Non-Verbal Ways to Say I Love You to Your Child

Saying "I love you," to our children is important. Equally important is showing our children that they are loved. We can do this by demonstrating to them that we value their opinions, that they can trust us, and that we will treat them fairly.

Valuing Children's Opinions

When our children are telling us about their day or what they thought of a particular book, it can be easy to nod and listen distractedly.

Children are not fooled easily; they know if we are truly listening or not. In order to let our children know that their opinions are valued, we should take the time to look at them when they speak and pay close attention no matter how long-winded their stories may be.

Children are delightful conversationalists, often more engaging than most adults. Taking the time to really listen is an easy way to show your love for your child, and you may learn a thing or two!

Being Trustworthy

Children need to know that they can trust their parents. Even small children can sense a lie, and are much less tolerant than grown ups are of what we adults know of as little white lies.

Telling our child that we will do something "in a minute" when we know it will actually be more like ten or fifteen minutes is lying. Instead, we should be honest with our children and let them know that we are so busy that we cannot drop what we are doing.

Being honest with our children is essential if we want them to be honest with us.

Treating Them Fairly

Our children should not be afraid to admit to having made mistakes for fear of angering us. We can let our children know that we understand and learn from mistakes. We should explain that it is okay for them to make their own and that we are there to help them learn from those mistakes.

One way to communicate this is to be honest and apologize when we know that we are in the wrong. If we have made a mistake, we should not hesitate to admit it, apologize and share the lesson we have learned from the mistake.

When our children do something that they regret because it did not work out the way they intended, we should encourage them to look for the lesson they have learned from the mistake.