Real love is based on Truth

For love to be real, for love to be meaningful, love must be based on the truth.

When someone lies to obtain love, eventually they become paranoid that the other will learn the truth, and they will reject them for that.  Eventually, they come to hate the one they lied to, to gain love, and preemptively toss them.

When someone knows the truth about you, and still loves and respects you, that is real.  That is powerful.

Teaching your children to love others despite other's weaknesses, teaches them real love.  You do that by loving them despite their weaknesses.

Teaching children to cope with hurtful weaknesses of others is a vital life skill.

To Be or Not To Be Relevant

The children are always relevant.  The question is are we relevant.

A stepparent may feel irrelevant and respond by driving the children away from their spouse, thinking to make the child irrelevant.

If they succeed in driving the parent away from their children, all they do is make themselves and the parent irrelevant.

The children are always relevant. They are the future.   They are it. The children are what everything exists for.  The future does not even exist without them.  The children are relevant, and if we want to be relevant we have to remember that.

Alienating step-parent->Irrelevant.

Are you relevant?

PS I liken these alienators to the light coming from the crack in time-space. If it touches you, you cease to exist and you never existed.  Dr Who?