Love in Action Day 9
Today’s loving action is very powerful. Am I getting repetitive? Yes, I am, because every single loving action you ever perform has an impact whose depth cannot be measured.
Hug and Kiss Your Children
We all love to hold our babies and toddlers. We love to kiss their soft cheeks and bury our faces in their hair. We love to hold them in our laps and rest their heads on our shoulders. We get our “snuggle fix” from our little ones.
But what about our older children? Our 5-year-olds, our 10-year-olds, our teens?
Where do they get their snuggle fix? At what age do they suddenly stop needing the comfort of a mother’s hug, the sitting close, the head on the shoulder?
They don’t stop needing it.
Not ever.
Intentionally focus on taking the time to connect physically with each child each day. A hug. A kiss. A pat on the back. A pat on the head. A playful shoulder punch, tickle, or poke.
Sit close together. Put your arms around your children. Pull someone onto your lap, even if she is almost as tall as you. Hold hands. Set up a Mommy toll booth — nobody can pass without paying one hug . . . or a substantial chunk of change.
Scratch your son’s back. Brush and play with your daughter’s hair. Rub their feet when you’re sitting on the couch together. I know, their feet aren’t cute and tiny and kissable like they used to be. Do it anyway! Your feet probably get pretty skanky, too, and you’d still like your hubby to massage away the day’s foot weariness.
If you need to, count how many times you’ve hugged each child until you’ve made it a habit. I told my children that a mommy needs three hugs a day per child to keep her batteries charged. Now they do the counting. Nobody wants Mama to hit empty!
Not sure how to start?
Look around you and find the child who, at this moment, is the least lovable — cranky, dirty, scowling, bickering. Grab that child and hug as if his life depended on it. It would be a great time to practice yesterday’s smile as well. Always show affection to the child who least deserves it — that’s grace.
Eventually all this crazy lovin’ will become a habit, and those terrific kids of yours will still be hugging and kissing on Mama when you’re 92!
Whatever you do, make it fun and keep it natural. Nothing’s worse than forced affection from someone who should love you wholly and unconditionally. Well, there might be something worse, like, I don’t know, a worldwide chocolate shortage. Hmmm. Nope. Not even that.
Always kiss your children goodnight,
even if they’re already asleep.
How do you connect with your older children?
Today’s Love in Action is linked up to the Homemaking Link-up.
Children are never too old. I’m 33 years old and still hug my mom and day and gram every time I see them. Hug, Kiss, “love you” all standard. We say “I love you” when we end phone calls too. (And sometimes someone at work gets an accidental “Love you” when I hang up…oops!!)
Back on topic (well sort of; I only have one child but I couldn’t resist commenting!): I make it a point to hug, kiss and talk to my LO every night when I get home from work. I sit on the floor with him even when my back hurts so I can be part of his world. I make eye contact and tell him that I love him, missed him and ask him about his day. I may not understand what he says back to me but we are connecting and I love it.
I do have a bother who is 20 and while he isn’t my son I tell him that I’m proud of him and we do the hug you/love you thing too. I also talk to him as an adult now (which was a hard adjustment for me; I see him as a little boy sometimes).
Your comments make me smile. 🙂 What a blessing you are to your little boy!
I too have a brother who is much younger than I am, and it also took me a while to see him as an adult. He is married and living in NYC now, so I’ve finally acknowldged he’s not 12 anymore. 😉 I understand where you’re coming from!
Kids are never too old for a parents love. When my 23 year old daughter comes home to visit from college, I always give her hugs and smooch on the cheek. Same goes for my 11 year old. Every night we cuddle on the sofa for a little while, and every morning before she goes into school, she gets a kiss on the cheek from mom. I’ll never stop hugging my kids and telling them how much I love them.
AMEN!!!
Your children are very blessed girls! That love will carry them a long way.