11 yr old boy in Shades of Grey outfit

It's difficult to judge whether this boy would understand irony or see it as a "tongue in cheek" exercise. He may possibly be quite forward in his thinking - who's to know.

I would have expected a parent to have tried to dissuade her son from doing this but, as the media reaction to this film demonstrated, the objectification and subjugation of women appears to be seen as rather amusing. I don't suppose teachers are any more immune to media influence than anyone else.

All I'm saying is that I think there's an awful lot of muddled thinking in this particular case. Why is James Bond - a murdering psychopath who treats women as if their sole purpose in life is his amusement - an any more worthy character to portray?

Actually I don't care whether he understood irony or was being tongue in cheek- that's not the point. Neither is it really the point about which is worse JB or CG. There is much that is better. Now I know his mother is a teacher, I think even less of her. She should be supporting her colleagues not undermining them and making their job more difficult. And what sort of mother drags her 11 year old around TV studios and plasters him all over the papers when it's all about perverted relationships? My thinking is not muddled at all and neither is much I have read - and great threads on MN also

I am not all that keen on the gimmicky dressing up for world book day anyway.

One you get to secondary schools I am not sure dressing up is their thing - and you get into a minefield (as we have seen) of what books are appropriate/allowable.

Better just to get on with the reading, and inspiring children with good books. I know my DD spent ages trying to get outfits ready when she might have been better off reading a book with the children.

A joke in very poor taste. If the mother cannot see that going as Christian Grey is an inappropriate character for an 11 year old boy to dress up as I can only suggest that she is a rather silly woman. However the school suggesting he change it to being James Bond is no better. The child is not likely to have read any James Bond books either. Nor, as others have pointed out, is James Bond any more appropriate than Christian Grey

In her interview she said the School didn't expressly say the costume had to be of a character from a book the child had read. I find it difficult to understand the mindset of a mother who would want to suggest their child dress-up as a character of an adult book the child cannot possibly have read and is in doubtful taste.

So what happens when he starts asking questions about the character he's dressed up as and why it's caused a furore in school? What happens when other, younger children start asking the same questions ...... " Mum, why is so and so dressed like a man? What character is he? What book is he from?"

Inappropriate to say the least.

If I was a parent asked that Katek, I would simply pass it off with, "Oh, it's just a silly book a lot of grown ups read" and leave it at that.

I doubt if anyone outside his class would have noticed A storm in a teacup. The school's reaction has probably done more harm than if they had just said nothing. (Perhaps take away whatever it was he had in his pocket. Quietly) Badly mishandled.

And what about the furore if the school had done nothing?
Someone would have informed the media and it's not difficult to imagine the headlines.

I doubt if anyone would have bothered.

Is that all you're worried about? . No thought at all about the boy left out of the day's activities?

So.... World Book Day is a curse for Mums jinglebellswhat-ever Thats a pretty damning verdict on most mums.

Perhaps, as you seem so vastly experienced on a) children's literature and b} parent's attitude to both the day, and literature, you would like to expand on that. I won't hold my breath.

The school has done something and it's still reached the headlines!
Jingl.....nice if you can get away with that explanation, but my gd for one wouldn't accept a brush-off and she can't be unique.

Neither mother nor school come out of this with any credit.

Agreed.

I haven't mentioned children's literature on this thread. There is excellent literature out there for children. The bookcase in what was my son's bedroom when he was a child is still choc-a-bloc full of his books. All of them the very best in writing for children.

I think the shock horror should be directed towards the media who put out so much trash that children latch onto.

Feel free to hold your breath.

That was to absentgrandma

Flick - that's completely unfar on the school. They were presented with an untenable situation and tried to come up with a solution - hence the admittedly not very clever JB idea. He mother is the villain here - she allowed it to happen and she gave it all the publicity. It may come as a surprise to some but parents are meant to be supportive of schools and not make their job harder than it is already - and even more so when they are teachers themselves

Unless this boy is completely half-soaked, he will no doubt wish to know what the book is about, since he is going to school dressed up as a character from it. And how do you answer? - fob him off with a bit of nonsense? Why put him and yourself as parent in that position in the first place? What is the point?

How does this advance his education? How does it help with world book day?

The school really had very little choice but to exclude hm from the day, as the children would no doubt have been asked to talk about the book they represented. There is no way the school could have involved him in doing that or there would have been parents up in arms - and rightly so. I do not feel sad that he was "left out of the day" - I have no doubt that he would have been OK about the chance to bunk off for the day.

What a very silly attention-seeking mother. It would be nice to think that she had learned her lesson, but she seems to be lapping up the publicity. I would not want her for a Mum, nor would I wish my child to be in her class.

It was the boy's idea. And by God! Hasn't it highlighted a lot of what's wrong with society today. One way or another.

I thought that children dressing up as characters from books for World Book day was about children's books not sleazy adult fiction.

Perhaps that stupid mother has never heard of any other book.
Some homes don't have books.

Jingle...he needn't have been left out, there's any number of characters he could have transferred to. And besides, learning that actions have consequences is a good life lesson.

Stop and ask yourself - how did the boy come to know about the book?

Ridiculous to start running down the mother and speculating whether they had books in the house or not.

I am not clear that it was the boy's idea - and even if it was, his mother should have tactfully steered him towards something more appropriate.

Just read GrannyTwice's previous post:
^Now I know his mother is a teacher, I think even less of her^

even more that his mother is a teacher.

I wouldn't want her teaching my DGC.
All that wealth of children's literature and that is all she can come up with.

Well, good for him Katek. Mind you, the school could only come up with James Bond. (in a grey suit?! )

I was horrified when I learned she was a teacher. I won't be the only retired teacher on here who has heard some unsavoury comments, sniggers or suggestive remarks from very young students that you just know have come from home. Teachers often have to draw on all their classroom management skills to deal with such situations with the minimum of fuss.

The cable ties and mask would have sent a shiver down my spine because they will be the talking point among the other kids - not what he was wearing.

The silly woman should have know better.