To HATE World Book Day (or rather kids dressing up for it)?

[Silverbook]

That's it really-
As a parent and a teacher I absolutely hate the yearly "dress up as your favourite character".

As a teacher it is such a visible divide of the haves/have nots.
As a parent I feel under pressure and it adds to the mental load.

I'm absolutely on board with promoting literacy and reading for enjoyment but think WBD has become very commercialised.

I'm so glad mine are in secondary school/left education now.
I had the extra difficulty of two with asd - had to join in 'because they are the rules', lots of sensory issues and lots of self imposed rules around what is classed as a book character/has to be their favourite book not just one they like.

The easiest years were Harry and the bucket full of dinosaurs (a dinosaur top, a bucket of dinosaurs), diary of a wimpy kid and matilda (normal clothes).
I have always encouraged reading at home and have one who obsessively reads, one who reads when it's of interest to them and one who would probably hyperventilate if you showed him a book! I dont think wbd helped any of them.

Our school have asked us to draw a scene from their favourite stories on paper plates this year.
Last year it was space themed and the kids had to wear a colour from space.
Year before it was a book character on a wooden spoon.

I would prefer dressing up tbh but that's because I love fancy dress. Appreciate this is much better for the kids

Yes i think i agree with this.

Works quite well to work things backwards I think - what outfit / clothes do you have, what book character could that be, shall we read that book? Chances are it’ll be something they’re interested in if they have the outfit/ clothes already

Because its world BOOK day.

Otherwise why not just call it dress up day to raise money for charity?

Otherwise why not just call it dress up day to raise money for charity?

That's how many schools treat it. So it's a bit rich to complain about parents following their lead.

The activities in my children’s school are focused on reading and BOOKS, so they are well covering the BOOK day aspect. Adults getting all het up about what children wear for it is just a waste of energy.

I hate it. The people saying 'all you need is to pick up a few bits or repurpose what they already have'...I dont understand where people get the time for this. Our kids are in after school club and breakfast club every day, we both travel with work, we both have high pressure jobs...tbh getting them bathed enough and getting their homework done is a struggle, I don't have the time or energy to join in a pointless exercise...how does a disney princess costume in any way encourage kids to read?

Last year our school did 'cosy clothes' day where kids snuggled up with their favourite book which was prefect. This year they've gone back to proper dressing up so we've bought a cheap costume off amazon which I hate but couldnt find anything suitable locally on facebook or similar. Complete waste of time. I'd have rather used the money to donate to the school to buy some books but like most people didnt want my kids to feel left out

Works quite well to work things backwards I think - what outfit / clothes do you have, what book character could that be, shall we read that book?

This doesn't feel very child lead though. Retrofitting costume choices to suit will need a lot of parental 'guidance'

Why not just think of an activity based around their actual favourite books/characters?

@BiasedBinding

The activities in my children’s school are focused on reading and BOOKS, so they are well covering the BOOK day aspect. Adults getting all het up about what children wear for it is just a waste of energy.

But if you're requiring parents to go to a fair amount of hassle and sometimes cost to come up with costumes, on top of all the other stuff they have to juggle, for a very specific purpose which is designed to promote reading, it's fricking irritating if most of the kids come in in a football strip.

Be assured you do everything your DS and DD need- you'll be providing for their every need and the very fact you feel guilt shows how much you care.

Dressing up could be all in the classroom. Kids make a paper crown which they decorate with Book theme that they have read in class. They all wear their crowns, no other dressing up required

Also hate the dressing up side of it! A chore finding an outfit! Wasting £15 to wear something once. Children get bullied if their outfit is crap! Why cant it be 'bring your favourite book to school!?'
Also, my son wants to dress up so I have been to 3 supermarkets and none have any outfits!! Strange considering its next week!!

@DrinkFeckArseBrick

The people saying 'all you need is to pick up a few bits or repurpose what they already have'...I dont understand where people get the time for this.

Exactly. Like many so many things schools do it essentially relies on the unspoken assumption that there's always a SAHM or a part time mum. I know teachers are run ragged and have to do this stuff but I hate the presumption that we are all sitting around waiting to be given stuff to do like this.

I'm not a fan if they need a costume, but my kids school do the "come dressed for a bedtime story" and it's basically a pyjama day, they love it.

Nurseries are doing it too. My son's nursery decided not to and asked them all to bring in a book with their name early labeled on it and are asking them all to talk about it. Those who don't have any can pick their favourite book from nursery.

Doesn't need to be extravagant. People dressed as Greg Heffley in normal clothes or Patti whatsit from Wimpy Kid by doing plaits etc.

There are a LOT of books about children in school uniform or normal clothes. No one has to make a big deal about it.

I agree. 1 kid coming in with an all singing all dancing show stopping costume, and another child in uniform because the parents couldn't afford anything. The way that other child must feel all day is heartbreaking.

If school uniforms are meant to be the equaliser, then any dress up day just undoes it all.

I HATED non school uniform day as a child because of it.

World Book Day seems to be another thing to spend money on for the sake of it.

Better ideas on this thread e.g decorating at school.

Costumes are optional at my children’s school, they can come in own clothes, and they explicitly don’t require book themed costumes.

i wouldn’t let it bother me what other children wear.

There are a LOT of books about children in school uniform or normal clothes.

But what if your kids favourite character isn't that and they're dead set on going as it?

Plus, when others are going on in fancy costumes, the plain clothes option may not have much appeal.

Our school are doing dress up as a word, so you can basically wear anything. Say a multicoloured tshirt and your word is 'colourful'. I think this is a great idea and much more inclusive.

@BiasedBinding
i wouldn’t let it bother me what other children wear

I dont think the point of this thread was about it bothering adults so much. Probably more about the divide for children and how children must feel seeing someone else in an amazing costume when their parents struggled to give them a meal last night.

My preference would be for school uniform or just own clothes or pyjamas over dressing up. But I’m not in charge. I don’t let what other people do in terms of dressing up bother me.

sure, I don’t disagree with that. I was referring to the posters who are irritated about seeing other people’s children in football kits. What’s it
to them?