Considering Valentine's Day is just around the corner, I've been thinking a lot about how to show my daughter that I love her. I heard a speaker say earlier this week that "kids receive love so readily when they're relaxing and playing." Hmm. Interesting.
The speaker explained that as parents we need to show our kids that we love them by playing with them in the ways they're most receptive. It all has to do with putting the kids first, rather than doing what might come easiest to us. For instance, this speaker told the tale of a young boy who was fascinated with baseball. Unfortunately, ol' mom didn't know squat about the sport and her son often went to bed before his favorite team, the Astros, finished their games. His mother used this an opportunity to show her love for her son, despite her lack of interest in the sport. The morning after each late Astros game, his mom got the paper and read him the article about the Astros game. Her little boy treasured his mom reading the article during breakfast before school and still felt he was caught up on his team. Reading the sports page (or part of it) gave mom and son quality time, sharing their love for each other. As the boy grew older, his interest in baseball grew and so did mom's. Today, vacations often take their family to cities with professional baseball games, which they enjoy together. Sounds fun to me.
How does your child receive love? As parents, we often try to accomplish everything on our lists from laundry to dinner to bath time. What if instead we put sharing one particular interest with each of our kids at the top of our priority list? You could check it off once a week. Thoughts? I hope to hear from you all. Your feedback is needed. Thanks!
Until the next nap time...
