To hate We’re Going On A Bear Hunt

[Shabbalabadingdong]

Just that really, I HATE it. I know it’s a children’s classic but whenever DD picks it to read my heart sinks. It’s so repetitive (which I get is the point) and annoying. It’s a metaphor for something, god knows what. The dad is just massively irresponsible, I’m surprised he doesn’t take them trudging across railway lines and MOD firing ranges. It’s just bollocks.

Love Bear Hunt. I really enjoy singing it with my 3 year old granddaughter and listening to her singing along. We're not scared! I'm waiting for her to be old enough for "The Cross With Us Rhinoceros".

I liked the book but the film that added the backstory of a dying relative was just depressing IMHO.

I'm on the employee's council at work and we do wage negotiation. I'm buying that for all my colleagues!

Shout out for Peace at Last. Infinitely quotable, but I mostly use "it was cold in the car, and uncomfortable," on a regular basis. The dad looks so knackered by the end.

😂😂 you clearly missed the point!

I hate it. It’s my worst one

I agree, hated it and fortunately so did DD, so I didn’t have to read it too often.

Some believe the tiger is a metaphor for the Gestapo.

That’s an interesting take on it!

Someone once told me that The Tiger Who Came to Tea (which is now quite old) was actually racist.

She said that the friendly Tiger wad meant to represent immigrants coming from
the Indian Subcontinent (hence tiger!) which then eats the nice English family out of all of their resources before moving on.

I must confess I never thought anything political of this book, whether as a kid or an adult, until it was pointed ojt to
me.

Maybe I’m just a bit daft?

Next we’ll be hearing that the Very Hungry Catterpillar is a piece of pro-trans propaganda!

Not a fan of bear hunt here, mainly because it makes no sense. How can it be a lovely day if there is a snow storm?!

I do like the Tiger that Came to Tea but often change the “there was nothing for Daddy’s supper, he’ll have to make his own”.

Other ones I like are owl babies, Julia Donaldson books (Highway Rat, Monkey Puzzle and Gruffalo are my favs) Winnie the Witch, Hungry Caterpillar, Octopants. Not a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, The Invisible String (too American), all the Bluey books and Paw patrol ones that came in the works bundles that people have bought us, they are just awful I hide them.

It’s full of valuable life lessons on how not to get screwed over on pay!

The mum is so sick of being ignored by her husband that she trashes the house so he's forced to take her out for dinner. Facts.

The bear hunt is the family going for a walk that no one wants to go on so they're making stuff up to try and make it fun. There's not really a snow storm, or a bear. It works. The children all get outside for fresh air and then they go home to get snuggly.

I know Judith Kerr said once in an interview that it was just about a Tiger Coming to Tea, but I took that to be similar to the conclusion of Life of Pi. Maybe it's better to frame it that way.
If you read her 'When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit' they did leave very swiftly. And the build up to the war was like being a boiled frog, first they put in some restrictions, then more, then more, before you found yourself with nothing left.
if I was trying to get my kids out of a1930s Nazi controlled area , much safer to pretend a Tiger was coming to tea and if he did, we'd give him all the beer, get hold of dad and walk calmly away.

All the tiger (who came to tea) talk just makes me think of this highly superior version from the fabulous late Sean Lock.

We get screwed on pay every time, but we have a very nice pond with diving board and sauna, so both us and the management know that none of us are actually going to leave! The pond is so nice no one will even go on strike because then we couldn't use the sauna

I like it (and I'm easily irritated by popular choices). I hate the Gruffalo, 90% of Roald Dahl, Jacqueline Wilson drives me nuts and I hate preachy things like Elmer.

But I do think Bear Hunt has merit. Yes, it's repetitive - children do like and need that. And though my children are grown up now we still sometimes quote from it when discussing life's problems 'We can't go round it, we can't go over it - we'll just have to go THROUGH it!'

I didn't mind bear hunt too much apart from the snowstorm - the other noises were fun but not that. I hated that page so got very good at skipping the two pages where it was mentioned.

I was working for a heritage railway when my daughter was first encountering Thomas. She had a long lecture on track laying and why they would not have bricked Henry up in that tunnel and got him out so quickly... Also various safety critical tasks being neglected (but I loved the books). The new square books are a very mixed bunch but we loved the originals.

I'm ok with Bear Hunt. The one I couldn't stand was Zog. He went to school for far to many years.

I really liked Little Rabbit Foo Foo. My DDs had it at nursery too and some of the parents were upset that their children started telling them "I don't like your attitude". I'm not sure if they thought the nursery staff were saying that to the children or just objected to the phrase in general.

I feel sorry for the lonely bear at the end of Bear Hunt. What were the family planning on doing when they hunted the bear - play with it/ kill it?

I don’t mind the Tiger who came to tea. But it can’t be her brother - doesn’t it even refer to Daddy coming home?

The book I HATE and gave away immediately is Goodnight Moon. Hate the colours and the old lady’s bowl of mush, ugh.

LOVE The Gruffalo - so clever and sweet and good rhyming.

And Judith Kerr has said that's a load of old cobblers!

I know what you mean about T the T Engine. My children LOVED it because they'd just made videos with Ringo Starr narrating them...weird, or what? It's got its merits but of course it's dated in its attitudes.

But we do quote the Fat (oh dear..QED) Controller sometimes. He goes on a journey and halfway through says 'We've been to the castle, now let's go to the mine!' and off they go to a coalmine.

This gets said in our family when we've done something fun and now we have to get down to duty...

🤣🤣🤣
I'm glad you posted that... A favourite Sean Lock clip for me 😂🐅🐯

The version that I remember chanting, after "We're not scared.." added the lines "We've got guns'...(Silly high voice) And bullets!"
This wasn't just made up by 6 year olds, it was taught by our teachers at the time. We also reversed every part and its actions much faster with the point of running from the bear.
If this was the folk version, it's probably best Michael Rosen made the move to leave out the guns and bullets.

@Canthelpmyselffromjoiningin I have to change the Tiger who came to Tea to make it less offensively sexist. In my version mummy wfh like me and cooks all of their supper, not just Daddy's. Also they all go shopping the next day. It helps a bit.