to think that Beatrix Potter books need a reboot?

[ScaryBeardyDeadyman]

I've been reading some of the books with dd and I'm surprised by the large scale child abuse that occurs in them. Children are routinely smacked, whipped and even locked in cupboards!

How are these books still on release? Surely they need a Star Wars style reboot (so Han shoots in retaliation) with all the abuse removed?

[DuchessofMalfi]

YABU they are classics.

[juneybean]

I thought the Enid Blyton's were classic but they overhauled those in the name of political correctness.

[Bluestocking]

You are joking, aren't you?

[Sirzy]

Of course they don't need changing!

[Petsinmyputridpudenda]

Or perhaps we need to start locking i=our kids in cupboards again?

[SuePurblybilt]

They're getting one, aren't they? Emma Thompson is writing the next step of the story IIRC, so they're bound to get a tart up at the same time.

Not sure about the 'abuse' tho' - have you read any fairy stories? . Most still going strong...

[INeedThatForkOff]

Blimey, if we rid all children's classics of non-PC content, how will they understand the social and historical context?

[IvorHughJackolantern]

God I hate bloody Beatrix Potter. Boring as arse.

but true

[MooncupGoddess]

I don't remember any actual children in Beatrix Potter! Samuel Whiskers is bloody horrible though and so is Mr Tod with the kidnapped baby rabbits (not that stopped my brother and me demanding to act it out again and again. We were bloodthirsty little beasts).

[KitchenandJumble]

YABU. I really dislike the trend of rewriting classic children's books. I picked up a copy of The Wind in the Willows in a bookstore recently, and it turned out to be a sanitized and bowdlerized version. All the lovely language had been flattened and simplified, presumably in the name of being more "accessible." The result was horrible.

Children aren't stupid. They know that rabbits don't talk or wear little jackets or drink camomile tea. And they can equally easily understand that the books were written in a different time, with its own customs and values. It is doing children a disservice to allow them to believe that the world was always exactly as it is now.

[HopeForTheBest]

I also disagree with rewriting books, but find BP absolutely awful: the characters, the "plots", the descriptions - all just dreadful, I can't see why anyone would want to read them any more (not for pleasure, anyway).

[ScaryBeardyDeadyman]

I rather like the fierce bad rabbit, but just so I can read it in an Armstrong and Miller style...

[ScaryBeardyDeadyman]

But back to point, having to answer the question "daddy why did the rabbit's daddy hit him with the stick?" or similar isn't something I really want to do after reading 3yo dd a story!

[Salmotrutta]

No. That is a hideous idea.

It would be just like the Disneyfication of Winnie The Pooh!

This has incensed me over the years.

I was so delighted when someone gave my grandson a "proper" Winnie The Pooh book - I nearly cried.

[MooncupGoddess]

Oh, my brother and I used to act out The Fierce Bad Rabbit too. Our mother taught us to do it as a party trick for visiting relatives. I got to be the fierce bad rabbit being all nasty and selfish while my brother (aged about 2) sat there looking rather baffled as the good rabbit.

[LunaLunatic]

YABU. Massively altering the literary work of authors who are dead and can't argue makes me very angry. They've done it with Blyton and I can't believe that it was allowed! Skip bits which you think your child won't like, or change the wording yourself. To erase the real original stories is a huge shame. What's next anyway - will we start painting black stripes over the breasts of Venus in case a child sees them and asks a question or feels awkward? I live in a society with legal censorship and trust me, you don't want it!

[Bluestocking]

Don't be such a drip, SBDM. You just explain that rabbit families are a bit dysfunctional and often resort to hitting their children in an attempt to impose discipline.

[Shallishanti]

OK to do it wiith Blyton I think as the originals had little merit or charm apart from the plots (I admit it I read them) but Beatrix Potter stories are lovely...and there are some bits that I still don't understand (a pig ticket???) so no problem for dcs to hear of other outdated practices.

[youmeatsix]

i have bought the complete set for a friends daughter for christmas, i didnt even begin to think they could be perceived as controversial, hmmmmmmm, worried now

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

If you don't like the whipping (I can only think of one instance, and I don't like it either) can you not just censor it as you're reading? (and flip over the illustration of Peter and Benjamin Bunny holding their arses ruefully.)

Classics are ... old. I think the universal charm of Beatrix Potter books outweighs the odd anachronism, and presumably you do too if you're even reading them to your DC. And you can use them as a starting point to talk about how things change over time, etc. See, doubly educational.

[ScaryBeardyDeadyman]

Dd may only be 3 but she knows when you skip a page and she's learning to read and is becoming aware of when you skip/change words too!

And for the record, little is charming about these stories. They're incredibly dull and badly written and most have no actual point to them at all!

[ScaryBeardyDeadyman]

Bander have you tried hiding stories from kids who really really want them? You either read them and suffer or hide them and suffer hours of whinging!