Daughters school not doing world book day

[Bibbitybobbityboo86]

So my daughters school never do world book day - AIBU to be disappointed?
I imagine some parents will be relieved but my daughter gets upset when she sees the costumes in Sainsbury’s or sees other kids in their costumes.

It’s not just world book day- it’s also children in need & Red Nose Day. The school won’t do anything in fact none of it even gets mentioned - it’s like it’s not happening.

Would you feel disappointed?

WIBU for me to contact the head teacher and ask why? I don’t want to be that parent

I’ve mentioned it to other parents and they agree and say it’s a shame but they don’t seem as bothered by it as me

@AuntFlorence

It's not all the time though is it it's one day a year And it's not crazzeee fun it's just a bit of dressing up and some book related activities and a book voucher.

It’s not only one day a year. It’s world book day, and it’s the hallowe’en dress up day, and then Christmas jumper day, and a few days later Christmas non uniform day, and Red Nose Day, and ‘children in need’ wear spots day, and crazy hair day, and odd socks day, and school fundraising day where you have to wear your special class colour (which is never blue or red, it’s always orange or violet or some obscure colour). After that it will be dress as an ancient Roman, and evacuee dress up day, and wear red and white for St George’s day, and pyjama day…

Saying it’s ‘just one day’ is so dismissive. Maybe until you’ve been the child who isn’t involved because your parents can’t be bothered/can’t afford it, you just simply won’t understand how pointlessly exclusive all this stuff is.

The ‘benefit’ of these events for some children simply does not outweigh the damage it does to others. Not when there are much better ways to encourage reading and community involvement anyway. What about a walk to the library for world book day? Or a chapter a day from a class book every day then on world book day a project of making a display about that book? Actual lesson plans focusing on a book would be much more beneficial than a supermarket Roald Dahl costume.

I'm autistic with adhd and can't make costumes or do anything like that. It totally defeats me. I spent all my executive function on keeping body and soul together. I used to keep them off sometimes if it got too complicated (dress like a Roman day for example).

I feel sorry for kids that miss out on things due to not having the money or the parents just not having time. I imagine there’s some parents that can’t be bothered
It’s a shame

I agree with the head to be honest. So many schools make a huge fuss for World Book day, make a big deal with teachers in fancy costumes (that most of the time are based on how the character is portrayed in films, not in the related book!!) but make zero link to the actual purpose of the day which is to encourage reading.

The school I teach in joins in with WBD but it's low key and is much more about a book-themed day than dressing up. This year, some children made masks or hats related to characters in the book their class is currently studying, others made scenes from the book using shoeboxes, another class used clay to make the characters. We arrange to collect the WBD books from a local independent book shop and set up our own 'shop' in school so each child can choose the book they'd like which means everyone gets one but at no extra cost or hassle to their family. Children (or parents) who are keen to dress up for WBD are very welcome to but it's not a big element of the day.

Our school goes on dressing up as a word. So all black for mysterious, intelligencer, etc

Our school used to dress up and characters and I hated this days tbh not because of money at all but mine would not wear dress up much outside school and I hated the waste. I’d to negotiate with DC on what they wanted to wear and what we could create together.
I’m very pleased they change to our current one

Our school doesn’t do comic relief or children in need but we have started doing dress up for WBD in the last few years AND a whole raft of other things at least twice a term (dress up in the colours of the French flag! Dress up as a mini beast! Etc etc).
I find it surprising as the waste produced on these days must be astronomical and I find it confusing that instead of moving away from that we’re now actually encouraging it.

Prior to this our school did WBD in a (IMO) better way - author visits, children bringing in their favourite books to share with the class, visits between older and younger classes to share books and read to each other. I wish we would go back to that if only to stop the extra Amazon costumes that will end in landfill.

I feel sorry for kids that miss out on things due to not having the money or the parents just not having time. I imagine there’s some parents that can’t be bothered
It’s a shame

That’s a bit patronising. Just because parents don’t have the time/ability/materials to make something or the money or want to buy a one time wear outfit does not mean that their kids miss out on a fun childhood.

I would have been so happy if our primary school didn’t do WBD, as well as all the other stuff apart from the cHristmad fair.
I hated doing them and the lads weren’t fussed either!

And also I always make my DC’s own costumes at home but this doesn’t make it particularly environmentally friendly either. Eg I’ve had to buy plain T shirts of the right colour in order to sew and stick on bits to or you pick up a few random accessories to add to an outfit, buy materials and craft things even if just packs of Pom poms or felt or buttons.

Yes the whole thing feels more wholesome and less consumerist but it’s still just buying things I wouldn’t have otherwise that are destined to lie in landfill for a thousand years. Some of these dress up days have been hugely enjoyable for DC so that feels worth the effort and waste but some of the themed days are not at all (mini beast day ..)

I think schools should all have to have environmental goals and pledges and try to work to reducing waste. Maybe the weeks before the dress up days parents should be encouraged to bring old costumes, old toys, accessories etc into school for swaps.

Someone else may have said this and I might have missed this but WBD own stats "1 in 5 children receiving free school meals said the book they ‘bought’ with their WBD book token was the first book they had of their own" - suggest that this is good thing for poorer children. I do expecting kids to come in costumes is incredibly unfair - design and make something in school or have a dressing up box that could be re-used year on year.

There aren't at the school the op's kids go though, I do agree some schools go way overboard which is a big expectation on overburdened parents, but to never do dress up days also seems really joyless. & I have been both the poor kid the poor parent. I get financial restraints. I get that when they have to wear stripes and work finishes after the charity shops shut and the supermarket ones are too expensive and your feet hurt and it's raining it's hard to think of a way to send them in stripy. And they might look silly with stripes drawn all over them and an old top in marker pen. I get all of that and I still think we need dress up days sometimes. In the same way that we need Christmas lights and fireworks and poetry and drama and music and all the other things that are a finger up to the relentless quicksand of joyless misery that comes from all sides and tries to suppress your lightness and energy. We need the joy more when times are hard.

No book day, no children in need, no red nose day - Id be delighted tbh. So much less single use tat!
Many many better ways to raise money. Plus I dont support child in need or red nose day so dont want to feel obliged to contribute.

Our school does it but have a theme each year which utilises clothes you generally already have. This years' theme was 'dress as bright as you can'. It's brilliant because we can just use their own clothes and no need to go out and buy tacky costumes they will only wear once!

@Bibbitybobbityboo86

I feel sorry for kids that miss out on things due to not having the money or the parents just not having time. I imagine there’s some parents that can’t be bothered It’s a shame

I’m a teacher and I can’t be bothered. I’d be surprised if making a costume for a very specific theme fills anyone with joy tbh.

Dressing up as a character from a book (or more likely a Disney Princess or super hero!) isn’t going to create a love of reading. It just creates issues for families who can’t do it.

World book day should focus on books and reading for pleasure not who can make the best costume!

Sounds like a great school, these events can be very stressful for some parents, and not great for the environment. You could encourage your children yourself to fundraise for Children in Need and Comic Relief, get the packs from their websites. Some libraries and bookshops run events for WBD, get them dressed up and take them there. Or even just to borrow/buy a book. Organise a second hand book collection/stall ... there really are lots of things you could do if you feel like they're missing out.

Sorry - just RTFT after posting (I know!) and seen that you've mentioned some of these things. I would ask the school about the vouchers.

I'm new to England and all this kinda stuff is new to me like school trips ( 4 x in the next few months ) world book, children in need day, red nose day ect , but I can possibly see why they wouldn't alot of kids last week were upset because their mum couldn't afford a costume, I've also seen kids be upset going in makeshift costumes. There should be a middle ground everyone can do like the crazy hair / odd socks/ jammies day ect that won't make kids from worse off households stand out but they can still all take part and have fun and a break from uniform. For this year my girls school for red nose day just said wear as much red clothes as possible which should be pretty easy for most to take part in =)

I think it is odd. No harm in asking why. Our school didn’t dress up but did a 20p per book book sale, selling older school books to raise money for new ones and acknowledged the day. Red Nose Day is simply non uniform, donation optional. You can still get involved with this stuff without putting pressure on parents. As a pp said, it’s that community spirit and recognising what is going on around you, a school is not it’s own little world.

@mouldycrew

I saw a school that provided blank white T-shirts for the kids to colour. Obviously the PTA had to raise funds for those though.

What a total waste of money, i wonder what the thinking behind that was

@Bibbitybobbityboo86

I feel sorry for kids that miss out on things due to not having the money or the parents just not having time. I imagine there’s some parents that can’t be bothered It’s a shame

My dc are older now but we never bothered to dress up for any of the various days. They'd find it hilarious that anyone would think that was a shame or had somehow spoilt their childhood, what a funny thing to say.

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair- I don’t think it’s a waste of money at all.
It’s a nice idea - all kids included. Creative fun project and they get to keep the T-shirt

@Bibbitybobbityboo86

I’ve asked on the parent what’s app group if anyone has had a wbd voucher and everyone has said no. Another mum said she’ll mention it on Monday.

You can get them in lots of places, Macdonalds, kids magazines or just pay £1 and buy her one of them.

Sounds like you'd buy her a costume if school celebrated it so I don't understand why you can't buy or make her one for general wear? One of the reasons I happily spend time and money in the costume is knowing it wont be "worn once and thrown away" like some complain about

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair there's a difference between not wanting to do something and issuing out on it. If your kids didn't like dress up etc that's fine. It is sad for the kid in tears because they wanted to but weren't allowed