Different meanings for adults

[Nosetickle]

I read The Tiger Who Came To Tea to my DD at bedtime tonight and I’ve read it so many times but as I was reading it tonight I thought maybe Sophie’s mum was having a bad day, she couldn’t be bothered to do anything and the tiger coming to tea was actually just an elaborate excuse she made up to explain to her husband why there was nothing to eat and Sophie hadn’t had her bath?!

It got me thinking, are there any children’s books you’ve read that you see a different meaning in as an adult?

😂 me too! But mine was a bit darker- why did Sophie’s mum feel she had to lie? Is he an abusive man?!

Ah, you mean this version? 😁

slightly different, but i can’t help thinking of the sad side of all those parents who were conveniently bumped off to leave their children free to have adventures.

I realise those sort of stories were never meant to be thought-provoking literature, but it makes me desperately sad now as a parent when i’m reading one to my daughter and I fleetingly think how much they would have wanted to live for their children’s sake.

I've been reading this (endlessly) with DD, and I covert Sophie's mummy's deeply 60s orange coat.

I often wonder what the children’s mum would have thought when the “we’re going on a bear hunt” trip was recounted at dinner time 😀

@RubaiyatOfAnyone yes! I see I’m not the first person to read that into it, brilliant! 😆 and @Matleaf that is pretty dark, I hadn’t thought that way as he seems to handle it well, so I hope he’s not!

I struggle with the complete safeguarding failure around Harry Potters primary school years, how the abuse by his Aunt and uncle wasn't picked up on or ignored apparently by both the Wizarding and Maggie authorities.

I also wonder if they were given some paperwork naming them as official guardians to apply for school etc.

If you're the biological mother to a Disney Princess it rarely works out well. You're either dead, have your baby raised by others or turned into a bear!

I have so many issues with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Let's start with Grandpa Joe, who cant get out of bed, unless there's a once in a lifetime trip around a chocolate factory, a trip that maybe the hardworking Mr and Mrs Bucket might have enjoyed going on with their son.
Then there are the working conditions lf the Oompa Lumpas, who are being held in slavery and need to unionise quickly and get a call out to the police.
And the local council need to send Food amd H&S Inspector out to the factory now.

Regarding Harry Potter, have seen the Health and Safety Executive reports and the Ofsted visit write ups. They don't make for good reading. Professor Umbridge had a bad press.

The RSPCA reports on the poor squirrels make for grim reading too, though haven't read the book so don't know if they are just in the films. Don't Google squirrel nuts though as it's NSFW.

Probably apocryphal, but My mum told me they had a book in their school library that had a picture with the caption underneath: “… came through the door, tool in hand, ejaculating wildly”. I think adults have a very different reading of what’s happening there.

Totally agree. It would have been easy enough to write in that someone (Dumblerdore?) had been doing some sort of spell to stop anyone from seeing how badly he was treated.

But also the Dursleys were all about the appearance. They would have clothed him beautifully, been charming to him when anyone was around and basked in the admiration of their friends for taking on the "poor difficult orphan".
And been totally devoid of love inside the home.

Chalet School parents must have either been oblivious to so many life threatening accidents or hoped to get a substantial compensation claim when their dd was injured.

There are some wry statements about parenting by the parent owls in The Owl that was Afraid of the Dark ...

This is why Shirley Hughes is my favourite! Lovely relatable stories with nice parents!

It's also evident in nursery rhymes. "Ring a ring of roses" is all about the plague and "Half a pound of tuppeny rice" is all about drinking, the cost of basic goods and pawning your coat.

Yes this. And Topsy and Tim too. Completely relatable to normal life, and the kind of stable cosy family life I yearned for as a child.