Parents have been left scratching their heads over a seemingly simple question in a children’s book – but the correct answer led to even more confusion.
The ‘I Spy’ riddle, which has caused fury around the globe after being shared on social media, challenges readers to identify which of the pictured objects begins with the letter ‘R’.
Among the images were a pirate ship, plane, train and car, but adult readers struggled to work out which of the vehicles would start with an ‘R’.
Some people guessed the answer could be a railroad train or a race car, while others offered more abstract solutions like a roof or the colour red.
However, the next page revealed the answer to be ‘rowboat’, causing outrage among users online who were quick to point out the book’s illustrator had drawn a sailboat.
The divisive game was taken from the children’s book I Spy With My Little Eye, which has a different I Spy activity on each page.
On the page asking to find an object starting with ‘R’, were a tall ship, a small plane, a car, an aircraft, a train and a smaller boat with a sail.
People were left furious after being told it was a rowboat, with one writing: ‘THAT’S A SAILBOAT,’ while a second fumed: ‘It’s not a row boat, there’s no oars. How’re you meant to row it?’
A seemingly simple riddle in a children’s I Spy book has left parents baffled. The book asks for which object begins with ‘R’ however many were confused by the answer
‘Car starts with a rrrrrrooom,’ one man joked and a woman quipped: ‘Pirate ship says ‘rrrrrggggghh’.
‘Roof – there are multiple in the picture,’ another user wrote.
‘I see a boat, a boat, a car, a locomotive and two planes. What kind of cursed book is this? Nothing starts with R,’ someone added.
Other guesses included red flag, red triangles, race car, railroad car, raft, rudder, rotor and rocket ship before one dad came through with the true answer.
‘My son has this book, the R is for ‘Row boat’ and has the picture of the yacht which famously has sails and not oars,’ he explained.
Rather than relief, the answer sparked anger as many claimed the picture wasn’t of a rowboat at all.
‘Definitely something rong with this book,’ one user laughed.
Other guesses included red flag, red triangles, race car, railroad car, raft, rudder, rotor and rocket ship before one father came through with the true answer: Rowboat
‘We have this book in our house and my husband raged hard about this,’ one mum said.
‘I said ‘Rowboat’ immediately, but saw the boat and was like: ‘Wait… That’s a sailboat, isn’t it?’,’ someone confessed.
Children’s activities are often a source of confusion for mums and dads thanks to poorly-worded questions or vaguely-drawn illustrations.
Previously, a parent turned to the internet to ask for help with their young child’s homework after being left baffled by a take-home worksheet.
The puzzled mother, believed to be from the US, took to Reddit to share a snap of the homework, leaving social media users scratching their heads.
The woman, who goes by the name @thea_from_julliard, wrote: ‘Several adults with advanced degrees could not solve this kindergarten homework.’
The homework revolved around matching a three letter word with the picture next to it, while also offering the first letter as a hint.
The first was easy enough, depicting a picture of a baby bear beginning with the letter ‘C’ for ‘Cub’, while the second was an illustration of the sun beginning with the letter ‘S’.
However it was the third picture that confused a lot of adults, with some saying the kindergarten question must be a typo.
Some people guessed the answer could be a railroad train or a race car, while others offered more abstract solutions like a roof or the colour red
Rather than relief, the answer sparked anger as many claimed the picture wasn’t of a rowboat at all
The image showed a smiling woman wearing a headdress and a long gown with her hands clasped in front of her.
While some claimed the answer should be ‘nun’, the puzzling part was the word started with a ‘W’.
Many rushed rushed to the comments to leave their guesses, with one person joking is was supposed to be ‘WTF.’
Another said: ”Wen” is an archaic or poetic term for a woman, derived from Middle English. While rarely used in modern English, it appears in old literature and dialects.’
Someone else theorised: ‘That looks like a nun.’
Another agreed: ‘I thought the W was a typo, and that it should be ‘nun’, in order to maintain the middle U.’
Someone else added: ‘It’s nun. It’s a typo. That simple.’
A puzzled mother, believed to be from the UK, took to Reddit to share a snap of her child’s homework and social media users where left scratching their heads
Other joked it meant ‘WAG’, meanwhile another quipped it was ‘WAP’ after the Cardi B song.
The mother put Redditors out of their misery by revealing what the child should have written beside the woman.
One person wrote: ‘Wed?’, to which the woman replied: ‘This is the answer per the teacher, my only response is ‘wow”.
She added: ‘You would be the valedictorian of kindergarten!’
The answer left social media users even more confused with many saying the image looks nothing like a bride.
One person wrote: ‘That’s a bride?! Nope, somebody didn’t proofread before it went to the printers. That’s a nun cross out the W and write a N.’