Love you forever

Cue Card

Munsch, Robert. (Sheila McGraw illus.) Love You Forever

Ethnic Origin: American

Running Time: Approximately 5 minutes

Power Center(s):

Ø Every time the mother picks up the son at night and rocks him to sleep.

I choose this center because of the sweet feelings it evokes. Every time the mother rocks the son in his sleep and sings that little lullaby it reminds me of my mother. When I lived at home, late at night, she would always peek into my room and my brother’s room to make sure that we were okay.

You can almost feel the comfort that the mother gives to her sleeping son. No matter how old he gets, he is still her baby.

Ø When I first read this story I was left feeling slightly emotional. My emotions consisted of nostalgia, love and a certain peace. When I read the end of the story, where the son rocked the mother I was thoroughly moved. That particular scene tugged at my heartstrings and I was reminded of how much I love my mother and how much she loves her mother. I picked this as a power center because it is what catches the listener at the end. Throughout the story, the listener’s emotions rise and ebb like the waves in an ocean. He is witness to the growing up of the little boy, he laughs at his antics, empathizes with the mother’s exasperation and “awws” every night when the mother rocks her son and sings that sweet lullaby. Then, at the end when the son rocks the mother, he melts and remembers those special times when his mother or caregiver sent him to peacefully over into the land of dreams.

Characters:

Ø Mother

Ø Son

Scenes:

1. Introduction: The mother and her newborn son.

2. The mother and her two-year-old toddler.

3. The mother and her 9-year-old son.

4. The mother and her teenager.

5. The mother and her son the bachelor.

6. The married son and his mother.

Synopsis:

Love you forever is about a mother who has a son that she rocks nightly, after he is asleep while singing a short lullaby. The story follows the growth of her son to adulthood. At the end of the story the mother gets sick and the son comes to rock her and sing to her. After he gets home, he thinks about his own new baby and sings the lullaby to her too.

Rhymes/Special Phrases/ “Flavor”:

“I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”

“The baby/toddler/nine-year-old…grew, he grew and he grew.”

“…rocked him back and forth, back and forth…”

Audience: Young Adult

A person in the late adolescent stage of development is just starting to live self-sustained. He is determining his own set of beliefs and morals, developing positive opposite sex relationships as well as stabilizing relationships with other adults. The late adolescent is beginning to see himself as an individual and he is becoming more sensitive to the feelings of others.

At first, I was hesitant about telling this story for a young adult crowd because I wasn’t sure if they could relate to the story. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that young adulthood was the perfect time to tell this story. Telling this to an adult crowd seemed like it would be more effective, but most adults are now parents and have already come to terms with the role reversal of child and parent. Young adults are at the transitory stage between childhood and parenthood. They are at that stage where they don’t want to listen or be treated like a small child, they want to do everything on their own. But they are beginning to really understand the sacrifices and trials that their parents dealt with as they tried to raise a child. They are beginning to understand just how much love parents have for their children.

I felt like this story fit this age group because of the feelings it evoked. It reminds a person of how much their parents love them. For young adults this story tests the depth of their understanding. It draws out emotions of empathy and apprectiation for a loving, hard-working parent. It reminds the adolescent that no matter what, their parents do love them and will always be there for them. It also reminds the youth that their parents aren’t so clueless, after all, they did figure out how to raise their child to this point and they were once teenagers too.

Versions/Variants: Literary Tale