But, what is love? How to explain love to children

By Harry Marston

This question came to me five minutes before teaching Year 5 about the Great Commandment. I feel the deepest questions come at the most inconvenient times. With time running out, I thought this time let’s see what Year 5 think.

I told my class that before we begin the lesson, we need to know exactly what love is. “But Mr Marston, love is an abstract noun” and this highlighted the problem. The children are told often that they must love God and love their neighbour, but do they understand how to love or even spot if they are already showing love?

One handy definition is this. Love is:

1.      Showing a commitment to somebody

2.      Thinking more highly of somebody than of others

I asked the children to think of somebody they love. Do you show a commitment to them, more than you show to other people? Nods. Do you think they are great, better than other people do? Nods and satisfied murmurings.

We can apply this to God. Ask the children to list the ways we show a commitment to God - we pray four times a day at our school, we give Him an hour every Sunday etc. And then ask do we think that God is great – we trust that God can do things for us, we sing hymns to Him (perhaps ask the children whether they sing about anyone else being brilliant and powerful!) etc.

This practical understanding of love really opened up the lesson to the children. They were able to think about love more tangibly and their responses in the lesson were much more meaningful than the generic I will help others and I will be kind to those in need.

A Catholic understanding of love may not be as abstract as they first thought.