I have been reading this book "mom... and lovin' it". It is awesome by the way. Well, it is about contentment in being a wife, mother and just with life in general. In one chapter it talked about Gary Chapman's Love Languages. If you are not familiar with that, it says that children speak at least one of 5 love languages. I had heard of this but never thought much about it. It goes on to say that the key to our child's heart is learning to speak our children's "love language." I won't go into all of them but the two that apply mostly to my children. My daughter is "quality time" which means that she feels most loved when we are spending time doing something together. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it is together. I knew she always wants to be with us even as a toddler but never thought of it as a "love thing". I have started trying to be more intentional with spending uninterrupted time with her on a daily basis. The above pictures are some things we have been doing. Note the happy face on my daughter.
My son on the other hand, is a love and affection boy. He loves being hugged and held. Any time we are sitting watching a video, he has to be on someone's lap. He has a hard time getting up in the morning sometimes, so instead of just telling him to get up which he does very crankily- I have taken the advice of the book and went it to rub his back to wake him up. It really seems to make the difference.
Learning to speak our child's language can only help us love them better and draw us closer together as parents and children. Try finding out your child's language. It will make the world of difference.