So it was world book today, lots of fun with dressing up for the kids. But is it really fun for the parents?
Some groan in despair that they need to make/buy another costume while others get their competitive hats on to make sure their kids outshine the rest of the school.
And then there’s mums like me who potentially end up feeling like failures because they aren’t particularly creative when it comes to dressing up… And can’t sew for the life of them.
Thankfully my eldest has never been into dressing up, or maybe she just realised how useless I was when it came to things like this so didn’t bother asking. I’m guessing it may have been the latter.
I love books, but how is dressing up as a minion or a Disney character helping kids read more? You have to pay £1 to join in and then you get a voucher to buy an overpriced book at the book fair…. The voucher isn’t really free is it if you have to pay £1 to join in in the first place?
And the fact that it has simply turned into a competition for some parents… Well that’s just taking the fun out of it. There are disadvantaged kids out there and even a simple dressing up day can make a financial impact on their families especially if they haven’t already got any dressing up clothes. And then if the children aren’t dressed up you have the judgemental mums tutting at the school gates that the parents haven’t bothered to dress their child up.
Yes you don’t need to buy an outfit and can alter existing clothes but again that can cost… And if you just go in everyday clothes the child can still feel like the odd one out.
In addition to this some schools set themes… Such as dress up as something to do with Shakespeare. As if there isn’t enough pressure as it is you then have to convince your child to dress up as something they possibly don’t want to. And not just content with causing parents stress of making/buying costumes, some schools are banning Disney costumes and comic book costumes. If you think about it, most children if they have any dressing up costumes are likely to have costumes relating to Disney and comic books. Is it really fair for the school to stop the children wearing those?
The amount of parents I came across yesterday online who was stressing about their kids costumes, about children changing what they want to wear at the last minute, made me think just what is the point?
I must admit I was one of those parents stressing. Bee’s nursery told us on Monday that they were dressing up on Thursday. Initially I wasn’t going to bother as she is at nursery for less than 3 hours but the nursery were making a big deal out of it….getting parents to come and read a book in their home language and lots of activities. After coming out in a nervous sweat, moaning on Facebook, and looking online for costumes I could buy, I realised that Munchkin’s old princess dress was still in the wardrobe and Bee wanted to go as a princess anyway!
Crisis averted!
How about you? Do you love or hate World Book Day?
I like the idea of World Book Day but not the dressing up part! Like you I don’t have enough creative skills to sew something, anything. And if sometime kids do enjoy the dress up part, I have to say mine is a bit reluctant to it, which does not help!
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A.s I think this world book day shouldn’t be for Muslims because if you look where it originated from is actually celebrating a writer who had passed away. ..look on Wikipedia. .!
So obviously we are celebrating something which we shouldn’t be because celebrating birthday and death. ..or remembering them by fixing a day is not what prophet sallaaho alayhe wasallam did nor did the companion of prophet did. It’s similar to Christmas. .
It seems like early days that’s why ppl not speaking up or not knowing where it originates from. ..
Could you please let me know the basis behind this opinion as I have only found this online and have never heard that it’s to celebrate the passing of a writer. ‘World Book Day is a charity event held annually in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the first Thursday in March. It is the local manifestation of World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright.’
Oh ok read it further… it seems to coincide with some deaths in April as was the first chosen date. Now it’s held in March in the UK and has nothing to do with remembering the deaths of the authors from what I can see, their deaths are never mentioned