A Very Hungry Caterpillar costume won’t turn your kid into a bookworm

Book Week rolls around again, and with it comes the predictable chorus of strung-out parents who have no time to read books themselves but are tasked with “inspiring a love of literature” in their kids. How? By dressing them up as characters from children’s books. For an entire week! Why? I’ve been a rabid reader my whole life and have not had to don a Thing 1 or a Thing 2 costume. Not even once, not a single try, not a once in the wide open sky!

Seeing a parent reading is more important than fancy dress. Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

In primary school, I wore colonial garb when we visited the now-defunct Old Sydney Town, but I can’t........

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