How Do Kids Define Love?

Love Is...

A group of children, four to eight years old, were asked the question, "What does love mean?" Here are their insightful answers.

Johnny, Age 4

When a person loves you, they say your name different. You just know your name is safe in their mouth.

Dallas, Age 7

Love is when your mom makes a cup of coffee for your dad and she takes a sip of it before she gives it to him, to make sure it is okay.

Sue, Age 6

If you want to learn how to love better, you should start with someone you hate.

Donna, Age 6

My mommy loves me more than any one else. You don't see anybody else kissing me good night when I go to bed.

Sandi, Age 8

When my grandma got arthritis, she couldn't bend over to paint her toenails anymore. So my granddad does it for her, even after he got arthritis, too. That's love.

Andy, Age 7

Love is what is in the room on Christmas if you stop opening your presents and listen.

Jake, Age 6

Love is when a little old man and a little old woman are still friends, even after they know each other so well.

Dennis, Age 5

Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on after shave and then they go out together and smell each other.

Georgia, Age 7

Love is when you tell a boy you like his shirt and then he wears it everyday.

Chloe, Age 4

Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.

Annie, Age 5

Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken.

Jackie, Age 4

Love is when your puppy licks your face even when you left him alone all day.

Joe, Age 7

Love is when daddy comes in all sweaty and smelly and mommy still tells him that he is handsomer than Robert Redford.

Jenny, Age 8

When I had my piano recital, I was on the stage and I was scared. I looked out at all the people looking at me. Then I saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that and I wasn't sacred anymore.

Bruce, Age 8

Love is when you go out to dinner with someone and you give them most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.

Vanessa, Age 8

You really shouldn't tell somebody that you love them unless you mean it. But if you do mean it, you should tell them a lot. People forget.

Marissa, Age 4

Love is when your older sister gives you all her old clothes because, then she has to go out and buy new ones.

Amy, Age 8

Love is when you kiss all the time. Then after you are tired of kissing, you still want to be with each other and you talk more. My daddy and mommy are like that. When they kiss, they look gross.

Andrea, Age 7

You know you love someone because your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.

Best for Last

Leo Buscaglia, author and lecturer, once judged a contest where they wanted to find the most caring child. He told this story:

A four year old lived next door to an elderly man who had recently lost his wife. One day, the boy saw his neighbor crying. He went over, climbed into the neighbor's lap and just sat there. When he came home, his mother asked him what he had said to the man.

"Nothing," he said. "I just helped him cry."