Recently, I’ve noticed some talk about what love is…more specifically how you will never know love until you have a child. Parents especially like to pity their sons and daughters because they believe that loving a child is the ultimate love. However, parental love is not the only love in the world. Love for the parents is just as strong. Love for thy youth, thy friends and thy self are all different kinds of love.

We should not take these comments so harshly. Parents and family just want us to experience all the joys they endured. They think that parenting is an ultimate in their lives, and hope you can enjoy these same ‘pleasures’. The problem is, they don’t see beyond their own happiness and really think about the person you have grown into, right under their noses. Parents will always wish to have their baby boy/girl, and in a way…their grandchildren will keep that dream alive.

Don’t condemn them for this wish and belief. They love you and enjoy their life as a parent; wishing to shower more children with their love – as has been their life for 18 plus years, give or take.

Instead, try to help them get to know the person you are, all your faults and strengths….what makes you a unique being who knows thyself well enough and is responsible enough to speak up and say ‘this isn’t for me’. It is a brave thing to speak up, because you let it be okay to not want the undertaking of child raising, a risky business that changes your life and the course for the child’s life.

But never let either your family, or yourself forget that true love comes in many forms. It takes different shapes in faces and relationships. But your love for partners, family and yourself is no less in quality to one another; therefore, you know love as its meant to be first and foremost.