Love – Children Need it Too!

You can find serenity in loving your children.

There are thousands of songs about people needing love, wanting to be loved and wanting to give love. Most of those songs are about the romantic love between a man and a woman.  I would like to see more love songs about the love parents have for their children.  As the mother of four children  I have learned that all children are different. They have different personalities,  desires  and character traits. One thing that all my children have in common is that they want to be loved and thought of as special and worthy of being loved.

There  are  many ways to show a child she is special and loved:

• spend time with each child on a one on one basis in conversation
• ask your child to give an idea for dinner and let the child help
• compliment your child when she is not expecting a compliment
• tell your child specifically and clearly that she is loved

As parents, we are keenly aware of our obligation to feed, clothe and shelter our children. What we should also pay attention to is the fact that our children need to be loved. Children are not subtle creatures, they do not understand that we show love by providing food, clothing and shelter. Children need to be loved, clearly and without any hidden message.

I often tease my little twins with games about who loves who more, mom or child. The following is a conversation I had with one of my twins that was amusing:

Mom:          Do you know I love you?

Big Twin:   Yes.

Mom:          Do your friends know I love you

Big Twin:   No. I didn’t tell them. Write it in your blog and I will tell them to read it.

That is an amusing story and I am sharing it here only because I had to put in my blog that I love my Zahirah so now she can tell her friends to read it. It is what she asked of me. It was a way of showing love that was special and unique to her. Adults reading this story will know that I am saying I love my daughter. However, she is five and may not get it so, I shall now state clearly and plainly, Zahirah, you are my daughter and I love you.

So, the question for you this serene day is what special thing do you do to show your children love?