Reading The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell has radically changed my parenting. In fact, with my daughter especially, I have found out what makes her thrive, and I’m so excited about that.
According to the authors, there are five basic love languages:
- Gifts
- Quality Time
- Words of Affirmation
- Acts of Service
- Physical Touch
One of the things that I value most about this book is that, while I’ve heard a lot about love languages, and I thought I knew what my kids’ love languages were, this told me how to know for sure.
For example, you might be asking your child questions to find out what her love language is: “Would you rather have a hug or a gift?” Well, most children are going to choose the gift if you ask something like that because that is the nature of children. To know for sure, however, how your child feels about a gift is how she acts after receiving it. Does she talk about the gift? Does she put it up on display? Does she take very special care of it? Does she show gratitude?
This is where this book is invaluable, because it can be difficult to determine what your child’s love language is. This book gives you the information you need to observe and assess how your child gives and receives love. For my daughter, I’ve landed on the love languages of quality time and words of affirmation. Knowing this has changed the way we interact, and the result has been a closeness between us the last couple of weeks that is definitely different–and deeper.
As the new school year begins, this is a great time of year to read The Five Love Languages of Children. It provides the information you need to know exactly how to be interacting with your children and filling them up with love.
Looking for a good read? See all my book reviews on Faithful Provisions.
