world book day is a pointless, costly pain in the arse for working parents?

[LumpenProletariat]

Does it make any difference to reading levels? As a solo working mum, I find it a total pain and costly too.

@Phormiumjester why do you dislike free books for children?

Then school decided to have a best costume wins element. And everyone started buying shop costumes which always won over homemade. And if your child is the only one in a homemade costume they stick out and want a store bought.

@IstayedForTheFeminism I don’t understand this- why would the school award the prize to a shop-bought costume? Surely any teacher worth their salt would award the prize to reflect the amount of effort put in, after all they can define “best” however they want to?

@HaveringWavering

Then school decided to have a best costume wins element. And everyone started buying shop costumes which always won over homemade. And if your child is the only one in a homemade costume they stick out and want a store bought.

@IstayedForTheFeminism I don’t understand this- why would the school award the prize to a shop-bought costume? Surely any teacher worth their salt would award the prize to reflect the amount of effort put in, after all they can define “best” however they want to?

No idea. I wasn't picking the winners. If I was the homemade costumes would have won. Especially if they liked like the dc had helped/made them.
It was always the same at Haven type places. The store bought costumes always won. :(

I hated it too when my son was in primary, what I remember was one time when a boy attended as Christian gray with copy of said novel in hand 😂
My son always went as horrid Henry so basically a non uniform day.he has asd and doesn’t do fancy dress

Speaking as a Teacher, it's a giant pain in the arse! Not the 'celebration of reading' aspect, obviously, but the bloody dressing up!

The kids are unfocused & distracted all day because of their costumes, there are ALWAYS upset kids who have forgotten or don't feel they're wearing 'the right thing' & we spend half the day confiscating/finding/fixing various accessories or props. Then there's the fact that we have to cobble together a costumes for ourselves. 🤦‍♀️

It's wasteful.

It's the buying of an outfit that makes it far too expensive for alot of people. In my DS' day any day that was for something they wore mufti with maybe something red if you had it for Red Nose Day (as it was uniform the rest of the time). The children enjoyed this as much as fancy dress.

@user1471538283

It's the buying of an outfit that makes it far too expensive for alot of people. In my DS' day any day that was for something they wore mufti with maybe something red if you had it for Red Nose Day (as it was uniform the rest of the time). The children enjoyed this as much as fancy dress.

If you’re buying an outfit you’re doing it wrong.

@gingerbiscuits

Speaking as a Teacher, it's a giant pain in the arse! Not the 'celebration of reading' aspect, obviously, but the bloody dressing up!

The kids are unfocused & distracted all day because of their costumes, there are ALWAYS upset kids who have forgotten or don't feel they're wearing 'the right thing' & we spend half the day confiscating/finding/fixing various accessories or props. Then there's the fact that we have to cobble together a costumes for ourselves. 🤦‍♀️

Surely you have a standard costume you wear every year?

Phormiumjester yes how can the books be a waste? I said upthread how I have frequently bought (ie paid the £1 - not claimed for free) some by authors I like because they are exclusive. If I want to read every Alex Rider story then I need that £1 WBD book. I remember going to several shops trying to track down the Tom Gates one a few years ago because it was so popular. How awesome for children who love Tom Gates to get a FREE book. I love the little WBD books and I love the little £1 Quick Read books for adults too.

It was great at DC first primary school - but must have been a ot of work. It was a full week with a theme - but with huge cannon and variety of characters to pick from. End of the week there'd be a whole school event - mad hatter tea party or drama group who came in to work with classes and put on play for shakespear. It was great and did get my children wanting those books and stories.

Then we moved and it started out a dress up and 5 min for older kids to talk about their favourite book. Few year it was worse - only one character they had to dress up and at few lack luster quizes - at same time every other week there was something dress in red/green/sport top - even my kids started to hate it.

So IME it can help promote reading but it's loads of additional work for all the school staff - though my kids do remember them fondly - or it's yet another dress up date with no impact on reading or even focus.

I love the little £1 Quick Read books for adults too the what's?? I want £1 books for me.

DS likes Mike Brownlow, he did a clever WBD book that covered all the characters and two new ones. I tweeted him and he confirmed those books were coming. DS loved that.

We also picked up the Dog Man or Cat Boy book via WBD, wouldn't have thought to buy one for DS but he LOVES them, and reread a the three Dog Man books we've been able to buy and I've sourced some more fro his birthday. He's a good ready but these are pure pleasure read, he'll just go get one and read it to me. That's lovely to see in a 6 year old.

SleepingStandingUp this is this years Quick Read books. £1 each available from all the usual bookshops

@Legoisthebest

SleepingStandingUp this is this years Quick Read books. £1 each available from all the usual bookshops

Ah you're a darling! I will ask at WHSmiths when we get DS' voucher, we always get a few vouchers but always end up buying lots of them. Found a great bookshop in Tewkesbury that had tons of previous years ones

It’s lovely for the kids but costumes are too much hassle and expense. It would be nice if the school held a costume swap day a few weeks before, so kids could sell or swap costumes.

I hate this extra stuff. My eldest is in year 5 and its taken me this long to get in the swing of it. I figured I've got many years of this as I have 3 kids I might as well get organised.

David walliams books are brilliant for book day. This year my eldest is being boy in a dress (borrowing his cousins frock), my middle one billionaire boy (normal clothes and some pretend money) and my youngest is wearing her mermaid costume and taking one of her many cheapo mermaid books from her the works

I've bought my red noses already as soon as I saw them on sale too.

Pre xmas/easter/summer holidays I scour the news letter and write it on a week my week calander on my fridge and put it on my Mums too so neither of us forget the bring a pound for this and bring a toy for that. I'm a lone, full time working parent and you can't change the school activities, you can just get organised

SleepingStandingUp
I love the fact your child wants to go as Captain Underpants. Absolutely fantastic idea.

@Legoisthebest

SleepingStandingUp I love the fact your child wants to go as Captain Underpants. Absolutely fantastic idea.

I'm slightly surprised but frankly relieved it's not Dog Man 😂😂

What this thread has made me realise is that lots of homes don't by default have a stash of dress up stuff. Not because I don't understand what it's like to be poor or have a kid with additional needs before anyone starts, but because I've got three fancy dress obsessives and I've lost all rational thought around the concept of buying random costumes if I see them cheap.

What this thread has made me realise is that lots of homes don't by default have a stash of dress up stuff.

We got them when they were toddlers and they went out to groups that had many sets but our DC weren't interested. We ended up with loads thanks to school dress up days but mostly they were ignored.

[quote SleepingStandingUp]@Phormiumjester why do you dislike free books for children?[/quote]
I said they were a waste. I didn't say I hated free books for kids.

Last year my 2 kids ended up with 4 full sets between them through various routes - cubs, clubs etc. So they aren't getting where they might be useful or needed and there's clearly far too many produced. It's a waste for us, as a family lucky to be able to afford books and big library users and two children only a school year apart, to end up with 4 sets. And I'm guessing we're not the only family.
We usually donate our read books to the school library but they don't want these because they're swimming in them and neither do the charity shop as they had a box of unopened ones! .

So they are a waste. There must be a better way.

If you’re buying an outfit you’re doing it wrong

Eh? What if you have nothing to make a costume out of?

So they are a waste. There must be a better way.

Yeah, you're right. They should be means tested. That would be TOTALLY achievable for a charity, and much better than handing out a voucher which absolutely doesn't need to be claimed if you don't want or need it.

FFS.

Phormiumjester you realise you don't have to claim the free books. If your child has claimed a free book surely they should say "oh I have already received this book so I don't need it thanks". What do you mean by 'full sets'? The books range from pre school age to teenage. Why would they claim a book not suitable for their age?
I have found the reason many copies end up being 'left over' or whatever is because so many children don't get to use their voucher for whatever reason.

@SleepingStandingUp

What this thread has made me realise is that lots of homes don't by default have a stash of dress up stuff. Not because I don't understand what it's like to be poor or have a kid with additional needs before anyone starts, but because I've got three fancy dress obsessives and I've lost all rational thought around the concept of buying random costumes if I see them cheap.

Age is also something to consider. Around 8 less kids use dress up regularly and they grow like weeds. Add in the pandemic where most dress up occasions didn't happen or were very reduced you end up with a 10 yo that has outgrown most of the things they had and have very little interest in dressing up anymore.