A group of professional people posed this question
to a group of four-through eight-year-olds,
“What does love mean?”
The answers they got were broader and deeper
than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
“Love is that first feeling you feel before
all the bad stuff gets in the way.”
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend
over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it
for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too.
That’s love.”
“When someone loves you, the way they say
your name is different. You
know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and
a boy puts on shaving cologne
and they go out and smell each other.”
“Love is when someone hurts you. And you get so mad
but you don’t yell at them because you know it
would hurt their feelings.”
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”
“Love is when my Mommy makes coffee for my
daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him,
to make sure the taste is OK.”
“Love is when you kiss all the time.
Then when you get tired of kissing,
you still want to be together and you talk more.
My mommy and daddy are like that.
They look gross when they kiss.”
“Love is what’s in the room with you at
Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
“If you want to learn to love better,
you should start with a friend who
you hate.”
“Love is hugging.
Love is kissing.
Love is saying no.”
“When you tell someone something bad about
yourself and you’re scared they won’t love you anymore.
But then you get surprised because not only do
they still love you, they love you even more.”
“There are two kinds of love
Our love. God’s love.
But God makes both
kinds of them.”
“Love is when you tell a guy you like
his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”
“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see
anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”
“Love is when Mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken.”
“Love is when Mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and
still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after
you left him alone all day.”
“I know my older sister loves me because
she gives me all her old clothes
and has to go out and buy new ones.”
“I let my big sister pick on me because my Mom
says she only picks on me because she loves me.
So I pick on my baby sister because I love her.”
“Love cards like Valentine’s cards say stuff on them
that we’d like to say ourselves,
but we wouldn’t be caught dead saying.”
“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down
and little stars come out of you.”
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it.
But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”
“God could have said magic words to make the nails
fall off the cross, but He didn’t….that’s love.
