Tuesday Morning Grumps

 Okay, I promised something a bit more light-hearted, this time. So try this on for size – a poemy-story thing I wrote for children, called ‘Tuesday Morning Grumps’.

Contrary to popular opinion, writing for children is the HARDEST writing to do- every word has to count, language has to be ‘fresh’, can’t be preachy, has appeal to kids, empower them and ideally be fun and/or funny, and if you make it rhyming it’s DOUBLY HARD – rhythm and cadence have to be perfect, rhymes have to be original, the story still has to ‘move along’ and it has to fit in a 32 page children’s book layout. All in all, a TALL order.

You know how Tuesday mornings are? – Too long since the weekend to remember how that felt, DAYS before the next one so it’s too soon to even start looking forward to. It seem like Tuesday mornings  are when your socks get gets lost, the  washing won’t get dry, you run out of milk, the cat spews up….    I even put something special like a fruit string (“It’s fruit, not lollies J”) in the kids’ lunch boxes for ‘Cheer-up Tuesday’ so they actually have something to look forward to on a Tuesday.  

Kids’ books aren’t meant to be preachy, but I still wanted to get a message across, - that we all have days like ‘em and the ‘Tuesdays’ in our lives come & go any day of the week. By making the 'Grumps' a kind of a imaginary monster, I hoped kids would get the idea that they can control how they react to them.  
Just gotta go with it, and turn the page of the calendar….!

 

                    Read the poem to your kids & tell me how they react :)

 

Beware the Tuesday Morning Grumps!

You wake up one morning, a Tuesday, let’s say.

It seems like a perfectly promising day,

but the moment your toes touch the cold wooden floor

All your warm cosy dreams seem to fly out the door.

Everything, anything, starts to go wrong.

The day looms ahead looking dreary and long.

Beware- it’s the Tuesday Morning Grumps!

 They get in your hair and they fluff it about-

Impossible knots that you’ll never get out.

They hide your left sock somewhere under the bed.

You crawl down to get it and bump goes your head!

They mess with your mind ‘til you can’t even choose

which clothes to wear with your favourite shoes.

Beware- it’s the Tuesday Morning Grumps!

 They make porridge go cold and burn all your toast

and use up the strawberry jam you love most.

Then they spill orange juice all over your books

so your Mum gives you one of those ‘not again’ looks.

You go to the bathroom, the toothpaste’s all squeezed up.

The basin’s disgusting, like someone has sneezed up.

Beware- it’s the Tuesday Morning Grumps!

 

 

They mess up your homework, like the dog has chewed it.

Your library book looks as if someone has glued it.

They make your bag heavy, though your lunch isn’t in it.

You’re rushing and racing ‘till the very last minute.

You stub your big toe but there’s no time to fuss,

if you don’t hurry up, you’ll be late for the bus.

Beware- it’s the Tuesday Morning Grumps!
 

 But as Tuesday wears on, they get tired and lazy

Of thinking up tricks to make you go crazy!

Things start to go better, they slink sadly away

It turns out, after all, to be quite a good day.

By bedtime that night, you’ve rid the Grumps from your head.

Thinking ‘what a great day’, you snuggle down into bed.

But…..

Beware the Wednesday morning grumps!