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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not expect or want to find "v is for vampire" in a child's ABC book?

85 replies

OnFoot · 31/05/2013 16:07

a is for apple, c is for cat, k is for kangaroo and then when we got to v - v is for vampire.

I didn't like it, don't want to explain the concept of vampire to my toddler and will probably be hiding the book once she's gone to bed.

It really surprised me, am I being too precious?

OP posts:
TeapotsInJune · 31/05/2013 22:06

No one noticing the OP has politely accepted she is BU ? Hmm

Fwiw I don't think YABU but we are in a minority indeed it would seem!

sweetestcup · 31/05/2013 22:12

Do people sit and dream up things to be offended about in real life or is it just here on mn?

TeapotsInJune · 31/05/2013 22:14

"It really surprised me"

She hardly sounds mortally offended. Mild surprise is about the length of it. I think some people have got more offended about the op being 'offended' ...

OxfordBags · 31/05/2013 22:22

Oooh, nice link, Craic, I want that for DS!

P is for pegging?

Seriously, OP, why is vampire worse to explain than monster, or potentially scarier for a child? At least a vampire looks and is/was human. Is this some weird religious thing?

WestmorlandSausage · 31/05/2013 22:28

fakebook I have been waiting forever for an excuse to share

Joiningthegang · 31/05/2013 22:35

If I had a large amount of money I should certainly found a hospital for those whose grip upon the world is so tenuous that they can be severely offended by words and phrases and yet remain all unoffended by the injustice, violence and oppression that howls daily about our ears. - Stephen fry

Blessyou · 31/05/2013 22:41

YANBU I agree with you too.

Moxiegirl · 31/05/2013 22:58
Grin My ds was telling me how at school he was asked to think of an occupation for every letter of the alphabet. We then did an alternative version with less savoury careers ... H is for hitman.... S is for serial killer...
AberdeenAngusina · 31/05/2013 23:00

DS had a set of alphabet blocks in which "k" was for "knife"

LilQueenie · 31/05/2013 23:08

Erm count duckula is not on sesame street. Its a completely seperate programme.

WestmorlandSausage · 31/05/2013 23:17

LilQueenie I dont think anyone suggested otherwise....?

TheCraicDealer · 31/05/2013 23:18

It was The Count on Sesame Street. Beast.

WestmorlandSausage · 31/05/2013 23:28

craic see my youtube count post above!

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 31/05/2013 23:34

G is for...a big...grip Grin

Valdeeves · 01/06/2013 08:17

My God - talk about harsh ladies!!
I think it's ok but violin would have been easier to explain - there you go, nicely put without being sarcastic or
putting you down. Bet you have been gasping at some of these responses??? Anybody had too much wine to be so vehement, you think???

Valdeeves · 01/06/2013 08:27

Btw we have a full pop up Halloween book for my toddler, he loves it - vampires, monsters etc.

forevergreek · 01/06/2013 12:08

You need to get the kids Edward gorey books..
They start off A is for amy who fell down the stairs. B is for basil assaulted by bears! And get worse... And the kids love it!

ZenGardener · 01/06/2013 12:14

We live in Japan. When my kids were 2 their nursery read them a story called 'Who isn't asleep?'. It featured a boy who was still awake. He first bumped into a naughty mouse, then a wicked cat, then a ghost. The ghost took his hand and took him off to ghost land. The end!

It scared me, never mind the kids!

ArbitraryUsername · 01/06/2013 12:15

According to DS2 it would be D is for dampire. He loves his dampire squid (from octonauts).

flanbase · 01/06/2013 12:16

yanbu - how awful to have vampire for the 'v'. It's totally inappropriate for a children's abc book.

MiaowTheCat · 01/06/2013 15:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lionheart · 01/06/2013 15:31

Z for zombie. You could make a fantastic alphabet that embraces the dark side.

Elquota · 01/06/2013 16:07

YANBU. Why not something innocuous like van or vase instead?

Montybojangles · 01/06/2013 17:00

Oh please, weren't most of us brought up having very scary fairy stories told to us?
I thought this article was probably nonsense, but I guess I was wrong:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/4125664/Traditional-fairytales-not-PC-enough-for-parents.html

Am now mentally writing Inapropriate ABCs' in my head..

OxfordBags · 02/06/2013 00:38

What about D for dinosaur, if they use a picture of a T-rex*? That thing was real and bloody scary? Or L for lion - hardly sweet creatures when ripping a wildebeest apart, are they? And don't forget H for Hippo: hippos kill more human beings a year than any other animal on the planet (sounds bonkers but is true). Vampires don't even exist, so how they be more scary than those examples?! I am still stuck at why the OP thinks M for monster is okay, but not V for vampire? Utter, pearl-clutching illogicality!

When I was little, we were told a story about vampires. It was so good that I still remember the details. The details being that vampires went to bed in the day and woke up at night and that they could turn into bats and fly. Hardly traumatising or offensive stuff. If the OP's child wants to know what a vampire is, they don't need to show them a box set of True Blood, they could just waffle about sleeping in the day, FFS.

*Note: not Kev Wink