EILEEN ADLER

What does love mean? As December arrives with all its frenzy, scurrying around to find the perfect holiday gift, we might stop and think about the ones we love and how we show them our love. From the mouths of young children—wise beyond their years—we can learn. Remember that the words of true love are learning about the one we love and how we accept love.

Four-year-old wisdom:

• 'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'
• 'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
• 'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'
   

Five-year-old wisdom:

• '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 Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'
   

Six-year-old wisdom:

• 'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'
• 'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'
• 'My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'
• 'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.'

Seven-year-old wisdom:

• Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.'
• 'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.'
   

Eight-year-old wisdom:

• '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.'
• '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.'
• '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.'

And the final one from a four-year old:

• A four-year-old child lived next-door neighbor to an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry.'