Can teenagers really be in love?

I think anybody is capable of love. When you've reached sexual maturity, that love can be the spousal kind of love (as before this, I'm not sure kids really know how attracted you are to a person or your sexual preferences--not orientation). However, I think that at this age, while you may love, you may not be ready for the kind of commitment that is generally associated with this love. A commitment to get married is not capable of teenagers I don't think. Marriage comes with a range of responsibilities that have nothing to do with emotion and I don't think a lot of teenagers are ready for that responsibility--especially the financial responsibility that comes with it all.

I think that teens need to reach a certain level of maturity before they can really know what love is. And I'm not talking about the stereotypical "grown-up" type of maturity, but an inner maturity. Before one can truly know love, one must know and accept oneself to a certain degree. In order to love another, people need to first love themselves.

And it varies from person to person. Some teens, like myself and my closest friends, take love seriously. The word "love" is thrown around way too much nowadays. I know that I myself have not reached that point where I can truly know what love is, but one of my friends has, and has suffered a lot from it because the girl he loves hasn't reached the point in her life where she can recognize love.

And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.

Love is confused with crushes or like you said "puppy love" too often. I agree with you in that teenagers can be in love although on the other hand, most teenagers really dont have a clue what love is (myself included). When a child begins dating in preschool, personally I think their perception of love will be influenced in the future whether for good or for bad. But I definately think you can be in love in highschool because alot of highschool couples actually end up together for the rest of their lives.

i believe there are different levels of love. A teen could others as a friend, thats why the word i love u is thrown around so much. i am a seniorin hight school right now, andpersonaly i also believe that a lot of teens dont know wat love is right now. yea i unrstand that some do fall in love and sometimes get married, but i think hat most students are not really in love tehy jsut liek the idea of having someone, and when they say i love u it looks liek their relationship is getting more serious. Sometimes people just say i love u because its like the perfect settingfor it, they feel like it would be romantic to say love you at that time, and theother person is forced to say it bback casue they dont want to hurt their bf/gf's feelings. So basically right now i dont think that most teen understand what love is, i think its jsut a stronbg attraction.

If circumstances change and you no longer feel positively towards the person, you probably don't love them and never did.

I disagree. I like my mom's philosophy here. There are varying feelings of dislike towards a person, ending in the ultimate hate. But I believe you can only really hate someone if you love them. You know, the cliche of there being a fine line between love and hate. So if you have truly intense feelings of dislike towards someone, you had to love them in the first place, else it wouldn't matter that much to you in the long run.

There's also the idea that you'll never forget your first love. If my boyfriend and I were to break up now, I'd never stop loving him, but the feeling would fade slightly as I spent more time away from him and met someone new. I'd be more focused on my current love, rather than my past love, and so the current love would feel more intense.

There is also different kinds of love, and they are seen at different points in a relationship. None are more valid than any others, they're just different. Puppy love is one stage, and it's not fair to say that that love is less important than another type. Eventually, the intense feeling of love you feel when you get together will fade, replaced by the love you describe in most of your blog: where you care about the person and want the best for them. That's the type of love that exists between older couples primarily. It is the type without or with minimal sexual need, the type where you can spend all day talking, or appreciate just sitting together, rather than feeling the need to fill the void with something.

~C
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My definition is really cheesy: Being in love with someone means that you like them for their faults, not their strengths. If that is the truth, then yes teens can be in love, and I have been in love.

http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711

I'm going to have to agree with misnomer. Teens who claim they're in love, or who are in puppy love tend to overlook their boyfriend/girlfriend's faults or argue with them about their faults, or try to change them. Most of the relationships I see are this way. There are a select few where I see how deeply they feel for each other and if you asked them about their boyfriend/girlfriend's faults they would say something along the lines of, "Yeahh... I don't care." I think if you know someone's faults and still love them anyway, that's how you know you'll continue caring about them even after you break up. Most superficial or short relationships end with both picking at each other's faults.

I think that teenagers can be in love but it takes a lot of work. Not many teenagers like to put in effort to what they do and that includes their relationships. A lot of teenagers date for more of a social thing then a love thing but then again some do date and actually love each other.
There is also a difference between "luv" and "love" LUV is just like teenager, or puppy, love. You say I luv you to all your friends and your boyfriends and or girlfriends. You may tell one boy/girl friend and tell them you luv them but the next week you say the same thing to a whole new guy.
Love is a true love that you can never get over. Teenagers do have the capability to love somebody but it just depends on how they react to the situation. If teenagers would be willing to put the time and effort into a relationship then they could help it develop into love.
Everybody has their own opinions and if teenagers actually wanted love then they could work and find it but it just doesn't happen very often

I believe teens can fall in love on the same level as others. Based on how long marriage last these days, its about lust. In the words of my ex, “you’re not in love. You’re just infatuation with lust.” I think we in general get involved for the following reasons: sex, hate to be alone, it is what everyone else is doing, survival, to have something to talk about, don’t feel loved by parents, etc. There was a point in my life I hated to hear the words “I love you.” I knew it wasn’t true based on their other behavior. It was then I found those words were being used for psychological reasons. I would be asked, “do you love me?” I needed to answer without lying. I came up with “I love you more then you could possibly love me.” I knew this was true and there was nothing they could say.

Let love be you mentor!