<p>Instead of “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” for mature adults, I prefer ummerr.</p>
<p>As in, “This is my, umm…err…”</p>
<p>^^ TD, you really DON’T want to hear what comes after the “umm . . . err.” :)</p>
<p>I always thought “Love you forever” had a bit of a creepy edge to it in the end there. I haven’t read it for a decade or so, though. :)</p>
<p>I agree on the boyfriend/girlfriend issue. The same thing comes up with gay couples who have been together for years. “Partner” is OK but either sounds stale and business-like or too friendship-like and out of place (“how ya doin’ there, partner?”).</p>
<p>
Just fixing the quote… and agreeing with corranged that the idea of an elderly Mom climbing into her grown son’s bedroom window to rock him in her lap did strike me as a bit creepy. But adults are not the audience for which that book was written, and I’ve been told this thought is reassuring for the young children for whom the book was intended.</p>
<p>(And as I age, I realize the truism of this refrain, and of the urge sometimes to just sit and rock one’s progeny, in a quiet moment of love and reflection.)</p>
<p>I think “my child” is appropriate in some instances, not much else to say there. I did kind of find it funny when on some college tours and stuff they would talk about what “your child” will be doing. It makes me laugh though, really, because it kind of makes me think about a kindergarten teacher clapping with enthusiastic facial expressions. It seems like “your student” might be more appropriate. But I don’t really know.</p>
<p>Re “boyfriends”, I always introduce my dates by their names - I don’t give them labels. “This is Mark” or “this is Steve” etc. is sufficient information for just about anyone. As far as children, I don’t know why tour guides and others don’t simply say “your sons and daughters”. I always say “my daughter”, never “my child”.</p>
<p>Hey, mootie. Thanks for the correction.
I originally cut/pasted the quote directly from the link I had to the amazon website , but now when I go back it has the correct verbiage, (as you wrote it). Very strange… I must be losing it…</p>
<p>Interesting. Agree that “Love You” is edgier than most kids’ books, but I always took it as strictly allegorical. I thought “the window” part centered more on the son who, even when grown, found comfort in the memory of an enduring bedrock unconditional love–? And eventually returned it, of course, to his mother as well as passing it on to his daughter. </p>
<p>(Maybe that book is better than I thought. 
)</p>
<p>and agreeing with corranged that the idea of an elderly Mom climbing into her grown son’s bedroom window to rock him in her lap did strike me as a bit creepy. But adults are not the audience for which that book was written,</p>
<p>that book gave me the willies too
my D really liked Are you my Mother? “oh thats a snort!”</p>
<p>But really- my kids never complained about being referred to as a kid- its a role, not a lifestyle</p>
<p>
As a four year old, I wasn’t quite at this stage in literary interpretation. ;)</p>
<p>I didn’t see that book till my kids were too old for it, but I have to say, it did creep me out, too.</p>
<p>Here’s another vote for “Are you My Mother?”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Great line!</p>
<p>“Love You Forever” creeped me out with its smothering tone. Not a fan of “Runaway Bunny” for the same reason. There’s a difference between devotion and stifling and I don’t think the books catch it.</p>
<p>Marite, I loved your “no, he’s my son, <em>your</em> student” line. Told D about it.</p>
<p>The book, “Love you forever” by Robert Munsch was written after his wife had stillborn babies in 1979 and 1980. In his web biography <a href=“http://robertmunsch.com/bio.cfm[/url]”>http://robertmunsch.com/bio.cfm</a> he says that it was started as a song.</p>
<p>When my kids were toddlers, numbers 1 and 2 on their hit parade were “Goodnight Moon” (not surprising, according to the Munsch biography) and anything by Beatrix Potter. My older son was very upset (and fascinated at the same time, in that way kids frequently are) when Mr. MacGregor took a hickory switch to poor Benjamin Bunny. When they got older, they loved anything by Shel Silverstein, the weirder the better. My mother loved reading “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “Falling Up” to my kids so much that they decided to give her copies of both for herself–which have now been passed on to my grand-daughter.</p>
<p>Just to stay on topic, I think there’s a comment about a child or children and parents in there somewhere. :)</p>
<p>A freshman in college could “wet his/her pants” and EVERYONE would forgive him/her and understand. Yep … child is OK.</p>
<p>Well I am REALLY bad because I call my daughter Punkin or Kitten and I call my son Piglet. Although he gets mad if I do it at soccer games.</p>
<p>My daughter calls me Mama.</p>
<p>My son calls me Mom. At least I think he’s saying Mom, but his voice is now so deep and he gets off the phone so fast I’m not 100% sure. At least I catch the “Luv ya too” part.</p>
<p>I tried to put a dollar in the therapy fund for every dollar in the college fund, since, regardless of how hard I tried, I scarred 'em for life.</p>
<p>I have explained to my 19-year-old, who started taking college classes at 12, has lived in Italy for a year, traveled to India, Cambodia, and Thailand by herself, dug out and burned bodies of individuals who lost their lives in the tsunami, and has published relatively wisely, that my wife and I still see her as 14, the last period during which we had to do significant day-to-day planning around her life, so she should tell us when it gets on her nerves.</p>
<p>Not that we plan to do anything about it…;)</p>
<p>great post i’m sitting here and smiling. One day my grandmother,mother and I went to a flea market and at the entrance a sign with the price of admission was posted.All children are free if a parent is with the children. my grandmother paid only for her and said that we are her children and therefore should not have to pay, and they let us all in! At the time I was in my 30’s my mom was in her 50’s we laughed about this for many years. now I only wish I had someone to call me their child</p>
<p>Not sure if I have this right, but I was quite amused when in Tokyo with the Japanese family of my younger brother, to hear him being called Daddi by his non English speaking mother in law. Apparently in a Japanese family, everyone is named in relation to the youngest child, my niece. I heard myself being called something unfamiliar, and realized it was something to do with Auntie. It felt intimate and inclusive, and I loved it. </p>
<p>Was quite the contrast to my marriage, where my…???..disliked the terms husband and wife, and used spouse exclusively, as it did not denote gender. PC does not always feel intimate and loving.</p>
<p>
Ouch, GLM!</p>