Enid Blyton

[Deep Sea Isopod]

Imagine....Being locked in a room with nothing but (hidden) Enid Blyton books.
That's my teenage years.

[Animavore]

I loved Enid Blyton books as a child. They were among the first books I read. I remember I would read 'til I got a headache of the shiny white pages. I never even noticed the moralizing. I just read them to take my mind away from the fact that I had to go to bed at 8 even though I never went to sleep 'til after midnight. It was such an injustice I thought. In the summer I'd be in bed and it would still be bright and I could here the other kids playing. Between that and dragging me to church on a Sunday, a place I have always deeply hated, another grave injustice inflicted on me by my mother, plus the beatings, my childhood was not altogether happy. It wasn't bad though.
Luckily for my kids they will have a father who understands them better and will give them way more freedom and choices than I had. My guide fr bringing up kids is think what my mother would do and then do the opposite.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

8 o'clock! Bloody luxury!!!!
Between 5 and 7 for me, depending on my step-fathers mood..
Or between 10 and 11pm on a Friday....Darts night.

[charlou]

I loved Enid Blyton books as a child. They were among the first books I read. I remember I would read 'til I got a headache of the shiny white pages. I never even noticed the moralizing. I just read them to take my mind away from the fact that I had to go to bed at 8 even though I never went to sleep 'til after midnight. It was such an injustice I thought. In the summer I'd be in bed and it would still be bright and I could here the other kids playing. Between that and dragging me to church on a Sunday, a place I have always deeply hated, another grave injustice inflicted on me by my mother, plus the beatings, my childhood was not altogether happy. It wasn't bad though.
Luckily for my kids they will have a father who understands them better and will give them way more freedom and choices than I had. My guide fr bringing up kids is think what my mother would do and then do the opposite.

+1 to childhood experiences and +1 to being a better parent.

I know, in hindsight, that a big reason I wanted to have children and have them young was to get on with doing just that. I wanted to show her how it should be done, that I could do it despite my upbringing, and I wanted to revisit childhood with my children, experience a better childhood through them.

I don't blame my mother ... she had an unhappy childhood too and suffered from mental illness. We all suffered from her mental illness ...


DSI


Books for children, particularly under those circumstances, are an escape and they're a window into the world and humanity outside one's personal experiences. I probably learned a lot about what was wrong with what was happening in my own childhood by reading about what was right with the childhood of the famous five, for example ...

[JimC]

Charlou wrote:

...what was right with the childhood of the famous five, for example...

Which was mostly lashings of Ginger Ale!

[starr]

Imagine....Being locked in a room with nothing but (hidden) Enid Blyton books.
That's my teenage years.

I loved Enid Blyton books as a child. They were among the first books I read. I remember I would read 'til I got a headache of the shiny white pages. I never even noticed the moralizing. I just read them to take my mind away from the fact that I had to go to bed at 8 even though I never went to sleep 'til after midnight. It was such an injustice I thought. In the summer I'd be in bed and it would still be bright and I could here the other kids playing. Between that and dragging me to church on a Sunday, a place I have always deeply hated, another grave injustice inflicted on me by my mother, plus the beatings, my childhood was not altogether happy. It wasn't bad though.
Luckily for my kids they will have a father who understands them better and will give them way more freedom and choices than I had. My guide fr bringing up kids is think what my mother would do and then do the opposite.

My favourite Enid Blyton books were the ones with magic and fairies and stuff. I loved The Enchanted Wood, The Faraway Tree, and the The Folk of the Faraway Tree.

I also loved The Naughtiest Girl in the School series.

[JimC]

LBoN wrote:

...I also loved The Naughtiest Girl in the School series.

It is always important for children to have someone they can identify with in their reading...

[starr]

LBoN wrote:

...I also loved The Naughtiest Girl in the School series.

It is always important for children to have someone they can identify with in their reading...

In the books she started out as the Naughtiest girl in the school and then she ended becoming the 'Head Girl'.

Actually, I was such a goody-goody at school.... I would have made you all sick.

[charlou]

Charlou wrote:

...what was right with the childhood of the famous five, for example...

Which was mostly lashings of Ginger Ale!

Food always featured, didn't it? I loved and was envious of the picnics with eight rounds of sandwiches, two bottles of ginger beer and a huge piece of cake each, and a big juicy bone for good old Timothy! The eclectic, yet appetising supplies for camping trips. The hearty breakfasts, the well stocked larders, the warm and generous women who fed the children ...

[JimC]

LBoN wrote:

...I also loved The Naughtiest Girl in the School series.

It is always important for children to have someone they can identify with in their reading...

In the books she started out as the Naughtiest girl in the school and then she ended becoming the 'Head Girl'.

Actually, I was such a goody-goody at school.... I would have made you all sick.

I also was a nerdish goody-goody at school...

Until I arrived at uni, and Mr Hyde emerged... :twisted:

[starr]

LBoN wrote:

...I also loved The Naughtiest Girl in the School series.

It is always important for children to have someone they can identify with in their reading...

In the books she started out as the Naughtiest girl in the school and then she ended becoming the 'Head Girl'.

Actually, I was such a goody-goody at school.... I would have made you all sick.

I also was a nerdish goody-goody at school...

Until I arrived at uni, and Mr Hyde emerged... :twisted:

I was a bit like that too.... I had my teenage rebellion period on my early 20s.

[Faithfree]

I read quite a few Famous Five and the Secret Seven books when I was a nipper, I particularly remember enjoying the Famous Five. Seems like a million years ago now.

[M]

Charlou wrote:

...what was right with the childhood of the famous five, for example...

Which was mostly lashings of Ginger Ale!

Food always featured, didn't it? I loved and was envious of the picnics with eight rounds of sandwiches, two bottles of ginger beer and a huge piece of cake each, and a big juicy bone for good old Timothy! The eclectic, yet appetising supplies for camping trips. The hearty breakfasts, the well stocked larders, the warm and generous women who fed the children ...

It was a huge part of every story; the famous picninc of the adventure books, the tuck boxes of boarding school books, fairy feasts in the enchated tales. Even now my mouth waters reading them aloud. And I still put salt in paper twists for picnics!

[devogue]

Load of English shit. No interest.

[M]

But shit is one of your favourite subjects.