Book proposal

For my book I want to do things we bribe children with. In my observations I saw quite a few families and found them the most interesting. I wanted to try and do something different this time, I have the idea to do this as a picture book with as little text as possible.

Possible layouts:

• An ABC style book with the situation on one side and the corresponding illustration on the other
• A story of why the child is bribed, how and what with 
• Having the tantruming child on one side and the bribe on the other  
• A counting style book with all the bribes (3 trips to the park, 10 pieces of chocolate etc.)
• A collection of bribes

Reasons why children are bribed:

• To behave in public 
• So that the parents can try to avoid being judged and embarrassed  
• The parent is just too tired to put up with the child's behaviour 

Where children are bribed:

• Supermarkets
• Walks
• Cars/ car journeys 
• Public transport
• Formal occasions (weddings etc.)
• Church
• Family's houses and occasions 
• Restaurants  

What children are bribed with:

• Chocolate 
• Santa
• Ice cream
• Toys
• Trip (playground, park, seaside etc.)
• Fast food (Mc donalds)
• Technology (phones, tablet etc.)
• Travel packs (special foods, games etc.)
• special foods ( coco pops etc.)

Reasons why children are misbehaving:

• Tired
• Bored 
• Has been  put in in something they don't want to wear 
• They've been thwarted 
• They've been  taken somewhere they don't want to be 
• They want attention

Secondary research:

 http://www.reasonsmysoniscrying.com/

This blog does a lot of what I want to be doing with my book. It has the humour that I'd love to have come through in my book it also has a wealth of examples of children misbehaving.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/0857862650

This book is a wonderful description of what it feels like to put a child who doesn't want to. It perfectly encapsulates that feeling while presenting it beautifully as a normal children's book. I love the idea of doing a picture book that's aimed for adults.

First hand research:

This is my son Oliver and some reference images of him being grumpy, crying and being bribed.

He was angry because I wanted to take a photo of him in his onesie while it still fitted.

He was sad because we put him in his snow suit and there wasn't any snow left.

He was sad (from running too fast and falling over) until I told him we can send these photo's to my sister.

I told him that he could have his pom bears after we took a photo of his back pack.

After we got lost and the walk was considerably longer I had to point out check points where he could have a piece of chocolate in order to persuade him to continue.

He was angry because I wanted to take a photo before I gave him his piece of chocolate.