Every summer, I work at a recreational day camp for kids. This year I was a counselor in the 7-9 year old age group. As you can imagine, there’s never a dull moment with these kids. One of my favorite parts about working with kids is the conversations I get to have with them. Kids always say some of the funniest things, even if they don’t make that much sense. I thought it would be a fun idea to ask some of these kids the same question, and see how their answers would vary. So I asked 20 of these kids what they thought LOVE was. And here’s what they said:

“Love is friendship.”

-Girl, 7 years old

“Family love is a special thing.”

-Girl, 8 years old

“Love is when you relax and have no worries.”

-Boy, 8 years old

“Love is loving your family and friends, even if they’re mean to you.”

-Girl, 8 years old

“Love is when you pick petals off of a flower and hope for the best.”

-Girl, 8 years old

“Love is sweet.”

-Boy, 8 years old

“Love is where you hug someone and you like them.”

-McKenzi

“Love is a feeling in your heart that makes you love other people.”

-Girl, 8 years old

“Love feels good.”

-Boy, 9 years old

“Love is like planets. Like how it is strong like the force of gravity. It can’t be broken between two people.”

-Girl, 7 years old

“Love is being helpful.”

-Boy, 8 years old

“I think love is beautiful and that everyone should have it.”

-Girl, 8 years old

“I don’t know what love is. I don’t pay much attention to it.”

-Boy, 8 years old

“Love is kindness and caring about people. And that’s all.”

-Girl, 7 years old

“I think love is being around people you love, like family.”

-Boy, 9 years old

“I think love is when you really like someone, and they’re kind and funny and all that.”

-Girl, 8 years old

“Love is where you kiss them and love them a lot.”

-Girl, 7 years old

“Love is when you like someone and they’re part of your family.”

-Boy, 7 years old

“I don’t know what love is, it’s just weird.”

-Boy, 8 years old

“Love is kissing.”

*Followed by the whole class saying, “Ewwww!”*

-Girl, 8 years old

So as you can see, kids have a funny way of describing things. Most of my girls thought love was a beautiful thing, while most of the boys thought it was gross (I think deep down the boys like love, too). Regardless of if the child was a girl that thought love was beautiful or a boy that acts like he thinks it's gross, these kids have an innocent view of love. They are still at a point in their life where love is good, love is awesome, and "love is beautiful." The way these kids view love is how all of our hearts desire to love. Our heart desires love that is honest, pure, good, awesome, true, and beautiful. And that's how love is meant to be in its truest form. So I want to give a big thank you to all my kids from this summer, for reminding me what love at its true form really looks like,