhat

I'm afraid I used bribery! Dd has a Red Riding Hood costume (cape, white pinny and basket) made with my own fair hands a couple of years ago, and not yet grown out of. She wanted to go as Snow White (Disney costume-yuck). I "persuaded" her to go as Red Riding Hood, by saying I would fill up her basket with hideously-coloured iced biscuits left over from Christmas and nearly expired.

There were anothe 3 Disney Snow Whites in the playground this am!

massive sympathies, blu, I stayed up till 2.30am one Christmas night making dd1 and dd2 their Angel outfits (dd1 returned to her old nursery to be narrator) - complete with feather boa type neck accessory.
needless to say, dd1 didn't wear hers...hmm]

(I think there's a special box you can tick from social services saying: Child Wouldn't Wear Lovingly Hand-Crafted Outfit for World Book Day/Nativity Concert/Eid)

I know dd will want her bouffant, hideous Cinderella confection and I think to be on the safe side I will let her wear it

What is Krazy Kow?!!

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