Schools are getting sillier when it comes to book clubs...

This afternoon my oldest daughter Jay brought home the usual batch of book club propaganda sent to the schools in an effort to make reading a fun thing to do at home. Not just something you have to do at school.

Some of these book clubs have been around since before I started primary school some 22 years(aprox) ago. when I was a little takker you, or should I say the oldest child in the family, was given the book club forms to take home to your parents. Knowing that my parents didnt have a heck of a lot of extra cash I would only ever ask for a new book if it was something I wanted so badly that I could/would do extra chores for a few weeks to earn it, even if it meant doing my brothers chores too! At thst point in time (mid eighties to early nineties) you had two weeks to get the forms and money in to the school.

Jump ahead in time to 2007. You are now given less than a week, in this case two days, to find the money and get it in to the school with the correctly filled in paperwork.

Since when do most parents have the time to fill out extra paperwork? Let alone readthrough all the brightly coloured flyers? I happen to think that reading is one of the most important things any adult can teach a child, it is right up there with how to flush the toilet and not picking your nose at the table. But how can I encourage my youngsters to read a wider variety of books when there is simply not enough time in between getting the flyers and having to pay for them?

I can hear most of you saying "take them to the library" or "borrow books from the library"... I have a problem with the state library facilities in Tasmania. My children respect books, if they are damaged when we borrow them, we make a note of it and let the library staff know. however this does not always get noted by the library staff and after having my kids accused of destroying books by scribbling in them, tearing pages etc. i refuse to pay any more fines for something that other kids have done.

That and I am still paying for books that I returned a few years ago.