Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Original poster

AIBU to have had it with reading diaries?

170 replies

cakefanatic · 27/04/2021 09:29

Wondering which way this one will go - I’ll probably be flamed.

Family life is busy, it’s busy for all of us. But this morning I am totally sick and fed up of filling in the reading diary. I read with/to/listen to my kids read all the time. Every day, in fact, and have done since they were very small. It is totally mandated by school that we have to record in their reading diary every day and it’s the one thing that’s just slipping. With the laundry and the cooking, and the never ending activity drop offs and working full time I just never quite get round to it.

School make a big deal of it, and the kids get stressed, but honestly, unless there is a problem can’t they just ease up on the bloody diary? We’ve been filling it in religiously for years now but just lately I can’t handle it.

It just seems like one of a never ending stream of requests from school, including eleventy billion fancy dress costumes, donations to worthy causes, random pieces of fruit for maths class. I could go on...

YABU - reading diaries are crucial to life on Earth
YANBU - enough already, I read with my kids and that’s what is actually important

OP posts:

DDIJ · 27/04/2021 12:46

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

Original poster

cakefanatic · 27/04/2021 12:47

@DDIJ

Reading diaries are mainly for other parents to look at and sneer at.

🤣🤣

OP posts:

apooagnuandyou · 27/04/2021 12:47

@DDIJ

Reading diaries are mainly for other parents to look at and sneer at.

I have 4 kids, not once have I seen someone else's reading diary!

Even when I volunteered at school, they had their own school diary, not the home one.

zoemum2006 · 27/04/2021 12:48

Once my daughters were completely fluent free readers then I found it utterly pointless.

From then on kids filled it in I just signed my name.

starfishmummy · 27/04/2021 12:58

You don't have to write an essay about it. Add a word they just learnt during their reading, or couldn't pronounce and you are done

Clearly a different school to my DS. Just noting the page numbers, and saying something like "read well with no prompting" was not good enough. Not totally sure what else I was supposed to put if there were no problems!!

Neome · 27/04/2021 13:04

Get
stampers
✅

apooagnuandyou · 27/04/2021 13:04

@starfishmummy

You don't have to write an essay about it. Add a word they just learnt during their reading, or couldn't pronounce and you are done

That's a conversation I would have had with the school!

I am not against teachers at all, or even against school system, but I am not quiet when I don't agree or don't understand something.

lollipoprainbow · 27/04/2021 13:06

I'm with you ! My dd loathes reading although she is a very competent reader.

emmylousings · 27/04/2021 13:07

I sympathise with your comment about busywork OP. It's an example of something that we all have to do now, whereas it was probably invented specifically to encourage non-reading families. We are readers so it seems a bit pointless, but just a few quick words are required in the diary. You might be overthinking it.

itsgettingwierd · 27/04/2021 13:07

@Demelza82

I love doing my son's reading diary but then I don't see supporting my son's education and the work of a school trying to improve themselves as a chore.

Oh my word people like this really do exist 🤣🤣

Meanwhile back in the real world - I get what your saying.

I remember when ds was small and I'd write "read x page to x page"

After 3 months of this his teacher asked me to be more specific about his phonic knowledge, expression etc. I asked if there was a crib sheet or something to know what phonics he should know and needs to learn etc?

Turns out there's not!

ShinyGreenElephant · 27/04/2021 13:13

Teachers hate them too. Once the kids can read they are absolutely pointless- the ones who don't read at home the diary does not make a jot of difference and the teacher knows who is and isn't reading without needing a record - its very obvious. And if its pointless busywork to you imagine how we feel with 30 of the things! They have their uses in reception and y1 (although I wouldnt bother if I had a choice) but in y6 they are utterly pointless

CoolCrazy · 27/04/2021 13:17

It really doesn’t take long. Mountain out of a molehill. You sound quite dramatic.

CervixHaver · 27/04/2021 13:25

I fill in the reading diary for the week, once a week......, if I remember what we read!

UnconsideredTrifles · 27/04/2021 13:35

@apooagnuandyou

That's a perfectly reasonable question. The school phone number just rings out, voicemails aren't answered. The teacher doesn't reply to emails, and the head (who does reply) doesn't know the answers or seem to have the means to find them out. They have, in the last week, acquired a website, but when DD started a couple of months ago the only way to contact the school was to message the head on Facebook...

On the plus side, DD is very happy and doesn't seem troubled by my total confusion!

KarmaViolet · 27/04/2021 13:43

I'm not a fan although I do fill it in every day.

I did once consider filling it in honestly with "DD read the whole of this Biff and Chip with enthusiasm. This is mostly because I allowed her to replace the word "key" with "butt" and she was still giggling at bath time." Decided against it though

rawlikesushi · 27/04/2021 14:12

I'm a teacher in a school that uses Reading Diaries.

We are trying hard, in all sorts of ways, to improve reading age scores and levels of attainment.

One way we try to do that is by asking children to read to a grown up at home and record this in their diary as evidence. This allows us to follow up with those that aren't reading at home and try to encourage it.

It also allows us to direct resources at those children who are not reading at home - I will try to listen to them reading myself, focus on them in guided reading, direct other adults in the classroom to support/listen to reading.

We recently started a reading intervention, which is expensive and involves a subscription, and could only send 4-5 children per class, and were supposed to prioritise those who weren't reading at home.

I guess it must be frustrating to be chased by the school when you know that you are reading with your child, but it is also frustrating to spend time chasing the wrong families.

As pp have said, it can be brief - maybe ask the teacher or Head what the briefest permitted entry is, or whether your child complete it for you to initial.

rawlikesushi · 27/04/2021 14:15

@ShinyGreenElephant

I disagree with this. Even when children can decode fluently they benefit from sharing and talking about books at home. Continuing daily reading - no matter what level they are working at - pushes them on. It is not just non-readers who benefit from this. I like the reading diaries, it's a useful way to send a note home and opens up discussions about the book they're reading.

LouNatics · 27/04/2021 14:18

To get my children through school for one week, and meet all the expectations from their schools, I as the adult need to log in to different online systems for homework, behaviour, attendance, payments, lunches, clubs and covid testing a minimum of 22 separate times in a seven day period. That’s just logging in the myriad of different apps and websites to check their homework/merits and demerits/charge their lunch cards/pay for club/and so on. I’m also expected to read and comment on a minimum of eight blog posts a week, and at least skim two or three daily emails coming in from the schools.

I’ve to sign two reading diaries daily, and one weekly - the secondary still makes me sign for teenagers. The primary also sends a maths diary, so I have to sign those.

That’s before we’ve actually done any of the reading, maths homework, spellings, handwriting. And before thinking about the DC’s log ins for the same systems and for mathletics, spelling shed, times table rockstars, etc etc etc all those they get given certificates for in assembly and so access facilitated by the adult is again rewarded in school. Yet the kids without someone to help/the tech to log into these things can’t possibly get those honours.

And so on and on

Brefugee · 27/04/2021 14:27

It's all very well to say you're too busy, but how would you feel if your child's school report came home and noted "not sure on progress, I was too busy to keep notes"?

Since that is actually their job I'd be very concerned.

Not UK but I just used to tick and initial ans smile and wave off any criticism of that.

rawlikesushi · 27/04/2021 14:33

"I as the adult need to log in to different online systems for homework, behaviour, attendance, payments, lunches, clubs and covid testing a minimum of 22 separate times in a seven day period."

How would you pay for clubs and lunches before you could do it online? Did you prefer sending cash/cheques and was that quicker?

A lot of stuff is online now but I like it because I can do it at any time instead of queueing at the school office.

ZigZagIntoTheBlue · 27/04/2021 14:34

I have sympathy for both sides, on the one hand it takes seconds to initial it or write 'read to page 7' or whatever and schools need this info to prove that parents are engaging, its possible that Ofsted is imminent and they're panicking. On the other hand I get that one more thing it's the straw that will break the camel's back.
Can your kids write in there instead for you?

lanthanum · 27/04/2021 14:36

We escaped lightly - there was only a reading diary in year 2; I said to the teacher "Do I have to do this?" and she said no! Hooray for the teacher who knows that it's not useful for every child.

hiredandsqueak · 27/04/2021 14:40

Would it be terrible if I confessed that by year four I'd taught all my kids to forge my signature so I'd get them to sign their own diaries and planners if I'd forgotten. Dd1 could write a really good note excusing her from PE by year seven Tbf though I only taught them to forge my signature as I felt it was unfair they would lose breaktime or whatever simply because I had forgotten to sign something.

5zeds · 27/04/2021 14:40

Sign every page till the end of term.

jacketdrama · 27/04/2021 14:50

@apooagnuandyou

I don't see why the child can't write it themselves

because for the first year or 2, most children don't know how to yet!

I was responding to her pp where she said

Suggestions about child completing the diary are sensible but unhelpful because school are militant about reading out loud to an adult and want comments on expression and god knows what else

So I assume OP's child can write. The school sounds unreasonable and I'm still wondering what they would do to sanction the OP if she let her child write his/her own comments, or just initialled it and occasionally wrote a comment when she has something to say.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7