How to Teach Your Children About Love

The early stages of a person’s life are considered the most crucial ones, as this is the make-or-break stage. It can either build the character of someone or break his will and later become a problem in society rather than an asset. Teaching manners, values, and the idea of love can be challenging to some since not all are lucky enough to be born into a family that’s decent enough to educate us about it.

There’s a famous Latin phrase that says, “Nemo dat quod non habet” which is translated simply as “no one cannot give what they do not have.” The internet may be accessible nowadays, and you can just google the idea of love and how to teach it, but experience being the best teacher will prove to you it is an impossible task.

The Many Faces of Love

Greek philosophy is pretty popular when it comes to the discussion about love. We have eros, agape, philia, storge, pragma, ludus and philautia. According to these great minds, these are the kinds of love that come into play when it comes to the several relationships we all have to face in the different stages of our life.

If we are going to use this, however, we might confuse our kids. We cannot teach self-love to someone only to end up creating a narcissist since that might be the implication of teaching it to them too early. So, rather than the kinds of love, let’s consider the many forms it manifests. Love can be compassion, kindness, patience, understanding, and, most of all, selflessness.

Love and Common Good

The most important basis, perhaps, when it comes to teaching your children about love is the ability to grasp the concept of the common good. Let’s not take this philosophically as this is a common subject when it comes to ethics, but in plain words, it’s all about making decisions not solely based on how it’s going to affect you but all the people around you.

If you’re able to ground everything into this, the challenge of teaching your children about love will seem like child’s play. Here are some of the ways you can do this.

Walk the Talk

Many parents tend to exert authority in their dealings with their children. Being authoritarian is not bad on its own, but teaching them something using an iron fist while doing the opposite is not okay. Rather than teaching them theories and letting them discover them on their own, show them how to do them. Most children are visual learners, and being able to see it for themselves will most likely instill it in their minds until they grow old.

Display the behavior you want them to emulate. If you ever want to buy a Humidifier in a baby room I would suggest that you chec out amazon for the list of options are endless..

Avoid Favoritism

This is one of the most common problems that cause division among family members. Your children may not be born equally. Some may be smart, while others are not so. This may make a parent favor the smart ones more than the other siblings. You should always remember that they are still your children regardless of their intellectual level. Instead of showing them how you despise them for being such, walk with them instead and capitalize on that.

Mind What They Watch

A lot of videos on various social media platforms have been very helpful when it comes to instilling the idea of love among children. However, various channels have also been spotted to teach children how to be rude and how to start a fight against each other. The so-called “this is mine” mentality makes children possessive and less open to sharing.

As a parent, it is best if you establish parental control over the shows your children watch. Downloading kids’ versions of the apps, for instance, will help, as well as hand-picking those shows that teach them how to love instead of just wasting their time watching random stuff on social media.

The world of Hobbies

Children love to have hobbies which they can inculcate, work on and grow in. The hobby can be anything from collecting stamps and coins to drawing or writing a blog. Hobbies enabled that your child stays focussed and spends time doing what they love. Go through a list of hobbies and make sure that they pick one or two. This will certainly build character and will also ensure that your child learns to enjoy doing something. This is hjust another form of love of course!

Learn while Playing

Several situations may arise during your children’s playtime. This is the reason why you, as a parent, should watch your kids like a hawk during these moments. If they are not in a playground, you can initiate activities that will help develop and deepen their love for each other. For instance, you may tell them stories about the value of family, and you can go back to that in any instance should those values be applicable.

It is also worth noting to be able to instill love that knows no bounds in your children while playing. Racial differences, societal status, and the like should not be the basis for choosing who their friends are. Rather, let them realize that making friends is like a game’s number; the more, the merrier.

Learn Love while Reading and Drawing

Reading inculcates a lot of values into a child. Many of the stories which a child reads, the child believes to be true or a near sure possibility. This means that anything and everything that they learn through books they will emulate as they believe that it is normal. If the child reads a lot of books about love and happiness, the child will learn about love itself. So make sure that you stock you the old book shelf with books for the little one.

Drawing also introduces a lot of patience and love into children. It provides a child with time to think, add value to detail and understanding that there is value in patience. Ask a child to draw and most of the themes that they draw on will be related to happiness and love, cherished memories and moments and things that make them happy. You can get your child hooked onto drawing by simplifying the process and getting them to draw simple and easy drawings at first and then proceeding with harder topics.

Love and Waiting

As an influence of the bad videos that are circulating the internet today, most children have becosme impatient. A little sacrifice can be irritating for them, and they might throw a tantrum when it’s not needed. The ability to teach patience to your children without them knowing it is one of the must-have skills among parents. Not all children can wait long enough, so a little diversion may make them forget the wait time all in all.

The reward and punishment trick may work here. Learn to bargain but not to the point of letting your kid be dependent on it on just receiving a reward, punishment such as grounding them for their bad behavior is just as important.

Sharing and Selflessness

This is probably the easiest, yet the most important, when it comes to the many faces of love. Children will always have toys, and as you walk along the streets, you might meet beggars along the way. The collection baskets during a mass alone can be an avenue for you to teach your children how to share.

Inviting children to your house and letting them take turns in using your kid’s trampoline, for instance, or their favorite toy, will instill the value of sharing and being selfless in your kids without them knowing it. This will be very helpful as they grow old, as love entails a lot of letting go and sacrifice.

Closing Notes

Becoming a parent, especially for first-timers, is always a challenge. One might think that love is enough, but most often than not, love causes harm when not understood well. You might work as hard as you can so you can provide everything to your children only the end up raising a brat who never appreciates anything at all.

The many forms of love should teach us the very core of our existence. We are born because we are a product of love, and love should not be contained but shared.