Until there is nothing left to give.Įven the end kinda makes me mad because she is happy to still, after giving him everything, give him a place to sit and rest. She wants to feel love, like it was in the beginning. But then she starts solving his problems from him, sometimes before he even asks. And everyone knows a selfish taker loves an over giver!Īt first the relationship seems healthy to both people. What it is is a fantastic example of a codependent relationship. In fact it’s a terrible example of what relationships of any kind look like. Or a beautiful example of giving without expecting anything in return. Wowzers, I had no idea that this is really what the story was about. Well an old stump is a good place to sit and rest she says.Īnd the story ends with the boy, sitting on the stump resting and you can still just see Me + T on the stump. He says, I just need a place to sit and rest. The boy came back when he was old man and the tree tells him she has nothing left to give. Now the boy stayed away for a long long time. She gave the boy everything she had to give at her expense. The tree once again solves his problem by suggesting he cuts down her trunk and makes a boat and can sail far far away. And comes back and wants to get away from life. But I digress, let’s get back to the story. Now really, this is a problem, when you start to put yourself at risk to help someone else AND you pretend to be happy about it. Again the tree solves his problem for him by suggesting he cuts off her branches and builds a house. But she’s a tree and contrary to popular belief, money doesn’t grow on trees.īut then she solves his problem by suggesting that he take her apples and sell them in the city and he will have money and be happy. Ouch, that’s got to hurt.Īnd the boy asked the tree for money. The boys brings a girl to hang out under the tree and carves ‘Me + Y L’ into the tree. The boy is growing up and climbing trees and swings from branches is no longer that cool. The boy even carves ‘Me + T’ in the bark.

Gather my leaves and play king of the forest. The story starts off very playful and both the tree and the boy benefit from their relationship. This is a recap of the story from my memory while I work through my own understanding of its meaning in reference to codependency. I’ve had this on my heart to write about ever since. I didn’t even make that connection until not long ago I googled codependency T-shirt’s and shirts with the Giving Tree book cover showed up in my search. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is one of my all time favorite books from my childhood.įunny now that I’ve learned so much about codependency that my favorite childhood book is about a selfless over-giver and very willing selfish taker.

The giving tree book cover