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.

Pj day for our class too thankfully, and taking in their favourite bedtime story. I'm glad the school seem to be realising that not everyone has spare money for costumes/materials and have toned it down.

I hate it. DS's school say they can come dressed up as a character, in pyjamas or in own clothes with a book accessory. Sounds great in theory but of course DS wont go in wearing pyjamas if his friends are going as Harry Potter etc so I need to source a costume.
They are doing a school book swap which is a fantastic idea, people donate books and children can all take one new one home on WBD.

It will always be the same children that come in wearing fantastic home made costumes and the same ones whose parents struggle and send them in wearing own clothes. There will also be the parents who don't care or forget whose children will wear uniform and be embarrassed.
Just wear uniform every day, that's the whole point of uniform, it's a leveller. You can make the day fun without kids dressing up.

The PJ day is a good idea, everyone has PJs.

@Jacketandbeans exactly! Uniform keeps them equal. Sick of hearing that kids are missing out if we don’t do dress up events at our school! if we think about what these children will say in adulthood it’s clear what should be done!

“My childhood was difficult. We lived near to the poverty line with every penny accounted for. Every so often my school held dress up type events that my Mum could never afford a costume for, there were four of us all at primary together and even a cheap costume would have set her back £40-50 for all of us. We went in in uniform or casual clothes as a school child. Most of my mates had shop bought or extravagantly made outfits and I felt embarrassed and different. It was a traumatic experience in my young life and I remember realising clearly for the first time that I had less and felt somehow less than my friends families.”

As opposed to:

“I didn’t dress up for WBD, my school didn’t do it. I feel traumatised.” 😅 … said no one ever.

I wish my dcs school did pj day mine would prefer that, one of my dcs is nd and would never wear a costume so it’s his favourite t shirt instead.

Anyone sending kids in as superheroes (like me), don’t feel guilty - comics are literary works after all.

If you think uniform keeps things equal you're either naive or deluded.

@JustAnotherManicNameChange maybe depends on the school and if they enforce it etc. My school keeps it very equal.

It's nothing to do with enforcing rules , in fact , the more strict a school is the less equal it is.

Let's face it, if it was about equality no state school would have uniforms that cost hundreds for a full kit.

I love a chance to get creative so that's probably why I love WBD, however I can see your point.
My friends school is decorating a potato of their favourite book character this year.

I have super fond memories of WBD in school, all costumes done on a ridiculously tight budget too. Mum was creative cleaerly. Its difficult for the ones facilitating but you never remember the normal days in school, always the special events that stand out! I'd hate mine to miss out on that

My daughter wore her elder brothers old school shirt and trousers - hacked with scissors - a flat cap of her grandads and smeared compost all over herself. She won first prize as Oliver Twist, over every other child who turned up in over the top shop bought Disney costumes

At my children’s school any logo stuff is optional anyway but they have a second hand uniform store open every day, always well stocked, free to take or you can make a donation of a pound an item if you wish. I don’t know any parents who buy stuff new

Well done her. No need for the sneer sneer from you.

@JustAnotherManicNameChange both state schools my kids have been to don't have uniforms that cost 100s. Aside from a jumper with a logo on, the rest was just trousers/skirt and a polo shirt and PE kit was just a plain t-shirt and shorts/joggers all of which you'd need to buy to clothe a child anyway. Also, all uniform could be bought second hand from Facebook groups or the second hand uniform shed. Most schools find ways to help parents buy second hand in my experience.
School uniform is definitely a leveller. Children wearing their own clothes every day shines a massive light on the haves and have nots.

YANBU. At ours it's wear PJ's, bring a teddy and your favourite bedtime story. The point being to avoid any cost to families. It's not a fundraiser either. Primary school and nursery both do this, teachers join in too. Can you suggest to the school they do this next year?

Same here.

It doesn't even get a mention at Dd's junior school and the kids are always really disappointed as they feel like their school never does anything "fun".
It took them two weeks to even hand out the vouchers last year, by which point all the books were gone.
It doesn't have to be expensive - DS's infant school just do PJ's, wear a bright colour etc.

It feels like DD's school don't it to make some kind of point, and it certainly isn't about saving parents money - they've asked us for over £400 in school trips this year alone..

@JustAnotherManicNameChange you could buy our uniform and have change out of £30. I don’t know what schools you’ve been in where uniform costs hundreds!

When I worked in a school without a uniform, there was far less bullying over clothes than with a uniform. Kids know who the poor kids are. They're the ones with the battered shoes, shirts or trousers far too short because parents can't afford new ones after a growth spurt, the sewn on patch logo, or the overly-faded jumper (a clear sign it's second hand), sometimes the kids will be scruffier because their parents can't afford to run the washing machine as often, or because they can only afford 1 uniform for the week. When everyone is coming in jumpers and jeans from their own wardrobe, nobody cares. The kids are not coming in designer clothes, and some might wear designer trainers, but that's no different to now when some are coming in designer black shoes vs the ones who come in battered asda hand-me-downs.

My sons in year 6, so im grateful this is my last year of world book day costumes. The school hv also decided to do a book swap this week, I think this alone would be a much better way to promote reading, as I think seeing them dressed up, is a distraction and rarely encourages reading.

DD's cardigans are £12 a pop and they shrink in the (normal 30 degree ) wash. God forbid you forget or don't know and put them in the dryer. Now that she's older the second hand shop is useless for cardigans as even the biggest ones have shrunk and are too small.

@TheNefariousOrange yup , we definitely see less of a difference on non uniform days in the sea of leggings,tracksuits, jeans or football kits. Some kids might have fancier stuff, especially in ks1 /lower ks2 but they're the ones that stick out. It's on normal days that you definitely notice the kids that might have issues (financial or otherwise) at home. Uniform that doesn't fit(either way too big or too small)shoes that fall apart , holes or stains, faded /grey tinge bits if uniform, even filthy/smelly uniforms and so on.

The stricter a school is about uniform ,the more obvious the issues are. If the shoes broke and can't be replaced right away, the kid could wear whatever else they might have that's suitable. But no, either they get in trouble, they continue to wear shoes that fall apart, or they do get new shoes (that'll fall apart in a month because they were £5/£10) or the family is short that week.

But yeah, uniform is definitely an equaliser.

Also come in pyjamas is annoying. You have to go and buy new ones, that are presentable not the threadbare ones they love to wear to death because they “feels nice” or the random cycling shorts and cwtchi blanket that passes for sleep wear in my house.

@JustAnotherManicNameChange spot on.

YANBU, this is one thing I definitely don't miss from my kid's primary school days!
It was always one extra mental load, something to think about that I just didn't need/extra stress and when you're skint it's another pressure too!
At one point they did a book fair in the school hall.
That I could get on board with being a book lover, loved having a browse round myself and also sending them in with a few quid to pick a book.
Costumes though, just no 😡😁