Robert Munsch's "Love you Forever"

I'm sure many of us have had some of those all time favorite childhood books that we loved as a child as well as now, no matter how old we get. Some of us may have loved books specifically by that one author who always had that charm in his or her books. I had quite a few books on my list as a child..you name it, from "Sleeping Beauty" to "Hansel and Gretel" and "Jack and the Beanstalk". However, one author whom I loved so much as a child and can never forget would definitely be Robert Munsch. There's a never-ending-list of his books that I read as a child and mind you there wasn't one that I would allow my mother to give away or pass on to my relatives even when I grew up. One of the most memorable books that always really touches me deeply is "Love you Forever" by Robert Munsch. Even a few days ago I took it out and started reading it aloud. I know that there's so much repetition in it but despite the repetition I feel so touched every time Munsch repeats the lines "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be." The story is basically about a mother who rocked her baby boy back and forth in bed at night time when he's be asleep and she did that even when he grew up and by the ending she gets so old and sick and that's when the son rocks his mother back and forth and repeats those lines and when he has a daughter he repeats the lines in her ear just like his mother did to him when he was a baby.

Now one might think well it's just a normal old children's book so what? To me it just doesn't really end there because if you think about it there's a much stronger message in it which is the message of true love and bonding between parents and children. I would like to reconsider everything that's happening in our Canadian society these days how juveniles are causing trouble and parents getting frustrated at them and kicking them out of the house (I know because I've seen this happen in a family in my old neighborhood). OR parents getting so frustrated at a point where they just use the "silent treatment" but the truth is these things don't help the situation in fact in most cases it makes the scenario worse. I feel that it's love that helps mend distances together between parents and children. You don't believe me? Well go for yourself and pick this book up and see how Munsch describes the son in "Love you Forever" as a rebellious teen and yet still the mother treats him with love and I feel that by doing so she shows the son that she really cares about him and wouldn't ever want him to be harmed and that is why we see the mature depiction of the son when he comes to his mom's house and rocks her back and forth because he knows she's done this the whole time while he was growing up. The lesson here is that the love of parents will touch their children's hearts and they will return....and distances will disappear between parents and their children.