Unconditional Love

gobrowns19gobrowns19 Posts: 1,447
edited August 2008 in All Encompassing Trip
When a parent says this to a child laying in bed, getting tucked in at night, it's reassuring, saying 'I will always love you no matter what'. That's always been my understanding of that term, phrase, whatever you want to call it. I have a friend who's parents couldn't be any nicer, but his younger brother still continues to be terrible to them. That and other things got me thinking, can telling a child that you will love them no matter what make them think they can get away with anything and know they will still have a warm loving family? How does a child get to that point?
Happiness is only real when shared
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  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    i can be angry/disappointed etc with my child yet still love him/her....
  • Stone Is GodStone Is God Posts: 1,331
    gobrowns19 wrote:
    When a parent says this to a child laying in bed, getting tucked in at night, it's reassuring, saying 'I will always love you no matter what'. That's always been my understanding of that term, phrase, whatever you want to call it. I have a friend who's parents couldn't be any nicer, but his younger brother still continues to be terrible to them. That and other things got me thinking, can telling a child that you will love them no matter what make them think they can get away with anything and know they will still have a warm loving family? How does a child get to that point?

    Loving your child means giving them discpline and teaching them that there is certain way to act twards other people. You have to teach them that there are consequences for the wrong actions/choices in life.

    You're job as a parent is to teach them how to be good humans and you can't do that by kissing their ass when they do something wrong. You have to let them know that from the begining.
    I'll ride the wave where it takes me.
  • gobrowns19gobrowns19 Posts: 1,447
    cutback wrote:
    i can be angry/disappointed etc with my child yet still love him/her....

    Yeah, I know, I'm asking more on the part of the child. How do they get to the point where they can call their parents terrible names to their faces and threaten to hit their own siblings? Would that be any different if they knew, or at least thought, that someone might not love them if they did something? Yeah it's a safety net and it makes you feel comfortable, but why would someone take advantage of that?

    I think about my friends mom all the time, she is the sweetest person.
    Happiness is only real when shared
  • JeanieJeanie Posts: 9,446
    I think unconditional love is when you love someone DESPITE the shitful things they do. It's when you don't really have a say in it, you love them anyway.

    Kids stuff up for all kinds of reasons and parents get sick and tired of it too, I'm guessing but it doesn't stop them loving their child. Even murderers and rapists have families that love them even though they don't agree with what they've done.
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  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    gobrowns19 wrote:
    Yeah, I know, I'm asking more on the part of the child. How do they get to the point where they can call their parents terrible names to their faces and threaten to hit their own siblings? Would that be any different if they knew, or at least thought, that someone might not love them if they did something? Yeah it's a safety net and it makes you feel comfortable, but why would someone take advantage of that?

    read stone is god's post...i think your answer is there
  • mnicole22mnicole22 Posts: 417
    I love my kids unconditionally. Love is not a reward for good behavior. It is love and it is pure. So I guess my answer is no.

    If my kids decide to make horrible choices when they get older, I will do everything in my power to guide them. That is my job. If they continue on with those choices they may lose my support, but never my love.
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  • OffHeGoes29OffHeGoes29 Posts: 1,240
    Does it go both ways? Can a person still love their parents even though they (the parent(s)) did some shitty things when they were growing up?
    BRING BACK THE WHALE
  • mnicole22mnicole22 Posts: 417
    Does it go both ways? Can a person still love their parents even though they (the parent(s)) did some shitty things when they were growing up?

    no. thats different. imo
    AKA Cinnamon Girl :(

    05-10-06
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  • CosmoCosmo Posts: 12,225
    gobrowns19 wrote:
    When a parent says this to a child laying in bed, getting tucked in at night, it's reassuring, saying 'I will always love you no matter what'. That's always been my understanding of that term, phrase, whatever you want to call it. I have a friend who's parents couldn't be any nicer, but his younger brother still continues to be terrible to them. That and other things got me thinking, can telling a child that you will love them no matter what make them think they can get away with anything and know they will still have a warm loving family? How does a child get to that point?
    ...
    There are guys who were caught in the act of cutting up a prostitute while on crystal meth after burning down their parent's house from the explosion that was the result of him, blowing up a police car... and the mom and dad still love them.
    They can still love the sorry sonovabitch... and want his ass in jail.
    ...
    and to answer your question... The kid gets that way from being a prick.
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  • JeanieJeanie Posts: 9,446
    Does it go both ways? Can a person still love their parents even though they (the parent(s)) did some shitty things when they were growing up?


    Yep. Absolutely.
    NOPE!!!

    *~You're IT Bert!~*

    Hold on to the thread
    The currents will shift
  • gobrowns19gobrowns19 Posts: 1,447
    Thanks for the responses. Really the point I was trying to make was would someone act differently if trying to impress someone. I think yeah, but I think that child would have far worse problems trying to impress their parents then they would being loved unconditionally.
    Happiness is only real when shared
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • OffHeGoes29OffHeGoes29 Posts: 1,240
    Jeanie wrote:
    Yep. Absolutely.

    Thats a hard one to figure out.
    BRING BACK THE WHALE
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    Thats a hard one to figure out.

    sometimes people we love do shit that makes us not like them. doesnt change the fact that we love them. love is giving and not expecting anything in return. you love because you feel it and cause its what you 'want' to do. there should never be any obligation on either side.
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  • gobrowns19gobrowns19 Posts: 1,447
    Jeremy1012 wrote:

    Never really listened to the man but he's definitely true to himself, and that genre is may be the hardest to do that. I do respect the hell out of him.
    Happiness is only real when shared
  • gobrowns19gobrowns19 Posts: 1,447
    sometimes people we love do shit that makes us not like them. doesnt change the fact that we love them. love is giving and not expecting anything in return. you love because you feel it and cause its what you 'want' to do. there should never be any obligation on either side.

    This is a very good post, and the type i was looking for. I had a teacher tell me close to the same thing and that's how i've always felt, to love is to give and be happy giving it, where you can't help but give that. It's not how someone can make you feel.

    But it's nice to know that that person loves you back too. Like the child returning or reciprocating that to the parent.

    Makes me think of the Neil Young song Love and Only Love, off one of my favorite albums of all time- "Love and only love-will endure-hate is everything-you think it is."
    Happiness is only real when shared
  • JeanieJeanie Posts: 9,446
    Thats a hard one to figure out.

    Most family interaction and dynamic has its moments. :)

    Some people are able to recognize how it all works and then enjoy the benefit of improved relationships with their family and some aren't.

    It's a give and take thing I think.

    Sometimes when you're a kid, your parents are just big kids too and they make mistakes. I'm not one to need to flay mine in boiling oil for theirs, they don't do it to me.

    I don't know, maybe it just gets easier as you get older or perhaps I have just been lucky? Either way, things were truly shitful for many years and now they are not. I'm just gonna enjoy the happy while I can. :)

    But you're right, it's really difficult to work through and figure out.
    NOPE!!!

    *~You're IT Bert!~*

    Hold on to the thread
    The currents will shift
  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    ...is critical to the proper development of self-esteem, and a strong sense of self-esteem is the cornerstone of moral decision-making in spite of what the religious right might have to say about that.

    The opposite, which is conditional love, promulgates the belief that our self-worth is determined by the approval of others. That is, if our parents base their love on a system of approval and denial, then our self-esteem -being improperly developed- will cause us to seek approval from other sources.

    This is the basis for Obedience Theory, which is believed to have been at the heart of the holocaust. That is, non-homocidal german soldiers were able to carry out horrific acts of genocide because they succumbed to their inner desire to obey a "perceived greater authority."
  • gobrowns19gobrowns19 Posts: 1,447
    sponger wrote:
    ...is critical to the proper development of self-esteem, and a strong sense of self-esteem is the cornerstone of moral decision-making in spite of what the religious right might have to say about that.

    The opposite, which is conditional love, promulgates the belief that our self-worth is determined by the approval of others. That is, if our parents base their love on a system of approval and denial, then our self-esteem -being improperly developed- will cause us to seek approval from other sources.

    This is the basis for Obedience Theory, which is believed to have been at the heart of the holocaust. That is, non-homocidal german soldiers were able to carry out horrific acts of genocide because they succumbed to their inner desire to obey a "perceived greater authority."

    That's very interesting and thought provoking.
    Happiness is only real when shared
  • Jeanie wrote:
    Even murderers and rapists have families that love them even though they don't agree with what they've done.


    My nephew is quite a kid.

    When he was about 5 we always would frequently have the "i will always love you no matter WHAT" conversation.

    He would ask..."what if I killed someone? would you still love me?"

    But it gets better....

    More than once he asked me..."What if I was Pol Pot?"

    "Would you still love me if I was Pol Pot?"

    Holy crap.

    Now he's 15. We were talking about this a few weeks ago. He asked who Pol Pot was. :D

    Ahhhhhh.. Johnny. ;)
    sometimes life don't leave you alone
  • PJaddictedPJaddicted Posts: 1,432
    Honestly IMO...you never really know what goes on behind closed doors in someone else's home. What looks like the perfect wonderful family could have lots of serious problems. I'm mother to four sons, ages 21, 19, 17 and 14. I have loved my kids no matter what....and the words I Love YOU are spoken daily between us and their father too. My sons are good guys so far, no *real* problems at all. The older two are away at college and growing up to be really nice good people. The younger two...are still works in progress. I only know in my own case having raised them in a loving home with two parents who love each other, with no hitting, little yelling and lots of mutual respect has worked for my hubby and I.

    My own family situation was similar, stable home, two parents who adored each other, all looked great from the outside looking in, but my Dad was a spanker, and we were the kids and expected to be seen and not heard, give 100% obedience,we were not told we were loved by either parent(my parents weren't told this either), and it all blew up in my parents faces when we became teens. We were horrors, and my brother continues as he spends his life going from one high to the next. I decided that I would try my best to raise my family different, and so far it has worked, I'm having a great time and totally enjoy my boys.

    oxc
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  • eyedclaareyedclaar Posts: 6,980
    Does it go both ways? Can a person still love their parents even though they (the parent(s)) did some shitty things when they were growing up?

    Sure they can but they certainly don't have to.
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  • justamjustam Posts: 21,412
    gobrowns19 wrote:
    When a parent says this to a child laying in bed, getting tucked in at night, it's reassuring, saying 'I will always love you no matter what'. That's always been my understanding of that term, phrase, whatever you want to call it. I have a friend who's parents couldn't be any nicer, but his younger brother still continues to be terrible to them. That and other things got me thinking, can telling a child that you will love them no matter what make them think they can get away with anything and know they will still have a warm loving family? How does a child get to that point?

    There's a difference between loving your child no matter what and not letting them know when they have done the wrong thing.

    It sounds more like they aren't setting limits which is LESS than loving. Part of love is helping children learn what's acceptable and what's not so they can love themselves. I don't think people can really love themselves if they are allowed to be horrible to others...on some level they KNOW they aren't living well.
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • xscorchoxscorcho Posts: 409
    i dont really believe in loving a person "no matter what they do".... if somebody is a VERY shitty person, i'm not wasting my time or energy on them.
  • justamjustam Posts: 21,412
    xscorcho wrote:
    i dont really believe in loving a person "no matter what they do".... if somebody is a VERY shitty person, i'm not wasting my time or energy on them.

    You can't throw your own children away though. You've got to raise them the best that you can. I'll go so far to say that it is your challenge to get the best out of them!!!
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • I have a 16 year old daughter who knows I love her unconditionally. That doesn't mean she can be disrespectful or rude to me. I don't allow that behaviour. And there are times when I really don't like her much (because she is a 16 year old female with too many stupid hormones). I have always made sure that she treats people right, and in a way that she would want to be treated by others. So far I think she is doing a fine job.
  • xscorchoxscorcho Posts: 409
    justam wrote:
    You can't throw your own children away though. You've got to raise them the best that you can. I'll go so far to say that it is your challenge to get the best out of them!!!
    agreed. i was speaking more for adults, siblings, relatives, etc.... (a bit confusing since the OP was talking children, my bad)
  • gobrowns19gobrowns19 Posts: 1,447
    seren327 wrote:
    I have a 16 year old daughter who knows I love her unconditionally. That doesn't mean she can be disrespectful or rude to me. I don't allow that behaviour. And there are times when I really don't like her much (because she is a 16 year old female with too many stupid hormones). I have always made sure that she treats people right, and in a way that she would want to be treated by others. So far I think she is doing a fine job.

    I recently discovered she is struggling with her sexuality. On her Myspace page where it says Sexuality, she put not sure. She had a boyfriend for the past 6 months and now doesn't. I have seen other things she wrote on her Myspace and other networking sites that definitely lean to her being possibly gay. So I let her know that if she ever needed to talk to me about anything like that, she should know she can and I would never judge her. I am pretty sure she knew that before because she knows all of my views.

    I had a friend at work question my thoughts on what if she is gay. I told her it doesn't make any difference to me, I just don't want her to be unhappy due to some of the challenges she will face in society because of it. She is my daughter and my feelings would never change because of something like that.

    I can't imagine how tough that would be a a teenager growing up in any day and age.

    As for my friend's brother, he's not living with them at the moment, maybe not again. They haven't talked to him in a month, I couldn't even imagine. I believe he's 17 so it makes it a bit tougher.
    Happiness is only real when shared
  • gobrowns19 wrote:
    I can't imagine how tough that would be a a teenager growing up in any day and age.

    As for my friend's brother, he's not living with them at the moment, maybe not again. They haven't talked to him in a month, I couldn't even imagine. I believe he's 17 so it makes it a bit tougher.

    Indeed! I just hope she knows that she has our love and support no matter what.....

    I can't even imagine not being in contact with my daughter and having her living somewhere else......
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