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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?!

OP posts:
Mincepiesallyearround · 22/07/2021 18:03

My son has been really into horrid Henry, reading them independent and so excited when he finds a new one. It had a note able impact on his behaviour, calling his sibling names (that I realised came from the book etc). We banned the tv show which he was accessing on Netflix and a couple of weeks ago I removed the books from his room and hid them. I said he can have them back when he’s opd enough not to copy Henry’s vile behaviour! So far so good but I quickly had to find another series he could read through and get excited about!

Stretchandsnap · 22/07/2021 18:04

I banned it - I absolutely hated the books and the cartoon

ClawedButler · 22/07/2021 18:09

Oh I hate the wee gobshite as well. My perfectly logical and sensible reasons are:

  1. It's so fecking posh. "Horrid"?? Only kids from Enid Blyton book say "horrid" ime. It's really really middle class and I get all chippy and annoyed with it.
  2. The illustrations are ugly.
jetadore · 22/07/2021 18:13

I’m a big fan of horrid Henry. Well written and the naughtiness appeals to children but I think they ‘get’ that it’s ott. I myself was often laughing out loud when reading it to dc. But everyone’s free to like what they like so yanbu.

LittleMissGossip · 22/07/2021 23:33

I've never 'liked' Henry, but honestly the parents are far more annoying...clear favouritism-that annoyed me more 🤷‍♀️

FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop · 22/07/2021 23:37

I banned my DC from watching Horrid Henry for this very reason.

Also Henry's parents are the worst, they treat him terribly!

thepeopleversuswork · 22/07/2021 23:41

I agree: I hated it. I don't have a problem with kids' books which celebrate rebellion or naughtiness but Horrid Henry was just a manifesto to turn kids into annoying megalomaniacs.

It didn't have the humour of something like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Its just plain nasty.

And the TV series was awful. I actually had to leave the room when my daughter watched it.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 22/07/2021 23:45

I hate those stories.
I feel sorry for Henry, absolute hate the nasty bully parents who so obviously favour one child it's disgusting and I just want to smack Perfect fucking Peter.

the only reason I watch it with the kids is so that we can criticise it.
and we love title song. it's a great tune.

stitchy · 22/07/2021 23:55

I banned them from the house in the end because whenever my ds read them his behaviour really declined - especially towards his younger brother. I hated those books so much. Ds2 would read them at school because they weren't allowed at home -the thrill of illicit literature!

Wearywithteens · 23/07/2021 01:07

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

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.

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

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.

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 01:37

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

rosalie11 · 23/07/2021 04:45

He’s annoying but I don’t mind watching

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!

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".

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 23/07/2021 07:23

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

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.