I started saying ?I love you? to my kids from the moment they were born. Maybe even before that. That?s one thing, I bet, most parents share in common. It wasn?t long (after they could talk) that my kiddos started saying it back. In our household, we use the ?L? word a lot.  That one simple phrase often starts and ends each day.
But love is actually a difficult concept to describe, even for adults. The dictionary defines it as, “An intense feeling of deep affection.” I?m not sure I would have landed on that exactly, but I get it.
I was curious how my three young sons feel about the ?L? word. What does it mean to them" What does “love” conjure up for a little three year old and an 8 or 10 year old" So I asked them. Here’s what they said. The 10-year-old
My eldest is mature beyond his years and surprisingly wise, so I thought I?d start with him. “What does the word ‘love’ mean to you"” I asked.
?I dunno,? he replied, barely looking up from his iPad. (Maybe he’s more of a typical 10-year-old than I thought.)
I removed the distraction and told him to think about it for a minute. I asked him to describe how he feels towards the people he loves and, in turn, how they make him feel.
?It?s for people that you like a lot,” he said. “They make you feel safe and secure and warm. Like you want to hug them.?
Bravo, I thought. That makes perfect sense to me. He characterized his feelings of love using...