Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Defining Love


I often sign "I Love you" to my son although I know he is too young to understand what it means. But it got me wondering how when he was old enough to communicate do you define "love"? It's hard enough to define it as an adult to another adult... but to a child who is just learning new concepts how do you define it? How do you explain the difference between the love a parent has for a child and the love a parent has for the other parent? Do you simplify the definition of love as affection towards another person? That would leave you wide open for the child to ask "why?", Why do you show different degrees of affection for one person than another? How is love or affection measured?

I'm sure I'll figure these things out and I'm sure I'd have Amy's help with it as well. It's just something I've been thinking about lately as a new parent. I'm sure every new parent faces similar questions like that. I found it interesting to consider nevertheless.

8 comments:

deafmommy4 said...

Love is complicated. I'm grateful that children are so simple. They understand what love is from birth to adulthood from the people in their lives. Some love that are modeled are not always a great example. As a parent, I'm responsible to display love in different ways... giving a hug, kiss, saying "I love you because...", spending time to play a game or reading a book. Helping them when they ask for it and be their guide in life. Each person needs to think about his/her role in a child's life. You are constantly being watched too! What an exhausting but rewarding job parenting is!

Mandazoid said...

Wow...good question. You're a great dad, T-Dawg. I know you'll do answer him perfectly. :o)

Sammi said...

I guess I've never sat down and explained it... I just showed it. I don't think I could explain it logically if I tried.
That's a great pic of you, by the way!

Lone Wolf said...

Amy: Excellent answer Baby, couldn't agree more. :)

Empress: Thanks. I hope I will, or maybe it'll be like Amy said, that he'll simply learn it from my behavior towards him. Treating him with love is probably the best way to demonstrate it.

Jeep: Maybe that's how it always is... perhaps it's one of those things you learn thru observing behavior than thru language communication.

Lone Wolf said...

Oh and thanks Jeep, I actually just took that picture with my webcam as I typed this entry.

becomingkate said...

I have had to explain all kinds of love to Em, who used to worry that because I still loved Dale, what did that mean to her dad or to her?
It's made me really think about it, too.

TigersandTrees said...

I don't think this is a lesson a parent can teach by words, but instead by example. Eventually, they will understand.

It's amazing that the English language is so vast, yet has only the word 'love' to describe the many facets of LOVE! I think it's kind of funny. Spanish has more than one word for it.

Lone Wolf said...

Kate: In that situation it does seem a bit more complicated than just defining thru behavior.