Primary school teacher publishes '˜relatable' funny children's stories

A series of '˜relatable' funny children's stories have been published by a Petworth CofE Primary School teacher.
Mr Parsons, who previously worked at Tangmere Academy in Chichester, and Bartons Primary in Bognor Regis, has been telling his 'Pink Pants' stories for 20 years.Mr Parsons, who previously worked at Tangmere Academy in Chichester, and Bartons Primary in Bognor Regis, has been telling his 'Pink Pants' stories for 20 years.
Mr Parsons, who previously worked at Tangmere Academy in Chichester, and Bartons Primary in Bognor Regis, has been telling his 'Pink Pants' stories for 20 years.

My Brother Wears Pink Pants is a collection of ‘poetry style’ short stories about Tim Parsons and his younger brother growing up together.

Mr Parsons, who previously worked at Tangmere Academy in Chichester, and Bartons Primary in Bognor Regis, has been telling his 'Pink Pants' stories for 20 years but only recently made the decision to make them available to the public on Amazon.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “I have been teaching primary age children for about 20 years and when I started teaching, I was telling my classes funny stories about me and my brother when we were growing up together.

Mr Parsons, who compared the style of his stories to that of English children's novelist Michael Rosen, believes his work will appeal to lots of different children.Mr Parsons, who compared the style of his stories to that of English children's novelist Michael Rosen, believes his work will appeal to lots of different children.
Mr Parsons, who compared the style of his stories to that of English children's novelist Michael Rosen, believes his work will appeal to lots of different children.

“They were quite boring for me, but they found them really funny. As the years went on, I just added more and more stories to them and used a bit of poetic licence to make them more funny.

“I was then told a couple of years ago to write them all down and nowadays with Amazon kindle I looked into getting it published. I then self published it through the Amazon Kindle platform and paperback and its gone live about a week ago now. I’ve had lots of nice comments about it.

“I just thought why not. I’ve been teaching quite a while and it would be nice to share it for other people to enjoy. There have been quite a few downloads which is nice.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The kids at school are excited about it. I’ve got two boys of my own the same age as I was in the stories. They’re just silly little stories about falling down the stairs, jumping on beds, going on holiday, are we there yet type stuff which kids can relate to. When I tell them at school, they go ‘oh yeah I do that’.”

'Grandad Blows Off', Stair Slide, The Bunk Bed, Flying Saucers, Where's My Hamster? and Freddie Loses His Head are just some of the stories that have left Mr Parsons’s pupils in ‘hysterics’.

Mr Parsons, who compared the style of his stories to that of English children's novelist Michael Rosen, believes his work will ‘appeal to lots of different children’.

He added: “I’ve taught in about four or five schools now and it wasn’t just my class that enjoyed it in one school.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Everytime I moved schools, I would read them out from a notepad or make them up. They all found that funny, from year ones right up to year six/seven.

“At first I just thought it was my class being nice to me but I would often read them out in assemblies to classes I didn’t know very well and had the whole school in hysterics.

“I have kids come up to me at break time telling me what story they liked, saying that they can relate to them.

“They are easy reads. They are Michael Rosen style poetry books. You’d probably call them narrative poems.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They are stories set out in a poem format which the kids really like. The reluctant readers really like that style because it’s not so scary and doesn’t put them off. It looks nice on the page and it is easy to read.

“It appeals to lots of different children, both able and the less able.”

Mr Parsons has always had a ‘passion for writing’ and often writes his own stories as a style model when teaching his pupils.

“I used to love writing stories at school and even as a teacher I am often writing my own stories,” he said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“If we are learning about a particular genre of writing, I might write my own version and pack it full of stuff I really want them to learn and we would pick it apart in class and learn together and improve it.

“It’s a sort of model showing that everyone can be a writer and you can have a go. It’s always been a bit of passion and the children benefit from that.”

Mr Parsons is unsure if this book will be the first of many to come, but said that a future book would be based on his own children.

He said: “I will see how this one goes first but if I did another one it would probably be about my own children.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They are the same age as I was in these stories now, at nine and six, and there are hundreds of things I’ve seen them do over the years that I found funny.

“I could probably write three or four books on those two. It’s something that I could do in the future.”

Related topics: