Life gets busy and messy. No matter how crazy our day-to-day life gets, we need to make time for our family. It is up to us, as parents, to teach our children about love and what love is, how it feels, what it looks like and how to love others. It is important that our kids learn these lessons at home before we send them off into the world. If our children understand love, they will love themselves, feel confident, love others and question inappropriate actions by others.
Thinking back to my own childhood, my loving memories are of sitting on the porch rocking in a rocking chair with dad and catching fireflies with mom; the help Dad gave, carrying a table and chair to the top of the driveway; and Mom helping make lemonade for my first lemonade stand. Those are the memories that last and thrive much more than the memories of our what animals were in my stuffed animal collection or getting another plastic toy.
The first lesson in love should be to show our children what being loved feels like through our actions. To show our children we love them. Not the love we feel by buying or giving them things, fancy private school or high-tech toys, but rather the love that is shared when spending time with our children, teaching them, talking about the hard stuff, listening to their stories and the small things -- creating those memories that last a lifetime! Those moments are the ones our kids will remember -- the ones that truly show them love, how special they are and that we are here for them. You can count on us, you are loved and you can tell us anything.
By teaching our children about love, they will learn to love themselves and have self- confidence. They will question inappropriate actions by others and understand the difference between what is love and what isn't love. They will know how to make good decisions and know when to walk away. Our children will learn this from us -- from the moments we spent together, our talks and our difficult discussions. They will learn to use open communication. We will create and foster a positive and trusting environment for our children to come to us and talk to us about anything.
Our children will learn to talk about hard topics and learn how to listen, and we will learn what life lessons we need to teach our kids as they grow. They will form healthy positive relationships. Our kids will know they can come to us with problems or questions and feel confident that we will listen. Quality time, talks and difficult discussion start when our children are babies and continue to grow with them. This is how we show them love.
10 Ways To Show Love To Our Children
- Unplug -- turn off electronics.
- Truly listen to the stories. Sit with them make eye contact.
- Hug and kiss them.
- Be present. When you're with them, be there to play, read, etc. Don't let phone or email get in the way.
- Save the artwork and letters they write to you and show them you have them or hang them.
- Create notes and pictures for them in lunchboxes or under their pillows.
- Tell them you love them and are proud of them.
- Make time for special one-on-one times talks.
- Give them choices.
- Let them make some household decisions. Let them pick out things, help plan family outings or choose where the family is going out to eat or what's for dinner.
How do you show your children you love them?
This post originally appeared on ThankYouHoneyBlog.com.