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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To really dislike horrid henry

59 replies

Baklavanlava · 22/07/2021 16:33

My DC was bought a set of books for a present and since then appears to have picked up lots of horrid Henry's behaviour, in particular name calling / winding up their younger sibling.

Am I the only one? I don't really like objecting to books, but I really don't like this set (maybe my DC is just a bit young for them and so the copycat behaviour is worse). I think I need to find a way to disappear them...AIBU?!

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BuyMyBeard · 13/01/2024 20:10

I really f**king hate this show. Nothing to do with the behaviour. But everything else about it drives me nuts. In particular the constant shouting punctuated with crappy bass line riffs. The grotesque character design with red blotchy faces and noses. The jerky poundland level animation. It's just aesthetically grating in every way.

NeedNewKnees · 23/07/2021 09:17

Mine loved them and I didn’t mind reading them at bedtime at all - they’re well written, which is a blessed relief after Rainbow Fairies/Beast Quest/other tedious mass produced series, or the David Walliams tosh.

I didn’t see any copied behaviours beyond a short phase of name-calling we nipped in the bud. Horrid Henry’s nativity play honestly had me in stitches the first time we read it (he’s the innkeeper and says yes, there’s loads of rooms free. With widescreen tellies)

Francesca Simon’s lovely.

FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop · 23/07/2021 09:08

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Dd had one as a school reading book. She felt sorry for Henry because "it doesn't matter what he did, it was always wrong". Sneaky Peter was worse really. It led to some interesting discussions with her (and is a good guide on how not to parent siblings).
This is what I did after DD noticed the disparity between how Henry was treated compared to Peter. I still banned it though because she was doing things like calling her little brother 'worm' Shock
Aroundtheworldin80moves · 23/07/2021 08:06

Dd had one as a school reading book. She felt sorry for Henry because "it doesn't matter what he did, it was always wrong". Sneaky Peter was worse really.
It led to some interesting discussions with her (and is a good guide on how not to parent siblings).

beela · 23/07/2021 08:05

Can't stand it. They are only books which I refused to read as bed time stories - we had had a day of 2 dc bickering and I said that I couldn't bear to reenact it at bedtime! The TV programme is equally annoying.

billy1966 · 23/07/2021 08:05

@TheGenealogist

I disliked him a lot too. He is so mean and so nasty to everyone, and his parents are fucking useless.
This.
TigersandTeddybears · 23/07/2021 08:00

And whiny bing bunny

TigersandTeddybears · 23/07/2021 07:59

I don't mind Henry but Peppa off Peppa pig is awful

rishisboater · 23/07/2021 07:34

Yep, we had to ban it in our house!

Onestep2021 · 23/07/2021 07:31

I got rid of them all.

So many books out there to read. Didn’t get why we’d keep reading ones with so much unpleasantness. The illustrations are actually the thing that most offends me. The house really are horrid.

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 23/07/2021 07:23

I guess that is why he's called Horrid Henry and not perfectly polite and kind Henry haha!

FindingMeno · 23/07/2021 07:19

I loved Horrid Henry!
I did consider 'accidentally' missing it when my dc's were younger though. That and "Little Princess".

Sometimeswinning · 23/07/2021 07:17

My kids seem to have survived him. Although we did have a ban on a phrase he used on his brother. Smelly, nappy baby I think it was!! Other than that I just have fond memories of us all watching it and my son reading it!

rosalie11 · 23/07/2021 04:45

He’s annoying but I don’t mind watching

blubberball · 23/07/2021 04:33

It's pretty crap. My ds used to like watching the cartoon and the film. Thankfully he's grown out of it now and moved on. It seems very popular, so someone must be liking it.

conecrosoooo · 23/07/2021 02:27

YANBU I remember watching the live-action movie when when my DD was younger and having to turn it off because all the fart, snot, poo jokes were making me want to dry heave.

NiceGerbil · 23/07/2021 02:23

We had one once and I absolutely loathed it.

He's an absolute little sod. He just reminded me of the boys who were absolute little sods when I was a girl.

And he's the main character in a book for young kids who will naturally not be nuanced oh I'm supposed to take him as... What? An anti hero?

I cant remember is his little brother bookish and well behaved and he's fucking horrible to him?

A hard no from me.

Unsure1983 · 23/07/2021 01:42

@Kanaloa I disagree purely because of the toxic family dynamics in Horrid Henry. It doesn't make it a good model to study. I just mentioned Tracy Beaker, which is much more worthy of that kind of discussion.

Unsure1983 · 23/07/2021 01:41

The parents are fucking atrocious. The illustrations are ugly and jarring to the eyes. On the cartoon the voices are horrible. Perfect Peter is nauseating. Henry is annoying. I can't find one redeeming feature and I'm in no way against naughty child lit as I love Tracy Beaker.

Kanaloa · 23/07/2021 01:37

Also, as I said upthread, any book read with very young children should be a topic of conversation. Horrid Henry can be used to explore bad behaviour by chatting with kids about why Henry is doing xyz, it can help kids explore those feelings and be a stepping stone to talking about what a better way of dealing with things is. For example, why was Henry mean to Peter? He is feeling jealous, what can he do instead?

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 23/07/2021 01:35

I don't think he's particularly bad. Hes just living up to the label he's been given.
Why am I taking a freakin kids cartoon so seriously. ConfusedBlush😂😂😂😂

Kanaloa · 23/07/2021 01:35

Realistically if your child behaves very poorly I don’t think you can blame Horrid Henry. Otherwise it would surely be easily remedied by sticking on an episode of Princess Sofia. My kids loved the books and programme and it didn’t seem to influence their behaviour. I loved Oor Wullie as a child but didn’t copy him. I think behaviour is much more likely to be influenced by parenting than one book.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 23/07/2021 01:31

@Wearywithteens

Yeah of course your kids behaviour is influenced by the books…righto Hmm
probably the most ignorant comment I've seen here in a while. there's no way an intelligent person would make such a comment.

how can you deny that a book can influence a child's behaviour when there are & have been billions of people influenced by books, for better or worse?!
not just currently but throughout history.
just wow

Strokethefurrywall · 23/07/2021 01:19

Why is it hard to believe that children’s behavior is influenced by TV show characters pp?

Look at the many adults copying Instagram “influencers”, or celebrity “personalities” and it’s plainly obvious that humans copy what they’re exposed to, and influenced by.

Wearywithteens · 23/07/2021 01:07

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