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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU....Horrid Henry.

49 replies

woopsidaisy · 21/12/2010 08:16

DS1 was shown this in school recently. He asked me if he could watch it,so I searched for it on Sky and sky plused it. Ten days on and my child has morphed into a right little horror! Answers back to everything,sticking out tongue,being a complete smart arse,and picking on his wee brother continously.
I was talking to a friend yesterday,and felt like a bit of a loon when I suggested that his recent bad behaviour could be down to a cartoon. But she said lots of parents don't allow this cartoon,as it makes kids naughty! I had never heard of it before.
So today is D-day for him. He knows if his behaviour doesn't improve tody it is banned. But would I be unreasonable to ask the school not to show it again too?

OP posts:
TrinityMotherOfRhinos · 21/12/2010 08:18

mine watch it all the time, they know its a cartoon which is why he is naughty...becasue its just a story

they aren't anything like him but they have plaenty or other stuff to discipline about lol

singarainbow · 21/12/2010 08:20

I can see what you mean, but if it's not Horrid Henry its Dennis the Menace, or something else. I thought Horrible histories was ok for kids, until my DD became death obsessed....
I understand how you feel, but they will be exposed to this stuff, unless you completely choose all their TV, books and other reading material.
How old is DS1?

Pheebe · 21/12/2010 08:20

YANBU
We were given the box set of books for our then 5yo. I read a few pages and sent them off to the charity shop. We just don't need that shite in our lives.

Original poster
woopsidaisy · 21/12/2010 08:22

Just turned six. It isn't that I want to keep him from this stuff as such. But his behavious is shocking lately!
Damn you HH....

OP posts:
singarainbow · 21/12/2010 08:23

Are you sure its not just his age....most six year olds I know of, boys & girls dont really need much inspiration!!! Wink

onceamai · 21/12/2010 08:23

YABU - mine loved Horrid Henry. Too big for it now - but it didn't make them naughty; they knew the difference between a story and reality. The Cat in the Hat was naughty but nobody talks about banning Dr Zeus.

SpringHeeledJack · 21/12/2010 08:27

oh God parents have always blamed tv for their kids' bad behaviour

maybe we should just be reading Aesop's Fables and Struwelpeter (??) and other Improving Books to them instead

...I personally hate HH because of his awful voice

it makes me want to kill small defenceless animals

...oh hold on. Maybe OP has a point Grin

AngryPixie · 21/12/2010 08:30

YABU TV does not turn good kids bad! (well, maybe a diet of 18 rated bloodbath horror but not HH for goodness sake) 6 year olds however do push boundaries, it's their job.

waitwhat · 21/12/2010 08:36

YABU

TV doesnt turn kids into violent bad mouthed butters the daily mail just like to tell you they doXmas Wink

waitwhat · 21/12/2010 08:36

**Nutters not buttersXmas Grin

TrinityMotherOfRhinos · 21/12/2010 08:40

bad mouthed butters Grin

just discipline this new set of behaviours and dont blame the telly

AnonEnormousStuffedBird · 21/12/2010 08:46

HH is truly awful, so I am with you there, but I don't believe it would make a child necessarily behave badly just like that!

We just don't watch it as it is utter drivel shite.

wewishyouamerrylissiemas · 21/12/2010 09:01

ds loves it too, agree that its just a cartoon. he is 5 and knows the difference between right and wrong. IMO its just a coincidence that a change in his behaviour (which is totally normal) happened at the same time as watching HH.

Sequins · 21/12/2010 09:13

I don't like the Horrid Henry cartoons, Henry is clearly acting up as a cry for positive parental attention. DS (age 4) and I have watched it together and discussed a storyline where Henry did something right and his parents weren't paying attention to him and assumed it was his brother Perfect Peter who had done the good thing, and proceeded to bollock Henry for the naughty thing Peter had done. Supernanny would be right on the parents' case.

Anyone else think this or am I a loon?

justaboutmaintainingorder · 21/12/2010 09:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LostArt · 21/12/2010 09:15

I've heard this before about HH, but never noticed any worsening behaviour in my DC. They don't really watch the TV programme that much though, we just read the books and have the fabulous talking books on (constantly) in the car.

TanteAC · 21/12/2010 09:20

Not really relevent but I do remember a foster child who, after a big explosion, confessed that he felt like he was HH and that's how everyone looked at him - made me so Sad he was only 5.

I think he was referring to what sequins said - he was typecast and that was that.

Sorry, no help at all! Grin

Himalaya · 21/12/2010 09:27

YANBU. Horrid henry has this effect on my kids too. Especially if you have a whole stack of episodes lined up on the Skyplus, and they end up gorging on it.

I hate Horrid Henry - the cartoon, the books, the voice, the formulaic stories, the general attitude of it. It has no redeeming features. It is not even funny.

I am not saying 'Ban It' in a Daily Mail way. But limit it, sneakily delete episodes, say no acting like HH etc...

My advice is to try to ween him onto Phineas and Ferb - much more positive role models...

musicposy · 21/12/2010 09:31

YANBU. My youngest loved Horrid Henry when she was 6. I couldn't stand it, but I have to say, it did get her reading chapter books. Because she loved it so much (and because I refused to read the drivel most of the time) it really brought her reading on.

I might stop him watching and make him read instead.

musicposy · 21/12/2010 09:34

Oh, and although HH was never a problem re behaviour, I had to ban Pingu when DD1 was 3.
There was an episode where Pingu spits and she was copying, spitting at everything. Pingu was quite naughty too and I think she secretly admired him!

After a lengthy ban I let her watch it again but with strict instructions that if she spat, she would not be allowed to watch it again. It seemed to work!

JamieLeeCurtis · 21/12/2010 09:36

I hate it - they show loads of episodes together on CITV, and I do only let mine watch 1 or 2 at a sitting.

Children do pick up annoying catch phrases from programmes, and I do think that if you don't occasionally sit and watch with them to discuss with them what they are seeing then they can get the wrong end of the stick about things. HH is not a good role model, and he picks on his brother for no real reason. Not something I want mine to emulate

It's crap, not funny, and the HH character is vile (I haven't red the books, mind you ..)

musicposy · 21/12/2010 09:43

It's still as awful if you read it, tbh. But I think they might copy it a little less.

Hulababy · 21/12/2010 09:46

I read HH to year 1 all the time. They love it. They know it is fiction. They know HH is being naughty. they don't all turn into HH because they have see it.

My DD used to read it too. She thought it was funny. She never once tried to emulate what HH did.

TBH shocking behvaiour from a 6y child this close to Christmas is not that unusual. They can't dea with the continued waiting and excitement and the pent up giddiness has to come out somehow.

bupcakesandcunting · 21/12/2010 10:19

Agree with musicposy wrt Pingu. He was DS's role model for a while and he even did that naughty "NAC-NAC" noise that Pingu does when he's cross :(

HH is a little twat though.I hope that Peter grows up to be a cage fighter or something and smashes HH to a pulp for making his childhood so awful. His mother is a drip too. She needs SuperNanny.

cea · 21/12/2010 10:24

My 6 year old loves the HH books and I agree with musicposy that it has got him reading chapter books. He occasionally watches the cartoon version on CITV but no obvious changes in his "normally good" behaviour as a result