To ask ds to choose a different book as I will GO MAD if I have to read another blardy Thomas related story?

[beansprout]

I just can't bear them and of course they are ds's favourite thing. They aren't even that nice, just a load of male egos competing and being unkind to each other plus they are too long and, and, I could go on.

I will read a few each day but always get to the point where I say, "can we read something else, something that isn't a train book, how about x, y and z?" I know I shouldn't dictate his reading choices but I am getting to the point where I just can't bear them!

AIBU?

Ubergeekian - completely agree with you about the original versions of the Thomas books.

Still gets on my wick though!

Question for you all. Are your dc into trains generally or just Thomas?

Ubergeekian - what a shame they were a gift or I'd be sending them to you by express courier!

Admittedly the stories are a little more coherent than the over-abridged versions. However, if you don't much care for troublesome train stories, the shorter the better gets my vote.

The Brio set on the other hand..... love it!

I actually find Thomas books not just dull, badly written and moralistic, but really nasty and a very bad role model - Thomas is always ramming naughty trucks to make them behave for example. Bastard! I actually can't believe they get published - I can't think of any other book or series where it's seen as fine to use violence as a lesson.

I have been guilty of buying them because DS likes them. I bought "Skarloey" because I thought "interesting name, might be an interesting story" - wrong! I've been known to hide them too, especially the M&S talking one that says - in a US accent - "Helping others is important, and it doesn't hurt a bit!" AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!

Yes Snowleopard, but it's the British way don't you think? I love to see a bit of naughtiness in books. It's a slippery slope from cleaning up this to ending up with unbearable, saccharine, moralistic pap like the 'little red engine'.

MIL bought DS a set of Harry and his fucking bucket full of fucking dinosaurs for christmas.

i'd rather gauge my eye out wiht a spoon that read those again.

and the older sister is always calling Harry 'stupid'. we have to change it to 'Sam said Harry was SILLY'

Oh naughtiness yes, bring it on - it's the violence as a punishment that I don't like, not the naughty trucks.

Traditional tales are full of violence!

when ds was little he had a set of five books that i can still recite word for bloody word four years on that he loved

i sent them to my mums house as she used to look after him whilst i worked on an evening and bought some new ones and then we would swap them all round every now and again for a break

I'm not expressing myself very well. It's not violence or naughtiness I object to. It's the overtly moralistic set-up in which the good and "right' characters - eg Thomas - bullies smaller characters and that is seen as fine. Do you see what I mean? I'm not in favour of removing all naughtiness, scariness and violence from children's books, not in the least. Roald Dahl, brothers Grimm - fantastic. It's the message that if the trucks are misbehaving it's OK to ram or bump them. It's like saying "Your dad should hit you" I hate it.

Oh gawd the moralistic bit drove me crazy. The "pride comes before a fall" which nutter was that? Proud Gordon or something?

That would probably be because it was written by a vicar.

thomas the tank is just soooo dull, and you are right, badly written, im not sure about the original stories but the modern ones are terrible, they dont flow and i HATE reading them. Fortunately DD is starting to feel the same, but she LOVES Thomas toys, they are great, but why oh why cant the books and DVD be more exciting. I mean, have you HEARD that awful presenter, its almost scary.

such a shame because DD loves trains and insists on putting DVD on, but after five minutes decides she cannot bear the voice and insists its switched off!! we will stick to playing with our tran set

Aaaahhh..a thread after my own heart!

Can I join the "I hate Thomas" Club and the "I hate Mr Men" club as well?

So incredibly badly written and such poor excuses for plots and the pictures are so repetitive...my mum used to rant about Mr Men/Thomas and how much she had disliked reading them when we were kids and now I see what she meant...

I am still going strong on the 1000th reading of "The Tiger that came to Tea", "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Wibbly Pig". I would second "Owl Babies" as well..

the thing is, i dont remember the original series being so dull - i had them for DD! (now 17) and im sure they were fun - i remember being hysterical at the one where Henry was bricked in the tunnel for being naughty - when they let him "i'm stiff i'm stiff said henty" it still makes me giggle now, and sometimes, when DP and i are getting fruity, he will say............ anyway, lets not go there!!

Actually when you come to think of it, the whole locking in the tunnel thing is a bit much, its like saying its OK to lock our children in the cupboard under the stairs, for weeks!! But then, perhaps we've got it wrong, perhaps that is what we should all be doing!! Lets face it, it might mean we end up with traumatised children with issues about the dark and spiders for the rest of their lives, but at least we get to spend more time on mumsnet!

you thinkt hats bad lol, for the past 3 months i have been reading the same 4 books every night for dd before bed, im really starting to lose the will to live even she is fed up of them but wont let go of the whole same routine thing

Lose the book. Now. And find it again only when he's outgrown it. Did that with the Old Bear books by Jane Hissey (??) because I hated them so much and DD wanted me to read them every night. And I have no shame.

Oh no lucyellensmum... Thomas phrases in bed! That's bringing a whole different kind of thread to mind! Is thomas-related bedroom antics better or worse than a kitchen utensil fetish I wonder?

Think yourselves lucky that your ds/dds are only 3ish but bound to grow out of the horrid Thomas obsesion soon. My DS2 is 7 1/2 and STILL obsessed with him. He has Asperger's though. Apparently, it's so common for Autistic children to love Thomas, it is almost a diagnosic criteria!

obsession

I have strict rules about what I will read - no more than two stories from the same series consecutively, never the same story twice in one day etc. And if I don't like a story I just tell them to choose a different one.

snowleopard: "I actually find Thomas books not just dull, badly written and moralistic, but really nasty and a very bad role model - Thomas is always ramming naughty trucks to make them behave for example."

I bet you really love the one where the nasty truck gets pulled in two as a warning to the others...

That aside, there is a pretty constant theme that engines which are rude and aggressive to trucks or coaches get their comeuppance, so I don't think the underlying message is quite as stark as you make out.

Incidentally, I forgot Plot 4: Engine runs out of water and has to be filled up in an unorthodox way.

I think the original Thomas books by Wilf Awdry just reflect the moral standards of the 1950s. As does Enid Blyton. So it's about not telling tales, being Really Useful and doing what you are told. And being told to Buck Up if you are being at all sensitive.

Those stories are largely based on real incidents, you know. The one about the Little Lost Engine always makes me cry. The thin clergyman in that story was Revd. Awdry and the engine was Prince. You can go and see him on the Ffestiniog Railway...

Oh god - I hope I never come across that one - I'll cry

(I meant ubergeek's but either of them actually)

They're 2 and 4 and 6 and 8
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the really useful crew
All with different roles to play
Round Tidmouth shed and far away
Down the hill and round the bend
Thomas and his friends

Thomas is the geeky one
James is vain but lots of fun
Percy pulls the mail on time
Gordon thunders down the line
Emily really knows her stuff
Henry loves to toot and huff
Edward wants to help and share
Toby, well let's say, he's square

They're 2 and 4 and 6 and 8
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the really useful crew
All with different roles to play
Round Tidmouth shed and far away
Down the hill and round the bend
THOMAS AND HIS FRIENDS!