World Book Day is supposed to be a day of celebration, but little Preston was bullied for his Cat In The Hat costume
World Book Day is an incredible international day for people across the globe to show their appreciation for books - whether novels, comics or picture books, there's no discrimination.
Or there shouldn't be. But sadly, after yesterday, mums are revealing that their kids were actually bullied yesterday for their choice of World Book Day costumes and characters.
Jodie Rose, from London, posted an adorable photo of her son on This Morning's Facebook page dressed as Dr Seuss' The Cat In The Hat, with this heartbreaking message.
She wrote: "Here is my son Preston yesterday for World Book Day as "Cat in the Hat" from his favourite book. Pity his day was ruined by bullies who teased him for being a character from an actual book, and not a 'superhero' like most of the other boys went as.
"He was so upset, he took off his costume after being told he looked stupid, silly and his costume was garbage and stuffed it in his book bag for the rest of the day.
"My son is 4!!!! He loves the Dr Seuss books and chose this character himself, only to be shot down by children who parents allowed them to choose outfits of characters they obviously know from films... Unless they allow 4-year-olds to read DC/marvel comics (which I very much doubt).
"Total point of World Book Day missed, and my son teased and builled in the process 😡"
It's literally making us well up!
Thankfully, Preston and Jodie were flooded with comments of support with everyone saying how fantastic his costume was, even getting a mention live on This Morning.
But unfortunately, Jodie's wasn't the only story of bullying shared.
Dale Taylor, parent to four-year-old Arwen who runs blog The Diary Of This Honest Parent, posted a photo of the little girl in a fantastic Mad Hatter costume, alongside this message: "Jodie, he looks incredible! I had EXACTLY the same issue with my 4yo daughter yesterday.
"Arwen chose to go as the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland - because she didn't go as a princess some of the girls teased her and she came home heart broken and told her Daddy that she never wanted to go to school again without him!
"Took me days of solid sewing to make her costume & she looked incredible & loved it yesterday morning. By the afternoon she was so unhappy she didn't even want to go to her after school club!"
We spoke to Dale, who told us: "The costume took me 2/3 solid days of hand stitching!
"Arwen chose the Mad Hatter because she thinks he's fun & likes that he's a 'bit different' and the idea of spraying her hair bright orange was just the icing on the cake for her.
"Arwen was tearful after school, and told her Daddy that a couple of the children in her class told her she should have been a princess and that the Mad Hatter was a boys costume. She came home with the hat in her book bag & several of the ribbons I had sewn onto the pocket of the coat had been ripped off.
"Arwen went to school feeling a bit hard done by this morning & told us that she'd not like to dress up anymore. Very sad as our girly has a gorgeous imagination & is brilliantly unique."
Katie Catton also posted a photo of her six-year-old son, Tyler, and wrote: "My little boy went as the dinosaur from his favourite book we have at home, "Never Ask A Dinosaur To Dinner'.
"He came up to me in the playground before they went into class crying, saying other boys were telling him it wasn't a character from a book.
"Mind you, half of these boys were not even in costume or dressed as superheroes. It's a shame that children so young can say such hurtful things, I reckon preston looks amazing and I hope after seeing his appearance on the TV he enjoys reading cat in the hat again."
Well, we think that these kiddies looked absolutely amazing, and we admire their creativity. Good on you!
Have you or your children ever suffered from bullying on World Book Day? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter.
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