Blogger: Rachel Kent
First, the big news. We are having a boy! 🙂 My daughter really wanted a sister, but she is taking it well and has started talking about her baby brother.
Valentine’s Day is Sunday! I have been looking at bookstores for children’s Valentine’s books and noticed that there is a Valentine’s Day book for every single children’s book character you can think of. I saw Very Hungry Caterpillar, Elmo, Clifford, Daniel Tiger, My Little Pony and SO many more. I also noticed is that there are very few Valentine’s Day-specific books about a parent’s love or loving your parents. Those seem to be books for every day of the year.
Here are some of the very popular ones:
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney: We love this one, though my daughter has started asking me where the mother bunny is. I don’t know what happened to her! I do love that it is about a daddy and child though.
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw: This book has a sweet message, but I don’t love it. I know so many who adore this book though, so I know my opinion isn’t the popular opinion. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown: I have heard this is the ultimate helicopter mothering book. The little bunny tells his mom he is going to run away in approximately ten different ways and the mom tells him she’ll follow him and find him no matter what, so in the end he decides to stay home. I know many moms don’t like this one, and I didn’t at first, but now that I have my strong-willed girl I like it quite a bit. It’s sweet in a silly way. What do you think about it?
My two favorite parent/child love books are these:
Thank You God, for Mommy and Thank You God, for Daddy by Amy Parker: They are so sweet and share how much moms and dads do for children. The illustrations couldn’t be cuter and both books thank God for parents that point kids to God’s love. I always cry when I read the panda one to my daughter. These ones would make great gifts for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, too.
What are your favorite books that celebrate the love of a parent?
Do you have a favorite children’s Valentine’s Day book to recommend?
Do you have any suggestions of books for older children?
I love ‘God Gave Us You’ (the whole series is wonderful). Another favorite is ‘I Love You Stinky Face’. If you’re having a boy, you may want to go buy Stinky Face right now. Boys are so much crazy fun!
Stinky Face? Lol! I’m not sure I’m ready for a boy. 🙂
It’s so sweet and we giggle every time 🙂
Rachel, Congratulations! I have three girls, but my oldest is a boy, even so the girls still mothered him. Your daughter will do the same.
*The Runaway Bunny is still one of my very favorite books. We had the matching stuffed bunny as well. I have given this book as a gift many times over because the sweet story just speaks to my heart. I was far from being a “helicopter mom”, quite the opposite, so maybe it was the independent nature of the child that endeared me to that story. Of course the heart tug at the end still gets me. As mother of grown children I can tell you, they will always be your babies.
I’m glad you like The Runaway Bunny, too! And thanks for the congrats! I hope my daughter enjoys being a helper.
I loved The Runaway Bunny when I was growing up, and it still holds a special place in my heart. I disagree with the notion that the mother bunny is the ultimate helicopter parent, though. What I took from this book is that, no matter where he goes or what he does, the mother bunny will always be there for her son because he’s her little bunny and she loves him. 🙂
I agree! It’s sweet.
God gave us you by Lisa Bergen
Mama Do You Love Me by Joose
I have a list of all of our favorite picture books on my parenting blog
http://notforwimps2.blogspot.com/2016/01/favorite-picture-books-old-and-new.html
Congratulations, Rachel!
* Not being a parent…except to a couple dozen dogs…I really don’t think I can add much to this, and my own childhood memories to not commend themselves to reminisces.
* Although…I suppose I can offer an “in loco parentis” book – “HMS Ulysses”, by Alistair Maclean. It’s arguably his best, and when I read it for the first time at the age of seven, I learned that men (all adults, really) actually could be decent, upstanding, and worthy of emulation.
I almost skipped commenting on this subject, but your post is a perfect lead-in, Andrew. As adoptive parents of sons who remembered their less-than-idyllic birth home, we avoided such books. When our birth child was 2, I had a conversation with our adopted son that went something like this: “So you say that I love him more than I love you? Let’s think about that. Do you see how he wants to be with me all the time? That’s what toddlers do. I wasn’t your mom when you were that age, and 13-year-old you wouldn’t want to be with me all the time. So it isn’t that I love you less. I just love you different.” The teenager seemed relieved.
*Blessings, Rachel, on your growing family!
Shirlee, so well said.
Congratulations!! As the mom of 3 boys, welcome to the club. Oh, and the clubhouse will be somewhat more wormy and dirty and look Mom, a slug! Can we keep it??
Ahem.
I NEVER like Love You Forever. Never. I found it to be maudlin and especially creepy.
I LOVE Guess How Much I love You. I cried my way through that book more times than not.
My kids all loved anything by Barbara Reid. But since our ‘baby’ just turned 13, kid’s books are a thing of our past.
But Mr 13 LOVES the Wimpy Kid books.
Love you to the moon and back. 😉
Same here, honey.
Congratulations!! I just have girls. So I can’t give you any advice. Except … hang on to your teeth! 🙂 My good friend has three boys, and she got a tooth knocked out. lol. But it was actually a baby tooth that she’d never lost … she didn’t even know it … so good came out of it all, I guess. 🙂 And well, I sustained plenty of injuries from my girls. I think the funniest and most painful is when they are sitting in your lap and suddenly throw their head back … popping you right in the face. Oh, gracious. It happens. And we love Guess How Much I Love You … I still have it on my 15-almost-16 year old’s bookshelf.
I often get whacked with gear bags.
With hockey gear in them.
Boys seem to do everything in a higher vibrational state than girls. Wilder gestures, jump don’t step, toss don’t place. They seem harder than girls when they’re little but easier when they’re teens. It was great to have both.
*My son broke my nose before he was 15 months old. Actually, my husband broke my nose with my son. He was just handing Paul to me when our son shoved off his dad’s chest with his full leg strength. Rammed straight into my nose. With legs as strong as that, I should have known he’d be a track star in high school.
*Track is a great sport – no sticks or bats to get whacked with in the car. If your son jumps (first events) and runs the 4×400 (last event), you’re at the meets from 8:30 am until 6 pm or later. I became team photographer since I was there all day anyway.
Aww! That’s high praise! (It makes me cry too. 🙂 And I would have to add The Giving Tree to this list. It’s not specifically a parent/child book, but who else could the tree be but a parent? 🙂 My son and I BOTH sobbed at that one until he was much “too old” for picture books!
Amy, this was a favorite book of my childhood.
Congratulations on your upcoming boy! It is truly a blessing to have both boy and girl, but from an economic perspective, you’ve got them in the wrong order. My daughter wore lots of her brother’s hand-me-down play clothes when she as a toddler. Bright primary colors are good for both sexes. She loved the dinosaur patterns, and the denim overalls were great for playing on the mounds of dirt with her 19-month-older brother. Little girls’ clothes don’t work for little boys.
“Love You Forever” is a book that deserves its popularity. The message is very special because it is not only about the love of a mother for her child, but also about the love of an adult child for his aged mother. Both my son and daughter loved it, so I read it many, many times.
*It was given to my son as a gift. I would never have bought it myself. As beautiful as it is, I was glad when it slipped out of their preferred reading. I had to steel myself every time so I wouldn’t cry when the grown man comes to his (probably) dying mother. I was 40 when we adopted our son. My father had died 3 years earlier and my mother was 75. When the death of your own parents is a reality or drawing near, the ending is especially poignant. I can still tear up when I think about that book, but it has a wonderful message that every child should learn.
I’m loving finding out that there are other adoptive parents in our community here, Carol. 🙂
I just want to second that I didn’t love ‘Love You Forever’ because it always struck me that that mom was a little psycho. Climbing in her adult son’s room through the window and holding him in his sleep? No. I’m laughing just remembering the times I read it to my kids and then whispered, “Mommy will never sneak in your apartment when you’re a grown-up, OK? I’ll come through the front door when you’re still awake…”
A LITTLE psycho?
* Reminds me of a lady I once dated, who told me that once she’d done something similar…climbed through the window into the dorm room of a chap with whom she was infatuated at college, while he slept. She gave me a winsome look, and asked, “What if I…?”
* My response was automatic, and perhaps predictable. “Bad idea. I’m a light sleeper, and I’d shoot you.”
#HowToLoseAGuyBeforeYouHaveHim
Probably weren’t with her much longer, after that!
Too right!
None of that “I **might** shoot you” business, eh?
Uncertainty is untidy, Jennifer.
As is welding. 😉
That part totally bugs me. And the end is odd, too. 🙂 I actually don’t own a copy because I don’t want to read it to my kids. Too much to explain.
First of all, Rachel, congrats on your exciting news! And As far as children’s books, I don’t really have a favorite. But I praise anyone who writes for the purpose of instilling love and good character into our children. It’s sad when I am reminded that those things aren’t always the priority in our society.
Thank you so much for this post! Over a year and a half ago I was handed a seven-week-old baby suffering from meth withdrawals (the main reason I’m not on here very much). When his mother couldn’t stay off the drugs and gave him up, we adopted him. All our other children were pre-teenagers when we adopted them, so we didn’t have children’s books. I’ve been looking for suggestions, since he loves being read to, and am so glad to see these.
Congratulations on getting your own little boy Rachel! That’s fantastic news. Boys are very different from girls, and you’ll love it!
Each Easter we gave both kids an age-appropriate Bible story book and later a Bible. You can judge if the books have solid orthodox theology by checking how they handle the creation, the Fall, Noah’s ark, the nativity, and the crucifixion. There is one that is perfect even for babies. When Paul was only about 6 months old, he sat in my lap watching the pages as I read more than 100 of them! I bought a second copy so I can give one to each of my kids when they start their families.
The Tiny Tots Bible Story Book
John and Kim Walton
David C. Cook Pub. Co. 1993
ISBN 0-7814-0834-2
What a great idea! Thanks!
Thank you! And thank you for adopting your little guy! I hope my son enjoys reading, too.
Start reading to him early, Rachel, and he probably will enjoy reading. Both of our boys are insane readers. I even say one has an addiction to reading. 🙂
Congratulations Rachel! Boys are fun too! When we had our last child, I wanted another girl but I’m now thankful I had a boy (who is 15)!
Since I write for stepparents, one of my favorite books for stepchildren is Love Bends: A Forest of Family Trees. It helps a stepchild understand stepfamily dynamics in simple language.
Thanks!
I haven’t heard of Love Bends before. Thanks for the suggestion!
What about this one…”God Bless You and Good Night”…although maybe it deals more with God’s love. Super cute though. My boys liked anything with animals, plus beginning readers like “Digging Up an Ice Mummy” and “Fangs” that have all the poisonous and dangerous animals you could dream of. But they also liked the run away bunny.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Bless-You-Good-Night/dp/1400322944/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1455307048&sr=8-3&keywords=Hannah+C+Hall
That looks so sweet! 🙂
I’m trying to prepare myself for all the boy stuff. I’m glad to have my husband to help with it!
Oh and congratulations! Boys are super fun, lots of adventure. I have three boys and our house is always very busy with legos and wrestling matches and pillow fights and pet chickens. Advice…go on lots of hikes, spend time outside every day, wrestle them every night after dinner but before story time. And sword fight! My youngest (8) still asks me “Momma, can we have a sword fight?” We have Nerf swords and I set the timer for 5 minutes if I’m feeling tired and we just have a blast. Boys are very impressed if their Momma can take them out in a wrestling match or sword fight, but they are also very happy to win, so whatever happens it is good. Have fun!
I do like nature and hiking. 🙂 I’ll start getting ready for the nerf wars now and then maybe I’ll be prepared when the time comes.
Congratulations, Rachel! Boys are so much fun! Girls are, too, of course–but in a different way.
I agree that I Love You Forever is a creepy book. I never liked it either. It seemed like it was written to appeal to the parents rather than the kids. I loved Runaway Bunny because it reminded me of the Prodigal Son story. No matter how much we run from God, He’s always there with us. It’s a beautiful image.
It’s funny, but my boy didn’t really like these sorts of storybooks (my girl did). Up until the age where we started reading easy chapter books, he preferred non-fiction, particularly those word books. They were like baby encyclopedias with pictures of different objects that all went together in some way. We’d flip through the pages and I’d say, “Where’s the ball?” Or, “Look these are all green. Which green thing do you like best?” I don’t know if that’s just peculiar to my son or if it’s a boy/girl difference.
The boys I babysat for were like your son. Very into books that were about things–dinosaurs, soldiers, castles, bugs. 🙂 We will see what this one likes!
Congrats on your new baby boy!
Thank you, Bull! He will actually arrive sometime in June. We can’t wait! 🙂
Rachel, congratulations!!! I’ll tell you now, Boys LOVE their mamas. 🙂 You’re in for a wild ride.
*One of my absolute favorite books about parent/child love is, “Tell Me Again.” It’s a sweet adoption story that makes me tear up about every time. 🙂
*The other books you highlighted are also favorites, especially, “Love You Forever.”
Congratulations, Rachel!! I have two boys, ages 1 and 3, and I receive a lot of “tackle hugs” and spend a lot of time crawling around on the floor driving cars, but it’s all so much fun! One of my favorite books celebrating the love of parents is “You Are My I Love You” by Maryann K. Cusimano – cute illustrations and the message is expressed beautifully.
I have one I wrote years ago and found recently. I’ll polish it and send it to you. For little ones.