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Do you love love? Is Valentine’s Day your favorite holiday? Are you a hopeless romantic at heart?
If so, then these 10 questions all about love, dating and relationships are for you.
But even if not, we bet you’ll still find plenty to respond to.
Love — whether it’s for a romantic partner, a friend, a family member or a pet — is part of all of our lives. In these prompts, we invite you to tell us about the role it plays in yours. For example, what are the small ways you show love to those you care about? Have you ever experienced heartbreak? And what lessons have you learned from your relationships?
Each of the questions below links to a related writing prompt that we’ve asked students over the years, and they are all inspired by New York Times articles or images. Teenagers 13 and older can post their responses in the comments.
1. How Much of a Romantic Are You?
Do you believe in true love and soul mates? Do you like grand romantic gestures, like lavish gifts and love letters? Do you enjoy watching romantic comedies or reading romance books?
Or do you generally not give a second thought to love and romance in your everyday life?
Tell us your feelings on the prompt “How Much of a Romantic Are You?”
2. What Are the Small Ways You Show Love to Those You Care About?
“Taking out the trash before my mom asks.”
“Writing my friends notes that put smiles on their faces.”
“Always giving my boyfriend the last bite.”
These are some of the little acts teenagers told us they use to express their love.
And, what makes them feel cared for?
“When teachers remember your name.”
“My mom waiting for me when I come home from school.”
“Someone noticing I’m upset and giving me a hug.”
Share the tiny gestures that help you feel and show love in our prompt, “What Are the Small Ways You Show Love to Those You Care About?”
3. What Are Your Memories of Valentine’s Day?
Do you love Valentine’s Day? Hate it? Usually forget it exists at all?
Whatever your feelings, we invite you to post something inspired by this day on our Picture Prompt, “Valentines.” You might describe a memory from your own life, or use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem based on the image above.
4. What ‘Flags’ Do You Look For in a Relationship?
Green, red, yellow, beige. The dating world today is filled with flags, each of which might give you a different clue about a potential relationship.
What behaviors are green flags, or signals that tell you to “go ahead” with a romantic prospect? Which are yellow, signs that make you think twice about continuing a relationship? Which are red, actions that cause you to hit the breaks immediately? Share them on our prompt, “What Green, Yellow and Red Flags Do You Look For When It Comes to Dating?”
And what about “beige flags,” that TikTok term used to describe a partner’s quirks that are less than a deal breaker, but not exactly a plus? Do you have any? Tell us on “What’s Your Take on Beige Flags in Relationships?”
5. What Are the Rules Around Dating Today?
Do you ever go on dates? Do your friends? If so, are there any unspoken rules that you and your peers follow? For example, who pays? How do you decide?
A Times article reports that even though young people today like to emphasize equity and equality, when it comes to courtship (specifically women and men in heterosexual relationships) they seem to be following the same dating rules their parents and older generations grew up learning.
“Men tend to foot the bill more than women do on dates,” the article says. “And there seems to be an expectation that they should.”
Where do you stand on this tradition and other dating norms? Weigh in on “Who Should Pay for Dates?”
6. Should Parents Weigh In on Their Kids’ Love Lives?
“I do believe parents should be aware of their child’s dating history and have at least some control over it,” one student told us, “especially if their child is still a young teenager and doesn’t always make the best decisions.”
Another wrote, “Parents should stay out of their child’s dating life and relationships to allow them to figure things out on their own.”
What do you think? Tell us on “Should Parents Weigh in on Their Kids’ Dating Lives?”
7. Do You Find It Hard to Say ‘I Love You’?
Have you ever told another person “I love you”? Do you ever want to say those words but find them too hard to express?
The novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen wrote an essay about his experience as an Asian American, and how his culture and upbringing made it harder for him to say those three words. “Struggle and sacrifice was how Asian parents say ‘I love you’ without having to say it,” he wrote.
What do the words “I love you” mean to you? Share your thoughts on “Do You Find It Hard to Say ‘I Love You’?”
8. Have You Ever Experienced Heartbreak?
After their relationship failed, a couple in Croatia decided to start a museum that displays objects from heartbroken lovers all around the world. It’s called the Museum of Broken Relationships.
Have you ever had your heart broken? Perhaps from the end of a romance or friendship, or from a different kind of loss, like the death of a pet or loved one.
What was that experience like for you? How did you cope with your feelings of grief? If you were to send an object to the museum, what would it be?
Share your story on “Have You Ever Experienced Heartbreak?”
9. What Have You Learned About Love?
Love is in your actions.
Love can’t be one-sided.
Love can come in many different forms.
You can’t “win” someone else’s love.
These are just a few of the many lessons teenagers told us they have learned from their friendships, romantic relationships and familial bonds. What would you add to the list?
Tell us on the prompt, “What Is One Lesson About Love You Have Learned?”
10. What Love Story Can You Write?
Want to flex your creative writing muscles? Use these images about love and relationships from our Picture Prompt collection to pen a short story, poem or personal narrative on the topic.
Or, see if you can write a love story in only 100 words, like readers do for Modern Love’s Tiny Love Stories. Inspired by this series, our Picture Prompt “Friendship and Love” invites you to write a tiny tale of romance, friendship, family or any other kind of bonding, and then post it for others to read.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
