Ill love you forever, Ill like you for always, as long as Im living, my baby youll be.

Those words are iconic for a reason. Love You Forever, the beloved book by Canadian author Robert Munsch about a parents overwhelming love for their child, is a staple on childrens bookshelves around the world, in Canada and beyond.

Its also, if you happen to have read it recently, perhaps better understood as an allegory. Because one part of the story, lovely as it is, stretches credibility just a little.

The beginning, where the mom repeatedly tells her baby how much she loves him, even when hes being super annoying? Thats adorable. The end, when the son is grown up and sings to his ill mother, and then to his own baby? Unspeakably moving. But its the middle the part where the son is a grown adult living on his own, and the mom will occasionally sneak into his bedroom to check on him and sing him a lullaby thats kind of weird.