In Gary Chapman’s book The Five Love Languages, the major avenues we use to express affection are: words of affirmation, spending quality time, gift giving and receiving, performing acts of service, and physical touch.
When putting our little ones to bed, we express our affection by reading them stories, hugging and kissing, and holding them close. If a loved one becomes ill we care for them unconditionally. We express our affection to our older children by helping them understand and complete homework assignments and sharing our life’s experiences.
While we do express our affection in a variety of ways, perhaps the one we focus on most often is gift giving. We give gifts in celebration of someone’s birthday, upon reaching life’s milestones such as First Holy Communion and at holiday times.
However, it the unexpected expression of affection by giving a gift that is often best remembered; whether it’s giving a cookbook to an aunt who has made you a special meal, sending a greeting card to a friend you haven’t seen in a while, or giving a child a gift in gold, all are “just because” expressions of affection that are treasured for a lifetime.
Affectionately yours,
Ellen, for KidsGold-14k for Kids
