I have a load of reasons why I object to it but they are many and you will probably fall asleep.
For a start , you have invited this child into your home and then you choose to sneakily invade their privacy. If it actually was an ok thing to want to know about you would just ask. But because part of your brain knows thatyour intentions are small minded you don't - you do it behind their back.
It doesn't take much to know broadly how smart/struggling your child is - so this isn't aboutthat. It is about finding some way to allocate your child a place or standing within his peers. Think about it - how sad is that.
It is part ofthis modern thing where we seek all our validation through status and having a bright child is the thing to have. Now if we actually have the brightest child then we know that already. So this is about finding out whether they are 6th or 10 or 23rd.
It demweans our kids because it just confirms that thet is the value we place upon them.
If a child is about 3rd best and near the top then we can be 'proud' because somehow that reflects well upon us. But actually it doesn't at all.
If you are a wanker then the fact that your primary age child has a reading age of 15 does not stop you being a wanker. It just gives you a strange sense of vicarious significance.
It is also bollox because reading age is not indicative of how our child will succeeed in later life so we are placing more and more emphasis on a totally artifical means of assessing out childs outcomes.
It also means ( when you think about it) that what you are actually looking for is for the child who you have welcomed into your home to be more stupid than your child. Think aboutthat. it means that if you find out that he/she is really struggling you are abl;e to feel superior to a 5/6/7 year old. Well done
It is also pretty inappropriate for many age groups who have personal info in their reading books which may include private details from home or medication or many otherthings.
All the comparisons with notice boards are nonsense. If people pin up information that is not therefore private. Equally chatting about jobs/holidays etc is usually designed to relax the child and letthem talk aboutthemselves. ( well I thought usually - not so sure now ).
I have a child with sn and i can understand a little those who are seeking reassurance that their child is not to far behind. My son is now 12 and my personal experience would be that that is actually unlikely to make you feel better .
It is just all wrong. To see it as harmless is fine but you are kidding yourself. it is part of this merciless crush of pressure upon our kids at younger and younger ages not to do well but to be better. It is just as tragic and shallow as looking at clothing labels.
We are going to raise a generation of children who can only feel worthwhile when they feel better than their peers . genuine pride at achievemant is being replaced by a kind of sliding scale of relative kudos -
tragic .
I honestly wouldn't be incensed if someone read my childrens books. I am pretty upfront wth people about DS2's SN and how they affect his sister so the private stuff in her reading diary would just be a bit more info than they have already. I would actually defy anyone to go through DS1's bag because at 15 it is mahoosive.
But all the 'calm down' 'don't be hysterical'is just passive aggressive shite. Just because you think what you are doing is harmless does not require everyone else to regard it equally. Morality is personal and just because other are ok with rifling throughthe bags of a child they invited into their home does not mean everyone is. Nor does it mean that anyone who thinks it is scummy is a fibber.
It may well be done as a kind of 'comfort' - reassuring yourself where your child is but I personally think the fact that we seem to need to do that is sad for our kids.