(More on that later.)īut as a grown adult who has experienced a wide variety of relationships-both in type and quality-the idea that you should love anyone, even family, regardless of their wrongdoings seems pretty far-fetched. A large part of raising healthy children is allowing them the space to make mistakes and learn from them without refusing love for perceived failures-or, loving them without conditions. “Unconditional love is often used to discuss parental love essentially, this is love that is actively given to another person even when that person makes mistakes or fails to meet our expectations in some way,” explains marriage and family therapist Juliet Kinkade-Black, LMFT. Take a parent's love for their child, for instance. But, is loving someone unconditionally, just because you’re expected to, actually healthy? Above all else, we should strive to love others with 'no strings attached' as, arguably, it's the pinnacle of love. Society often imposes the idea that unconditional love is the epitome of familial, romantic, and platonic bonds.

What does unconditional love mean