Please stop whinging about your kids doing Book Week

"The Book Week parade features in your kid's life for a good time, not a long time, and then suddenly you never get to bedazzle their shoes again."

There’s so much to dislike about Book Week, I get it, especially because you need to plan ahead (boring!).

If you're like me, professional costume design is not your thing, and going to Spotlight is your worst nightmare.

But there's other things to loathe apart from the parade and actually finding a book that goes with the random costume your kid has demanded.

You know that you’ll be flooded with a deluge of cutesy humble-brag photos on social media (ughhh), so you feel an internalised pressure to perform and compete, most likely coupled with feelings of failure and self-loathing.

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If you’re a ‘crunchy mumma’ (natural, organic, free-range) you probably feel obliged to hand-sew your kid’s outfits so you’re on-brand.

If you’re an A-type personality mumma (winner, successful, leader), you’ll want your kids to look like they’ve just stepped out of the Broadway musical version of whatever book you’ve chosen.

And then you all stand around and judge each other's children in the playground as you freeze your tits off.

Fun times.

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Image: Supplied

RELATED: I'm a lazy mum and here's my genius (free) Book Week costume hack

This is the Book Week mum I am 

Yes, I used to really hate Book Week.

And I'll admit there was one part of Book Week that I really relished: whinging about it to other parents.

I used to compete in the ‘complaining-about-Book-Week’ Olympics, which should be one of the official sports. A bunch of mums standing around with their phones and lattes, messaging each other on WhatsApp to see who can out-whinge the other.  

But last year I decided to embrace this thing called motherhood, and identified as a Lazy mum - someone who challenges themselves to create the most amazing costume with absolute zero effort.

So, my (then) two-year-old toddled into daycare with white fluffy material secured to his back with safety pins and a Star Wars jumper. He was The Green Sheep from the Dark Side.

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Book Week transformed

Suddenly, Book Week was transformed for me. Not only had I become the laziest creative genius the school library had ever seen, I was... actually enjoying it.

I found you can get at least two days out of ‘red’ sheep and ‘blue’ sheep: send them in those coloured clothes! Even paint their face if you can be bothered!

This year, I might even consider fashioning some proper sheep ears - but then, I don't want to go overboard.

If you, like me, are determined to cease (or at least lessen) your whinging about Book Week, I also highly recommend you don’t go and buy costumes and for heaven’s sake, put the sewing machine away.

Let's focus on the books and not polyester fire-hazard outfits, hey? Let's role model to your kids how fun it is to be creative with what you have at home - or saw on Play School.

String a bunch of cotton wool balls on elastic, bung gold stars on a borrowed traffic cone, and voila! You have the beginnings of a Dumbledore costume! (Yes, this year's them is something to do with magic... I think.)

My last tip? Borrow a costume from the drama box at school, and modify it as needed.

Oh, and don't forget to bring a large hot coffee to the parade. And you'll be loving (well, hating it less) Book Week just like me!

Originally published as Please stop whinging about your kids doing Book Week