The theme of overcoming adversity through focus, determination, and perseverance runs throughout the book. The first “adversity” that the children and their father face after the mom leaves is their inability to heat up one of the frozen meals. This is quickly solved by going out to eat. The bigger problem comes the following morning when the children have no milk for their cereal; this becomes a dilemma for their father too since he needs milk for his tea. He solves this issue by going out to get some milk, determined to keep his children happy.

The father creates the next problem by stopping to chat to a friend. He avoids his children’s wrath by telling them an amazing story about the adversities that delayed him and how he ingeniously overcame them. The problems their father encounters while trying to get the milk home are extreme, dangerous, and terrifying, but he never loses sight of the goal: getting the milk home to his children. In every situation their father stays focused, explaining to Steg when they first meet “I […] need to get home in order to make sure my children get milk for their breakfast” (28).