“My mum and dad are broken,

I don’t know what to do.

My mum and dad have come undone,

I need to find some glue.”

The boy in the story thinks that if only he could find some parent glue to stick his mum and dad back together, things might go back to how they were. He’s keen to patch things up between them and stick their smiles back on. The boy wonders if he is the reason why his parents no longer kiss and cuddle, but they reassure him that he’s not to blame. His friends tell him lots of parents separate and not to worry, but this does not comfort him.

He visits a glue shop and finds lots of different types of glue, but none that are suitable for mending broken parents. Mavis, the kind shopkeeper, explains gently that sometimes life works out that way, and the boy should look ahead and realise that families can live apart successfully.

This changes the boy’s attitude towards what is happening to his family and he begins to embrace events more positively. He explains to the reader that although his parents are apart they will always love him, and if they could have resolved their differences they would have done it by now. He smiles as he leaves the shop, determined to make the best of the reality of the situation rather than trying to fix things.

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