Tuesday, Feb 1, 2011Teaching Children to Love

Teaching children to love is the greatest gift we can give them.

On Valentine’s Day in schools, children frequently exchange Valentine Cards. If they have a special fancy for one of their school chums, a special card is given. Little hearts thump in the anticipation of watching that person open their card and receive its sentiment.

But once Valentine’s Day is gone, what else should children know about love for the rest of the year? Why is it important to be teaching children to love?

Love is the highest sentiment expressible here in our human experience. It is the key feeling your child needs to feel in order to also experience hopefulness – hopeful that he can grow up, earn his parent’s respect and approval, and become successful in this world. Love is the hinge around which all these things revolve.

Teach your children about the importance of appreciation. Point out to them how wonderful it is that daddy goes to work for everyone in the family so that the bills get paid, the clothes get bought, and there is food to enjoy in the wonderful home in which you all live. Tell them how great it is that mommy cooks their food and washes their clothing. And isn’t it great that we have splendid things like traffic cops and laws? If we don’t honor and appreciate them, there would be pure chaos.

Teach your children to care, lovingly, about their toys, their brothers and sisters and their friends. Play games with them to think of new ways to show their caring by doing little surprise nicenesses for them, and then giggle with the child when the other tries to find out who did such a nice, caring thing.

Teach your children about acceptance of things that are different, people who look different, family practices that are different. Acceptance is one of the most practical forms that love can assume. When you teach your child acceptance of others, you can then teach him acceptance of his own self. The uniqueness of his individuality and of the individuality of all others is huge cause for celebrating.

Teach your children some of the old-fashioned family values, like honesty, integrity, and loyalty, fairness, respect and empathy. Play games with him where you watch for these values and award points for whoever finds them first. Find stories about these values and read them to him and her at night before bed.

By teaching children to love, when a child is loved and learns to love both others and himself, he’s received a foundation that is wholesome, balanced and secure. From this balance, he can live a full life where learning abounds. Love is linked to the unfoldment of intelligence. When your child feels secure, his little mind will begin to unfold rapidly and amaze and astonish you.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” ~ St. Paul

Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it. ~Harold Hulbert