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MNHQ

MNer with a child aged 11 or under? Take our survey - £100 voucher to be won

37 replies

JustineBMumsnet · 02/02/2018 14:05

We want to find out how parents with young children feel about World Book Day. This survey is open to all Mumsnet users in the UK and Ireland with at least one child aged 11 or under.

All who complete the survey will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 voucher for the store of their choice.

Click here to complete the survey.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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MNer with a child aged 11 or under? Take our survey - £100 voucher to be won
OP posts:
MummyBtothree · 02/02/2018 14:42

Done! I really don't see how dressing up as a character from a book is celebrating books. Last year when my DS was in reception and the class 'world book day theme' was dressing up as a Julia Donaldson character, my DS wanted to wear his Woody from Toy Story dressing up outfits and his teacher told him he wasn't allowed and 'had to do it properly'. I find it a pain in the arse personally! Hmm

Nightfall1983 · 02/02/2018 15:04

MNHQ one of the first questions on the survey is does your child’s school encourage them to dress up (something like that) to which I selected ‘no’ and none of the other questions were relevant! Could do with a ‘if no, skip to the end’ option...

MNHQ
JustineBMumsnet · 02/02/2018 15:12

Thanks for your feedback @Nightfall1983 - questions 6, 9 and 11 are for all to answer - we've included an N/A option on all questions that might not be relevant to all, so please tick this to complete the survey.

OP posts:
blackberryfairy · 02/02/2018 17:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 02/02/2018 17:18

Done.

Mary Poppins didn't fit into any of your categories!

HerRoyalFattyness · 02/02/2018 18:40

Done.

lostintime17 · 02/02/2018 19:57

Done

ChangingStates · 03/02/2018 06:33

Done

YerAuntFanny · 03/02/2018 09:12

Done.

I have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with world book Day. As an avid reader I think that any way of promoting and encouraging kids to read is a great thing but I HATE the whole dressing up thing, what's the point?!

I'd much rather they took in a favourite book to discuss/share in class over a month rather than in one day.

loopylou1984 · 03/02/2018 15:04

Done

colleysmill · 03/02/2018 16:24

Done although we had no choice over the costume last year as school chose the theme and everyone had to dress up the same

JesterA · 03/02/2018 16:29

Done.

I LOVE World book day. It's a great way to remind kids of the adventures they can find in a book I think. Our youngest went as the Hungry caterpillar last year was awesome! Lol. Unfortunately our eldests DS school does not encourage dressing up anymore 😞.

Nannyplumssillyoldelf · 03/02/2018 16:37

I hate world book day with a passion. It's usually a few days away from St David's day where they also have to dress up costing an absolute fortune.

NicheArea · 03/02/2018 17:33

The dressing up should only be a small part of World Book Day. Schools need to do some proper activities designed to encourage a love of reading for pleasure on the day. My kids' school has had some brilliant, well known children's authors visit in some years. They've also had a class trip to the public library. Other years, they've done nothing much. Some colouring .. or the ubiquitous word search....It's a great opportunity to promote reading but it does require school management support, forward planning, effort, creativity and probably a budget...
It's a cop out that misses the point if a school does the dressing up and nothing else.

SocraticCat · 04/02/2018 08:26

My heart sinks when it comes round to World Book Day - I'm really thankful that this year will be my last year.

The focus is all in the dressing up, which is actually really difficult -a typical character from a favourite book has no defining physical characteristics, you just imagine them as looking much like yourself, which doesn't really work as a costume. So rather than choosing a character from a favourite book you end up choosing one that has easy-to-spot characteristics - which typically means there's a film version. So the children are actually dressing up as characters from films or TV rather than from books.

This is all made worse by the recent obsession of schools to narrow it even more and insist on Julia Donaldson characters or Roald Dahl characters - as if it wasn't hard enough already!

I'd like to see less focus on the dressing up and more on the books and reading. Our school does a reading alarm - at various times throughout the day in the middle of normal lessons a bell suddenly goes and everyone (including teachers) has to immediately grab their book and read for a couple of minutes. The library is usually good at organising some kind of book quiz as well.

HollyBollyBooBoo · 04/02/2018 13:19

Done. DD gets whatever costume is half price in the Sainsbury's January sale! Wonder Woman this year.

codswallopandbalderdash · 04/02/2018 15:27

Has nothing to be with books and is a PITA

glenthebattleostrich · 04/02/2018 19:22

Our school is brilliant at World Book Day. it is usually a

  • dress up as your favourite book character, with home made costumes actively encouraged.
  • give out book vouchers
  • a reading challenge (strange places to read books, how many books you can read in a month, can you complete a series of books for the older ones)
  • book reports on their favourite books
  • lots of fun activities at break times, word searches, crafts based on the books etc.

The children really get engaged and involved, they all love it and the majority of the parents I know do too.

TellMeItsNotTrue · 04/02/2018 21:01

I have DC who love books so they usually come up with a character from their favourite book, but I'm not against kids dressing in a football kit or a superhero, there are books about everything these days so I'm sure there is one appropriate to what they are wearing and if it gets kids reading when they are reluctant then isn't that the point of world book day? I also think that world book day costumes are expensive, especially if you have more than one child, so it's understandable to use a costume the child already has.

Our school asks that they bring a book in with them, one that their character is in or a favourite book, which I think is good because it means you don't have to go out and buy a book if you don't have one to match the costume, just take any book and say it's favourite. They then all do something related to the books during a day depending on age (tell everyone about your book, silent reading, draw your favourite character, write a book review etc)

GetKnitted · 04/02/2018 21:15

In the survey, I answered that I only think that the kids should dress up as book characters and nothing else. I just wanted to make it clear that this is only a decision about my kids costumes, and I am very happy for everyone else to come in whatever costumes (or lack thereof) that they wish! The worst thing about world book day dressing up is judgeyness

FairyPenguin · 05/02/2018 07:25

I hate dressing up with a vengeance. So does my son. My daughter does it but I think to fit in with her friends. My son doesn't care if he's the only one not dressed up. It's difficult to persuade him to wear something unless it's just a top with a character on it. Both my children love reading but WBD is not helpful in our family as it just generates lots of costume discussions and stress. Would rather the time was spent on other book-related activities.

megletthesecond · 05/02/2018 07:54

Done.

We were restricted to Roald Dahl last time. There's nothing like having children to put a person off his books completely.

LilQueenie · 05/02/2018 17:28

I would love if your child's school did this but they don't stating its a poor area and more expense for parents. Twice in the space of a month they have asked for donations for the food bank plus money for other school activities. I believe if they were to allow dress up for world book day it would encourage more children to read so they could take part in the costumes.

stocksund13 · 06/02/2018 11:18

I don't like the fact that World Book Day is associated with dressing up. Why does enjoying (or not) reading books mean you have to look like the character? There are so many pleasures to be gained from reading - be it escapism through fiction or learning or being entertained through non-fiction - that fail to be represented through turning it into a 'dress as a character'.

Plus...it brings some weird sort of pressure if your child doesn't go as an instantly recognisable character. That girl who isn't wearing a cloak and wearing a tie - who is she?

And, can you imagine if we did this as adults? 'Today, Matthew I am Dorothea'...and I'm going to walk around clutching Middlemarch in case someone asks me.

So, yes I love the idea of World Book Day but hate the interpretation of it.

SuperMam123 · 07/02/2018 20:23

Done! I’m an avid reader and my DS loves books although he’s just learning to read! He loves to pick a book, have me read it to him then do activities linked to the book! I think world book day is a lovely way to let children show off their favourite book characters. I can see how it can be a pain with not enough notice though. And I think the homemade costumes are the best 😉