Agree Bookstart is great - but makes me angry how stingy things have become

[Armo24]

Came across this sweet and quietly political piece about Bookstart and remembered how it used to be more generous than it is now even. Is it a sign of how we just come to expect less over the years? Isn't that quite sad?

What baby books taught me about the British state

I’d rather the money was spent to keep libraries open. Unlimited books for free, for all ages. Maybe one of the health visitor appts could cover quickly how to apply for a library card for the local library.

Yes, but I dispute that owning a book is the key thing here. In our libraries kids can take out a huge number of books at a time. No fines. I appreciate some areas have had their library services cut (because no one was using them?).

Woulsnt it have been better to take groups down to the library? Shown them how it works, how easy it is and what a wealth of books there are?

I agree with this.

Realistically giving books to my children wasn't a good use of public resources. We have plenty of books at home and use libraries. The books that were gifted often weren't to the children's taste and it all just seemed a bit wasteful. This is why I think intervention needs to be targeted and more considered.

Scotland is still giving lots of books.

Bookbug Baby Bag - 3 books
Bookbug Toddler Bag - 3 books
Bookbug Explorer Bag - 3 books
Bookbug P1 Bag - 3 books
Read, Write, Count P2 Bag - 2 books
Read, Write, Count P3 Bag - 2 books

In addition to that, there are the £1 WBD book tokens every year from P1 to S2.

That’s 25 books for a child between birth and S2 provided by the state/charity.

West Sussex where I am give every child a library card when they get registered! Granted we’re lucky as we’ve not closed any libraries (long may that continue) but some kids come on a class visit in reception with school without ever having stepped foot in a library before!

God, I can’t count. 😳

In my local library a child could borrow that number of books in a month (I think they can have 15 books out at a time).

Libraries are a much, much better way to foster reading, both financial and for quantity.

We still have the Bookstart Tote from the mid 00's. IIRC we had books at birth / 6 weeks and another set at a year. I think I still have one with mirrors in it.

Cameron and Osborne trashed so many things for the kids born after 2010. Our library hours were slashed a few years ago and one library was closed completely.

Yes mine were born between 1996 and 2001 and no access to Sure Start, no free books, no child trust money - I think a lot of people think things were always better! More importantly, there was such a lack of childcare. I put my eldest’s name down for the local council-run group, told my new neighbour when she moved in long after, her child got offered a choice of up to 5 mornings, I got offered two set mornings because (I didn’t realise) places were allocated by date of birth and hers was older than mine! Second child got set 2 mornings, third was on the waiting list - number 60 and they took 30 each year so no chance! We also had to clean the nursery including mopping and toilets, twice per term (after the session, trying to watch toddler and newborn). Breastfeeding support was non-existent, also had to be done in toilets or rooms of shame 😂. But I knew nothing else, so jogged along. Partly I’d moved to a new area so didn’t have any support. This was all pre-internet, but I didn’t read any of those baby books. I do remember buying Mother & Baby magazine though - looked forward to that!

We are in Scotland and get the Bookbug bags, and they're brilliant. I know someone who is on the selection panel for the books, and you don't end up with duplicates because they change them each year. The books they choose are always really high quality and well suited to the age group, because they're chosen by a panel of experts in children's literacy. Ideally it's not an either/or with libraries, which are also great - the book bags encourage DC to engage with books, and the libraries offer Bookbug sessions and feature the stories, so you will potentially get DC going to libraries because of the Bookbug scheme. Also, library funding is a much bigger issue but children's publishers will either be donating or heavily subsidising the books provided for the Bookbug bags, because they want their titles and authors to be well known, and they want to boost their reputation for social responsibility too.

Doesn't Scotland have Baby boxes as well?

Isn’t the obvious answer that all the money goes to pay a larger number of people’s regular benefit payments and there’s not enough for one-off support initiatives for regular families with newborns?

Who is going to take groups down to the library?

I'm a huge library fan, and I do recognise that children in many schools have a school library slot where they take books from, but sending home a couple of book start books is lovely and I have known a number of children where this has been such a positive thing for them.

It doesn't have to be one or the other but I don't know who would be taking groups to the library, especially in early years. Unless it's a school setting and a school library.

Sadly not all parents would bother to go to a library. The scheme is intended to help children in this situation so they have some of the same chances in life.

I don’t know. Booktrust presumably raises the money to buy these books - maybe they could use the money to help with this. Because it’s a much better long-term solution, given the libraries are there, stocked with books that are free to borrow.

This. Libraries, like a lot else, have been decimated.

There are now pilot BookBanks in some food banks. Which is a brilliant initiative but a bit of an indictment too.

Depends on the area - my borough is fantastic at libraries, has refurbished or opened new libraries and hasn’t closed any.

But if there’s less demand for libraries, they’ll close. Which is why getting children to become lifelong library users is a good thing, alongside not encouraging people without much money to buy books when they can borrow them for nothing.

(Oh, and if this is any incentive - authors (average annual salary - about £7,000) do get money from library borrowing whereas they don’t from secondhand sales.)

Same here! That book was my bible, I really wanted to get everything right to counteract all the judgement.

There are a thousand and one places to get cheap or free books. Children from non-reading families didn't get the Bookstart books read to them. They were simply chucked or given to the local charity shops.

A school I used to work at had a book exchange - parents could drop off books, and pick up books. Once a term every class would be taken to it and the children would choose a book. Cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and better for the children who actually got to choose their books.

And, unfortunately, we did have parents who complained about us sending home rubbish with the children.

I've been saying this for years. However, the Tories campaigned on austerity and the stupid population voted them in!

wow. Well when I had my first in 1997 and I was living on £70 a week I was definitely not better off. Most people on benefits are not better off. Not sure how that works for you. Maybe you’re in a really shit job and need to change! When I was on benefits it encouraged me to sort myself out so that I wouldn’t need to stay on benefits.

Yes I had my first in 1998 and on about the same and it was very hard and my other post does say that in the 1990s things were completely different to the 2000s, between 1998-2001 things changed beyond belief, I felt like a millionaire on tax credits in comparison and
there was even help towards childcare for the first time. Many years later I found myself a single mother again and I was much better off than I’d been with my ex. Now I’m married, the drop in my disposable income when we moved in together was enormous as all my top up benefits stopped of course , we obviously share all our income now but by the time my DH has paid maintenance, we’ve paid the mortgage on our house that has had to be big enough for all our children etc and we’re not eligible for any UC as of course they don’t include the fact we have shared care for DSC or are paying a significant amount in maintenance into any calculation. We are far worse off than I would be on benefits on my own or if we had primary residence for DSC. BTW we are both in good jobs thank you very much, myself a registered health care professional and I work the same part time hours as I did when I was on benefits previously

Im not asking this with an arsey tone or anything, just genuine curiosity. But why would you sit back and wait to be given a book or leaflets? If you felt unknowledgeable or unprepared (has there ever been a first time mum who doesn't feel that way?!), did you not proactively seek out information - buy a book, or borrow one from a friend, or a library?

I think the money needed would be quite different. As would ensuring take up unless it became part of a school day, which raises all kinds of other issues, plus schools have their own libraries.