Talk To Your Child About Myths About Love
Myths about love and romance can end up being extremely dangerous. Help your children establish healthy relationships by encouraging self-love and critical thinking.
It is important to discuss common myths about love and romance, with your children. For example, there is a popular belief out there that finding love is the most important thing in life.
Without even realizing it, movies, books, and music have become incredibly influential. The messages they convey have a huge impact on our thoughts and perspective in life.
But, the next generation must understand that fictional stories are just this – fictional. Unfortunately, from the time when children are very young, the film industry is teaching them a clear, but misleading, message: Love overcomes all.
This affirmation can be extremely dangerous for the younger population. If children and young people do not have a well-established, critical mind, they may develop a misconception of reality. In other words, they may come to believe in concepts of love that are not real.
What are some of the myths about love?
Anthropologically, a myth refers to a conjunction of beliefs that society accepts as true but are actually false. The anthropologist, Levi-Strauss, considered myths to be historical objects, the content of which changes, and whose structures are adapted, to life in society.
Among that way of thinking, myths are not static. Instead, they are a dynamic and versatile process that adapts to different circumstances and environments. For Levi-Strauss, because myths are considered true, they establish models of behavior that society must follow.
In doing so, myths justify behaviors and attitudes that fit with the message they send and that society accepts as true. This arises with the existing myths of love and romance.
Society ends up justifying harmful and violent behavior in the sign of love.
Myths about love and romance
The “Andalusian Discovery Project ” ( Proyecto Detecta Andalucia in Spanish) collected a series of misconceptions and false beliefs, according to the ideals of love and romance. These myths contribute to the risk of establishing relationships that involve unequal power between men and women in a romantic relationship.
The project established a classification of 19 myths, which were organized into 4 groups:
- “Love conquers everything.” The first group includes myths that convey the belief that “true love” forgives everything. They lead the normalization of conflict and the compatibility of love and ill-treatment.
- “Predestined, true love” This second group of false beliefs has to do with the beliefs of finding one’s “other half”. In other words, the quest to find someone who makes us whole. Again, these myths justify having to put up with bad relationships.
- “Love is higher than anything else, and requires total surrender.” In this group of misconceptions, myths consider love to be the center of everything, the meaning of our existence. They lead to depersonalization and abandonment of one’s own intimacy.
- “Love is possession and exclusivity.” This last group refers to myths that are about jealousy, which gives rise to justification of possessive relationships. “Without jealousy, there is no love.”
Why is it important to teach children about these myths?
Critical thinking is the best weapon when it comes to myths. It is crucial that parents set their children up with a solid, critical mind. Otherwise, young people will not know how to distance themselves from these myths, which can lead to acceptance, normalization, and justification of abusive and abusive behaviors.
Teach your children about self-love. Love for oneself is important when it comes to establishing healthy relationships and avoiding toxicity.
We must teach our children that healthy relationships are based on trust. Jealousy can lead to the justification of control in a couple – something that should never be allowed.
The myths, according to the existence of one’s “other half”, send the message that we can only, in truth, be happy if we have a partner. It is important to teach children, from a young age, not to be dependent on others. Teach your children that they are already complete and that they do not need anyone else to feel this way.
It is true that movies that defend the idea of perfect love help us escape our troubles. However, it is important to maintain some distance and objectivity.
Helping children learn to establish healthy relationships does not necessarily mean isolating them from this kind of content. Instead, we need to help them get the right perspective.
A critical mind will help them when it comes to discovering and breaking free from the myths of love and romance.
