Anyone had to take a break from reading something because it reminded them too much of their childhood?
I remember being terrified every time I had to complete a task for my parents involving strangers (usually shopkeepers) because I would practice what I was going to say but there would always be something that went off-script. They wouldn’t have the thing but would send me to some other person who might, or the price would be wrong or there would be a buy one get one free deal and I would have to explain why I had bought two home.
Anyway on a recommendation I started reading a story about a girl who was an unsanctioned archmage and had to hide the fact, I was not expecting the protagonist to have mild ASD and unlock a bunch of childhood memories every other chapter.
Story is Archmage Coefficient if you are curious, although I’m only at ch. 7 so I can’t promise anything about later chapters.
Mom’s (inevitable) annoyance is the extreme priority here, which seems to be the only consideration. This misses how a vendor not having the desired product would be the source of annoyance.
All the hallmarks of planning and improvising alternatives are all here. However, whether there’s another fish vendor with trout, for example, is clouded by this fear of mom being annoyed. That’s what gets the mental attention.
So that stands out to me: a child’s fear of parental backlash being paralyzing. Just roadblocks the whole process.