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Well, obviously none of it *really* happened, but for pretend's sake... ;)
It's true it only says James was unhappy and 'tried not to show it,' yes - but the immediate next line is that Dumbledore has the cloak, "so no chance of a little excursion." Which suggests that his unhappiness is directly tied to the fact that he can't go out and run wild has he has done before whenever he used the cloak. His behavior in the Prologue also fits with this reading far more than with a reading that he offscreen smartened up about it during the short time all this was going on. It's speculation, but the text provides clear evidence of one personality for him and nothing directly supporting any change of heart, so Occam's razor would dictate that he's probably still the somewhat immature person we've seen all along when Lily was writing her letter. But itself, yes, it doesn't prove he was, you are right there. It simply fails to provide any evidence to the contrary, and the text provides such evidence nowhere else.
RE Harry and the broom: I'm with annoni-no here. Just because they have magic doesn't mean the child is immune from harm. It just means it's quicker to fix a broken bone - that's still harm to the child whether it takes ten minutes or several weeks to heal. Also, a vase falling on his head could kill him instantly, and no magic would fix that. Even if the cat thing is a joke, it's still irresponsible. But again, I think JKR's tone shifts might be part of the problem here.
It's true it only says James was unhappy and 'tried not to show it,' yes - but the immediate next line is that Dumbledore has the cloak, "so no chance of a little excursion." Which suggests that his unhappiness is directly tied to the fact that he can't go out and run wild has he has done before whenever he used the cloak. His behavior in the Prologue also fits with this reading far more than with a reading that he offscreen smartened up about it during the short time all this was going on. It's speculation, but the text provides clear evidence of one personality for him and nothing directly supporting any change of heart, so Occam's razor would dictate that he's probably still the somewhat immature person we've seen all along when Lily was writing her letter. But itself, yes, it doesn't prove he was, you are right there. It simply fails to provide any evidence to the contrary, and the text provides such evidence nowhere else.
RE Harry and the broom: I'm with annoni-no here. Just because they have magic doesn't mean the child is immune from harm. It just means it's quicker to fix a broken bone - that's still harm to the child whether it takes ten minutes or several weeks to heal. Also, a vase falling on his head could kill him instantly, and no magic would fix that. Even if the cat thing is a joke, it's still irresponsible. But again, I think JKR's tone shifts might be part of the problem here.