feedback for "The Babble List: The Helicopter Parent's Reading List"

1. I absolutely hate "I Love You Forever". Someone gave that to me when my son was born. I read it, and immediately donated it to Goodwill. The story did creep me out. Of course my son will always be my baby in my eyes, but I can barely hold him now that he weighs 35 lbs. I can't imagine rocking a grown man (yuck). And I hate these stories where the mom dies in the end. Like saying "you'd better appreciate me now, because I'll be gone one day." ("Someday" is another example. Geesh.)

   posted by : gpgirl on 1/13/2009 at 12:11 AM Flag For Abuse

2. "The Giving Tree" completely traumatized me when I was little. I was horrified by the idea of slowly killing the person/creature who took care of you and was terrified that somehow, that was what I was doing to my mother. It took her months to reassure me that I wasn't some little monster with an axe, but I'm not sure I ever really got over it because I totally shuddered when I saw a photo of the cover a minute ago. Egads!

   posted by : Knitty on 1/13/2009 at 2:38 AM Flag For Abuse

3. LOVE the commentary. Couldn't agree more. Some of these really do seem to be windows into the troubled souls of the adult authors.... I totally agree with you in re boundaries. HAH... I'm not kicking 'em out on their 18th birthdays, but I do see each stage as a slow progression toward independence. Sunday dinners at Mom's house? Fine. Then you get in your car and drive yourself home. :-)

   posted by : BBBGMOM on 1/13/2009 at 10:37 AM Flag For Abuse

4. Oh that was funny. I loved it. Thank you for harpooning such deserving and long awaited targets. Please write more about the helicopter set. Maybe even a weekly feature? "Safe Restaurants for Helicopter Parents," "Activity Guide for Helicopter Parents," "Helicopter Parents' Guide to Managing Your Child's Teachers," etc.

   posted by : Bevilacqua on 1/13/2009 at 11:00 AM Flag For Abuse

5. Hilarious! Thank you. "Runaway Bunny" has frightened me since childhood, and frightens me still more now in mom-hood. "Stalker Mommy will never let you go. Stalker Mommy will be there, in your closet, even when you're forty years old...." It's like a horror movie starring Joan Crawford.

   posted by : LauraLaura on 1/13/2009 at 11:55 AM Flag For Abuse

6. Totally agree on Guess How Much I Love You and Love You Forever. But I gave Someday as a gift becuase I thought it was cute! And we love the Knuffle Bunny books.

   posted by : Owensmom on 1/13/2009 at 12:03 PM Flag For Abuse

7. Thank you! Sheesh, I really thought I was the only one who hates The Giving Tree and I Love You Forever! I think The Giving Tree is the ultimate in manipulative guilt-trips, and I Love You Forever is creepy and stalkerish, especially at the end. I worked in the children's department of a book store for two years. Groups of adult women would sometimes come in looking for a gift for a baby shower or something and one of them would inevitably suggest I Love You Forever. Then they would find the book, and one would read it aloud while all the others cried. Seriously, this happened way more frequently than anyone would believe. My husband has a copy of The Giving Tree - I'm thinking of giving it away. I love children's books, just not emotionally creepy ones.
   I reccomend all little girls get a copy of The Paper Bag Princess. :)

   posted by : mchaos on 1/13/2009 at 1:19 PM Flag For Abuse

8. There is a great parody of the Giving Tree on College Humor:
   http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1829043
   
   I'm not quite as bothered by The bunny books as everyone else, I think Mo's books kind of suck. If Mom can't back Dad on saying "no" to a 3 am bunny exchange, what are the chances of setting any limits later on?

   posted by : Treespeed on 1/13/2009 at 1:53 PM Flag For Abuse

9. Aw, you can't be hurting on the Knuffle Bunny books! I think they fall more into the "bumbling dad" category than the "helicopter parent" category anyway. But "I Love You Forever"? Scary stuff.

   posted by : Jenn L on 1/13/2009 at 3:41 PM Flag For Abuse

10. Thanks for the sorely-needed laugh. Someone gave me the Nutbrown Hare book and I just thought that it was so boring. I will now go back and read it with new eyes, before either trashing it or foisting it upon some other helpless new parent.
    
    I do like the pictures in "Runaway Bunny", though.

    posted by : ChiLaura on 1/13/2009 at 3:55 PM Flag For Abuse

11. Hilarious article! I was weeping with laughter. I quite like Someday for myself. I can't imagine my toddler would find it remotely interesting.

    posted by : cocoa on 1/13/2009 at 4:47 PM Flag For Abuse

12. This is great! -- and you totally hit on three of my most hated books: Guess How Much I Love You, The Runaway Bunny and I Love You Forever. My mother-in-law (now ex mother in law) gave my daughter the copy of "I Love You Forever" that she had saved from when she read it to her kids. I found the book horrifying and creepy--and hid it away in the back of a closet.

    posted by : laurap on 1/13/2009 at 4:52 PM Flag For Abuse

13. Is "I Love You Forever" the one where the parent and child compete over who loves the other more? Gag!
    
    Although I freaking crumble to pieces when I read "Someday," although I mostly think about me and my mother, vs. me and my daughter.
    
    I guess that makes me a Hot Wheels-size helicopter parent? I hope?

    posted by : julie00 on 1/13/2009 at 4:55 PM Flag For Abuse

14. Oh, sniffle! I love the Guess How Much I Love You book - and, in its defense, both when I was a kid, and now that I'm a mom, I've always felt like parents have a layer of love that children can't really understand.
    
    (Confession: I still haven't read any knuffle bunny. . . )
    
    Is it rabbit-affiliated? Most of these books have bunnies, it seems?

    posted by : leahsmom on 1/13/2009 at 4:58 PM Flag For Abuse

15. This is the best thing ever published on Babble! And I could not agree more with I Love You Forever (((((shiver))))) and The Giving Tree (((((gag))))).

    posted by : BklynMama on 1/13/2009 at 6:02 PM Flag For Abuse

16. Wow...hmmm...I don't know how to feel anymore. I have loved I LOVE YOU FOREVER since childhood. I don't think its that creepy! Maybe climbing into her son's room with a ladder is overboard...definitely. But its a freaking children's book! Not to be taken that seriously! And I'm gonna throw myself over the bus again admitting that I love GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU, too. I think its sweet and playful. Not at all about a dad trying to 'outdo' his son. Psh!

    posted by : booo725725 on 1/13/2009 at 6:39 PM Flag For Abuse

17. I have to agree that I also like Guess How Much I Love You. I always thought it was sweet that the dad wanted his baby to know he will always love him more. This is not like saying I will stalk you forever, like some of the other books.

    posted by : gpgirl on 1/13/2009 at 6:51 PM Flag For Abuse

18. I like Guess How Much I Love You; I gave Someday to my fellow-Mom/sister-in-law. It's more for us anyway. It's totally in the wrong section of the bookstore. We got I Love You Forever as a gift (from a close relative) for my son---totally agree! Very creepy. Now I don't feel as guilty about chucking it.

    posted by : blueeyes1010 on 1/13/2009 at 10:31 PM Flag For Abuse

19. Completely agree with this. I sold kids books for years and always cringed at the popularity of Love You Forever, which I found extremely disturbing and freakish. My own kid is weirdly fascinated with Runaway Bunny. Now I am beginning to worry.

    posted by : TippyCanoeGal on 1/14/2009 at 12:21 AM Flag For Abuse

20. I can't help but think that no one that commented before me has "grown" kids.... I read "Love You Forever" for the first time when my second son was 3wks old and my first son was 16.5years old.... ya I cried... I still get choked up.
    I don't think that book is really meant to be read to kids. I think of it as more of a reminder to moms just how fast our kids are growing and how our love for them never changes no matter how much they change. Ya... creeping across the floor at night is a tad over the top but, have you ever looked in on you teenager while they are sleeping and remembered them as infants? In your heart of hearts I bet you wished you could go in and hold them for just a minute, one more time. Also, it's a reminder that the cycle continues with each generation just like it should.

    posted by : Not a hellicopter parent at all on 1/14/2009 at 2:00 AM Flag For Abuse

21. I have to confess that, while I have read hundreds of books to my children, most of these we haven't heard of yet! Which, judging by the response to the books, is quite possibly a good thing.
    
    BUT, I have to confess that my son loved/loves "The Giving Tree", I think for the rhythm of the story, and he quite possibly finds reassurance that the tree is always there and willing to help no matter what. Not my favorite book, but he does still love it.
    
    Love You Forever... huge fan here of the author, even though this book still makes me cry, and I don't often read it to my children. They think it's kind of funny - goofy Mom stuff (the story in the book and my tears). As for the reason for the book, it's written to the children that he and his wife lost to late miscarriages. (I don't remember how many, but more than a couple.) I always think of how he and his wife never got to rock and cherish and be exasperated with (ie: watch down toilet, as per cover) these babies. It's a tribute to how he wished he had a chance to love them, imo.

    posted by : JustAnotherMomof3 on 1/14/2009 at 3:07 PM Flag For Abuse

22. HA - one of the funniest things I've read in a while.
    
    Still giggling over "Let it go nutbrown hare, let it go."

    posted by : Don Mills Diva on 1/16/2009 at 3:04 PM Flag For Abuse

23. I just read "Guess how much I love you" yesterday and was completely charmed by it, until I flipped to the last page. I actually gasped and said, "That jerk!" I'm still sad that the big bunny ruined his son's only victory!
    
    So it was to my huge amusement to see this article. Totally dead on. I might have to just change the last page of the book with a big piece of tape that makes it read simply, " I love you right up to the moon- good night"

    posted by : bookreader536 on 1/16/2009 at 3:12 PM Flag For Abuse

24. My husband is trying to watch a movie right now and has banned me from laughing... difficult after such a funny article and so many equally funny "reader" comments.

    posted by : kiwichic on 1/16/2009 at 9:53 PM Flag For Abuse

25. My mother gave me I'll Love you Forever & I was horried (didn't tell her of course cuz she was teary over it.) I read it to my husband & totally creeped him out too. He told me if he ever caught me driving across town to crawl into my son's apartment and hold him while crooning a song, he'll consider therapy & meds!! I think this book touches thoses parents most who have a problem dealing with their kids growing up or who weren't close to their kids in the first place (my mom is sweet but clingy).
    I also think if my son wants to visit me when I'm dying I'll let him come in the front door!!!

    posted by : branwyn on 1/17/2009 at 11:12 PM Flag For Abuse

26. My mother gave me I'll Love you Forever & I was horrified (didn't tell her of course cuz she was teary over it.) I read it to my husband & totally creeped him out too. He told me if he ever caught me driving across town to crawl into my son's apartment and hold him while crooning a song, he'll consider therapy & meds!! I think this book touches thoses parents most who have a problem dealing with their kids growing up or who weren't close to their kids in the first place (my mom is sweet but clingy).
    I also think if my son wants to visit me when I'm dying I'll let him come in the front door!!!

    posted by : branwyn on 1/17/2009 at 11:14 PM Flag For Abuse

27. Tee hee. I remember my husband gleefully reminiscing about Guess How Much I Love You, which I vaguely remembered included bunnies but had otherwise forgotten. When we got the book for our little one, I mentioned that the book seemed to really be about one-upmanship. Hubby was mildly offended, but, see, I wasn't alone!

    posted by : mamanomnom on 1/19/2009 at 11:45 PM Flag For Abuse

28. I always remember being creeped by I love you forever when my mom read it(and cried) when I was a kid. Since I am the youngest she STILL says the part about being her baby forever. Yikes, no wonder I moved far, far away.

    posted by : funny stuff on 2/5/2009 at 1:30 AM Flag For Abuse

29. I love Robert Munsch's books.  I Love You Forever is very different from his other work.  According to his bio on his web site, it is a tribute to two stillborn babies he and his wife had.  Knowing that gives the book an entirely different context.

    posted by : ebeth on 2/16/2009 at 10:04 PM Flag For Abuse

30. I hate "Love you Forever"! My stupid x sis-in-law gave it to me at my baby shower. I always thought it was weird and creepy. She was the most worthless mother ever who couldn't even be bothered to change her own babies' diapers but she tried to tell me how "moving" the book was and how it had always made her cry. As if reading this book makes you some great mom. I read it once to my son and threw it in the trash. What a psycho book! And the review of it made me laugh my head off.

    posted by : surprisemama on 10/6/2009 at 9:49 AM Flag For Abuse