Class dog... Again.... Arghhh....

[Happypiglet]

Just need to rant really...
Why is having a class cuddly toy complete with diary considered a 'good thing'....? My YR DD has just brought the cuddly dog home for the third time. It is disgusting, moth-eaten, filthy, matted and sponge clean only. We only take ownership for one night which is not enough for me to risk washing it and getting it dry.
we have an ongoing battle with worms. I have spent the last two weeks wet dusting daily, showering bottoms every morning and night, hand washing to within an inch of my life and downing Ovex... It is always DD that brings it home... And now I have the dog....
And then there is the whole diary competitive parenting thing...and who can take the most photos or provide a new toy... Currently other DC are ill at home...I DO NOT NEED THIS TONIGHT!!!!
And breathe.....

LadyClarice there is no need to leap on that. Solo pointing out that a large proportion of her daughter's class spend lots of time out of the country can only be construed at prejudice if you are a terminally offended type.

Anyhoo.... The dog dried, it smells fresh and of Fairy powder, my DD is happily asleep with a sanitised cuddly dog next to her.....
I still hate the whole concept though and may raise it as an issue sometime in some appropriate forum ( although unsure when that will be!) they do it in every year of KS1 at DC school. I live in fear of two at once! Luckily DS2 moves onto KS2 next year so I have run that particular gauntlet and succeeded....

We had Tommy the Tiger and he was RANK. I hurled him in the washing machine and quickly dried him before he was allowed in bed.

Yeurch...

good result then, well done, piglet

This didn't happen when my kids were in KS1 (youngest is 19 now). I can see that it's a good idea in theory, as long as it isn't just used for stealth boasting , but it doesn't seem as if it works out very well in practise...

Are they supposed to CUDDLE the class dog at bedtime?!
Does dog/bear/soft toy of choice not do its activities which are then recorded in the diary and then go back into bookbag by the front door ready to go to school in the morning?!

Well Olivia all I can say is good luck with trying to enforce the dog/bear/tiger staying down stairs rule.... Never worked with any of my three.
The diary becomes a joke of one up manship by parents. The cuddly gets bought presents, dog beds, bits of rank (good word Snoopkat) material etc. And let's face it the average YR child cannot or will not write anything themselves so I see no educational advantage to it....
at all.....

They do this all through KS2 here as well, each teacher has their own 'toy'. The diaries get ever more thoughtful, and funny, the older the DC's get!

(though the teacher did rip out the page that had a photo of Mikey the monkey smoking a joint put in by the parent before me...)

we had the class soft toy.

photos were taken outside, which was just as well as after his bath/undersea adventure/ trip in the washing machine, I had to reapply his face with a sharpie

the toy was dry enough to cuddle at bed time after his trip in the washing machine. I took one clean foot and one dirty foot photo, and the dirty foot had been immersed in water for quite a few minuutes before the photo was taken!