Bedtime with Nanny.
 

It is to be announced this week that the education secretary Ruth Kelly is to pledge £27m from the pulic purse to a scheme called 'Bookstart'.

Bags of books will be given to babies, and the 12-24 month age group will have their books presented to them in a satchel type bag with a scribble pad and crayons. Three to four year olds will have their books in a chest with hidden compartments for small toys[?] The books chosen will come from a government approved list of authors.

I believe that all children should have the right to a decent education from whatever background they come from. Even if a parent is too poor that they couldn't get appropriate books for their children from a charity shop, public libaries are free and have a range of children's books suitable from birth upwards.

I adore reading and was encouraged and taught to read pre-school. I think a love of books could be instilled in children from an already existing infrastructure. At a time when many school complain of financial hardship this seems a silly waste of money.

Nanny has spoken, and you will listen to what she is reading to you. There are no 'classics' on the list by the way, it's all 'Messy Lulu' and 'Tickle One, Tickle Your Tum.'

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what a waste of money, so they buy babies books in a bag with some crayons so they can draw all over them. There's no point any child having books at that age unless the parent(s) are actually reading to them. It's one of the things I miss, reading to the kids as it usually descended into hysterical laughter when I decided to change the whole story I was reading......ahhh the memories :D

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they were discussing that on the wright stuff this morning ..it does seem a good idea but like someone said ,,some of the parents will be selling them to the second hand book shops for the price of a pint of lager

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You mean no Brer Rabbit.......no Uncle Tom's Cabin.......no Noddy and Big Ears......no Winnie the Pooh........how very sad. I have saved quite a few from way back.
We were what was comsidered poor, but we always had books and I was enrolled in the library at the age of 8........I couldn't read until I was 7....so I was a late bloomer.
i have made up for it since.......now I read 2-3 booke a week....sometimes more it it is a real knicker-gripper.

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[Sorry rather than edit original post a new entry.]

If parents want to read to their kids they will do. Free bags of books will be wasted on those numpties who have kids and then expect everyone else to teach them.


Look out for untouched bags of books on a carboot sale near you soon.

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or more likely thrown into the corner under a pile of toys if the parents don't read the books to the small kids. As children get older they can find their own love of reading but babies/toddlers don't have much concept of what a book is for unless someone shows them what it's about

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I used to make up my own stories......so you weren't on your own Harwood Red.

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Haven't they heard of libraries?

This is ludicrous. Why should I allow the government to select my child's reading matter?

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and for my own amusement I use to put an adult angle (not rude just more sarcastic) to them that were way above their head but it's funny how it's those stories they seem to remember most now!!! My youngest's fave was "Hedgehogs don't eat hamburgers!!!" :confused:

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Gayle... you shouldn't......post them off to Ruth Kelly with a rude note.

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Bloody Hell Marg, if you couldn't read until seven, l think the whole of the education system needs rethinking!!

From your love of books now, and your obvious skill at making your blog readers [me;)] both laugh and cry, l think perhaps all children should be put off learning to read until then.

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A government approved list of authors does smack of Stalinst Russia.

:( No 'classics'.Winnie the Pooh probably didn't make it because he is a bad example to greedy children, or perhaps because it's fattist.

As for Noddy and Co., well we won't even go there with him and his un P.C. chums.

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I was dyslexic......but way back then they just called you 'slow'.......I also have dyscalcula too.......that is like dyslexia, but with numbers.......even now I have to see numbers written down to get my head around them.
I can remember crying to go to school on a Saturday because I felt the class was getting too far in front of me......I was desperate to catch up.

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I suppose it was too much to expect Uncle Tom's Cabin to be in there....for obvious reasons.

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Well my brat will NOT be partaking in those sorry excuses for stories. He got some so called 'fairy tales' for Christmas and I was shocked! The Big Bad Wolf in the 3 Little PIgs and Little Red Riding Hood doesn't die anymore!! He runs away after getting a slap on the wrist! Nobody gets cut out of anyones belly...its all so sickeningly PC! Or maybe I am just bloodthirsty...
I'm just glad that I kept all my old books where baddies get whats coming to them and where Noddy and Big Ears can still curl up in bed together.:)

And he has a golliwog - I don't care how un PC a parent that makes me, I think they are cute!

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My experience with children and reading is that you can't ram it down their throats. I'm a reader and my oldest is, but my youngest detests reading to the extent that its fight time when she brings a book home from school that has to be read with her. It's not fun and she doesn't enjoy it, it's more like a punishment to her. I have tried everything to get her interested in books :(

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Thats like me and my little brother. I am an avid reader, he hasn't picked up a book since he left school.

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My Mum was as poor as a Church mouse as a child, like a lot of folk. All the books she was given, a lot as Sunday School prizes, and that she read by the light of the street lamp, she still treasures. She did loan them to me and my Brother to read, and now has lent them to her Grandaughter.

Like l posted earlier, a love of books is invaluable to a lot of people. I would just rather see this vast amount of money invested into Libaries or schools. For one thing with Libaries you can read the books and take them back afterwards and exchange for something new, this silly scheme just seems futile.

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money should be invested in librarys and also SOME parents should invest time in the children.

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I've got to say that the most magical books that I read as a child is the adventures of the magic faraway tree, I was transported into the book as if I was in the story, the shame is I bought them for my kids and re-read them and the magic just wasn't the same.

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well id forgot all about the faraway tree,used to love it and magical is a great description.

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cant wait to get my old editions out for the grandsons?only got 2 daughters and they read when the are out walking anything with ink on them are read.my collection just needs a eye for beauty and a good thinking in photography. what happenned to janet and john? the first series of books i bought personally was a western , a cowboy called EDGE.

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If you agree with me, it means you are very childish and therefore young not old!

I too loved Swallows and Amazons. I adored Titty, strange how life pans out!

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I think the whole scheme is one huge waste of money. The people who do like to read to their children already buy or borrow books. I highly doubt that it will encourage anyone to read to their kids who doesn't do so already... It has to be considered that the people who don't read to their kids may have reasons for not doing so, either they can't read well themselves, or they can't read English (or their own language for that matter).

The money should be invested in schools and libraries.

I love reading and always have done. I used to enjoy the Enid Blyton books, The Famous Five, Secret Seven, St Clare's and Mallory Towers. I still have a love of reading, but I tend not to have much time these days. I read 3 books in 5 days on holiday and was disappointed because I hadn't brought a 4th book with me..:D

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That's the point isn't it Lettie - people who love books will read to their kids anyway, and people who can't be bothered still won't be bothered just because they've been sent a copy of some soft p.c. spin.

I still have my set of Mallory Towers books and every now and then I reread them. The trouble with modern books is that they remove the imagination element, particularly for younger children. Mallory Towers series was great for me because I could imagine going to boarding school and having midnight feasts and great adventures.

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I can remember when my son was about to start school, we had gone to a meet the teachers thing, we were talking with Roys new teacher to be and were happy to tell her that he was able to read and was enjoying it, she was most disgusted that he had already learnt to read as, 'it makes it more difficult when teaching the children that can't read as they are made to feel inferior'.

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I don't think that I would have got on with that teacher either Less. I could also read prior to starting school. The new politically correct thing is for teachers not to tell pupils that they have failed at anything, it is to be referred to as a 'deferred pass.' Quite frankly I think that the whole education system is pants these days, and I can understand why some parents choose to educate their children at home. If being able to read well at a young age is considered to be detrimental to anybody, then it is glaringly obvious that there is something sadly wrong with the education system in this country. Why should children who are keen to learn, do their homework and achieve good results be penalised and held back in favour of those who don't. These children should be encouraged.

I'm not saying that children who don't perform well in school shouldn't be encouraged too, but that's what separate classes are there for. This giving out free books malarkey is another money wasting folly from our leaders...

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It gets worse, in actual fact they were using that 'super, great, new system', with different was it phonetic? spelllllling' which left him utterly confused because he basically had to re-learn how to read before they then confused him by him having to learn again the proper way to read!

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Originally Posted by jpest1
I must be getting old! I agree with rindy. My older sister taught me to read when I was 3. At the age of 5 I had to join the adult library at accy because I had read all the books in the childrens library. My favourite set of books was 'Swallows and Amazons' the film was shown on telly last week and yes I watched it and enjoyed it. Very un p.c. but who gives a damn. And I'm 49. :D
The she tryed it on me ,But it did not work, so i ended up on the Beeno and the dandy

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She sounds a very nice sister, she could have made you read Twinkle and Bunty, then where would you have been?:confused: :p

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The 27 million that this scheme is going to cost would be better used to revert to the old teaching methods......phonetics has proved to be a vastly superior system of teaching children to read.
Reading is a core skill and no other real learning can take place until a child has learned to read.
I often wonder what more I could have achieved if I had learned to read earlier.

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I agree, parents who will read to their kids will do so without the free books. I was given a pack a couple of years ago with a couple of free books, they had been donated to Sure start I think, anyway Ellie was already a member of the library and loves books, hopefully she always will.