72 Easy Ways to Show Love to Children on Valentines Day (and Everyday) (2024)

February 10, 2021April 4, 2022

Inside: Kids need love for healthy development in all areas. Here are 72 Fun and Easy Ways parents can show love for children every day.

“Mom are we going to make the trail again?”

We were sitting on the front porch in the middle of July as my 5-year-old asked me this. I didn’t have the faintest clue what he was talking about.

“You know, the trail of hearts that goes from my bed to breakfast downstairs?

It took me a few seconds, but then it clicked. He was talking about the sweet (but not so sanitary) little tradition I had randomly started a few years ago of putting down a trail of candy conversation hearts from the kids’ beds down to the breakfast table.

At first glance, I thought it was the candy for breakfast component that had them waiting in eager anticipation for our simple ritual, but after a couple of years, I realized it was something else.

This simple act of love left a positive emotional imprint that lasted must longer than the 2 minutes it took me to scatter the mediocre tasting candies.

My children loved to wake up to something made by me, just for them.

While it’s somewhat easy to be intentionally thoughtful on special or celebratory days, let’s be honest, being intentional about showing love for children during day to day life can get lost in the mix of… well surviving.

The thing is though- for your child, being loved is a means of emotional survival.

In human development, it’s been well documented that a child comes into the world with the vital primary needs of safety and security, and gets these needs met through responsive and attuned attachments caregivers.

Essentially, the thousands of small moments of love you show your child throughout their early life, build the foundation for their emotional health and future relationships.

Emotion scientist Barbara Fredrickson describes the importance of showing love to your kids:

These moments of positive connection that parents can develop with their kids are, as an affective neuroscientist described, like fertilizer for the brain. They support brain development and social skill development. One of the most important things we can give to our kids is that caring attuned attention.

Making it a priority to demonstrate love for children clearly and regularly has the following benefits according to research:

• meets your child’s basic need for safety and security
• improving confidence
• decreasing stress
• improved academic performance
• better parent-child communication
• healthy emotional developmental
• more positive social interactions
• increases empathy

Showing kids love doesn’t have to be elaborate or fancy, and in fact, it can most definitely happen in the small moments of daily life.

Here are 72 ways you can show love for children (and boost their emotional well-being) today!

72 Ways to Show Love for Children

Showing love for children doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional. This list will help you remember how important small daily acts of love are to your child, and just how you’llll be able to make them happen.

1. Apologize when you mess up
2. Tell them a story about your childhood
3. Really listen to them
4. Take a 1:1 walk around the block
5. Make eye contact when you’re talking to them
6. Join in their play
7. Clean their room for them
8. Ask about the high/low of their day.
9. Ask how you can help
10. Give them free time to play
11. Teach them their character > their grades
12. Make a heart candy trail from their bedroom to breakfast

13. Let them express their emotions
14. Do yoga together
15. Send a joke in their lunchbox
16. Be brave together and try a new activity
17. Watch their favorite show (even if you hate it!)
18. Read to them
19. Make a hot chocolate bar

Related>> How to Build an Unbreakable Bond with Your Child

20. Frame a picture of you together for their room
21. Incorporate them into your workout routine
22. Give them a massage or back scratch
23. Include them in a typical ‘grown-up’ job
24. Have a family meeting

Related resource::: Give your child the lifelong superpower of emotional regulation skills with the Calm Kids Set

25. Create art and gift it to them (they’ll be so surprised to be on the receiving end for once!)
26. Limit screen time
27. Bake a healthy dessert together
28. Give them your absolute undivided attention
29. Ask them their opinion on something important
30. Meditate or pray together
31. Fold their laundry for them
32. Write them a letter about how amazing they are
33. Give them a soft cozy item

34. Make them a healthy meal
35. Make snow ice cream
36. Put hearts on their bedroom door with their positive qualities
37. Send them an expected email
38. Grow something together

39. Pick ‘your song’ together
40. Teach them a new card game
41. Write them a poem
42. Pick or buy them flowers
43. Take a trip to cuddle animals at the Humane Society
44. Take a hot chocolate drive to bond and chat
45. Create a scrapbook with them
46. Give them a spa day

47. Read an extra bedtime story
48. Tell them a make-believe story
49. Watch a show from your childhood (hello Mr. Rogers!!)
50. Read positive affirmations for kids with them

51. Give them screen time limits
52. Genuinely compliment them
53. Complete a challenging puzzle together
54. Take a hike in a nearby county/state park
55. Buy or check-out from the library a book you think they’d love
56. Add 20 seconds to your morning hug
57. Put on glow bracelets and have a dance-in-the-dark party

Related resource::: Want to discipline without shame, criticism, and threats? The Positive Discipline Set is for you.

58. Set goals with them
59. Help them pursue their interests
60. Notice and comment on their strengths
61. Leave a love note on the bathroom mirror
62. Let them have a sleepover in your bedroom
63. Let them pick the music in the car
64. Ask your child what they’d like to do together!
65. Have a family dinner
66. Make a picnic on the floor with a blanket

Related read >> How to use Your Child’s Love Language to Make Special Days more Meaningful

67. Pick-up a new game to play together at a thrift shop
68. Volunteer together or do something to help others
69. Do each others hair/nails
70. Sing together
71. Look at your child’s baby pictures with them
72. Make a fort with blankets and pillows

When it comes to showing love for children keep it simple

Demonstrating love for a child doesn’t need to come with a big price tag. As your family’s schedule (and the stresses of the world) ebb and flow, work with the time and resources you have.

This poem from Diane Loomans always hits home for me and helps me shift my mindset to slow down and make sure I’m showing love to my kids every day.

Want to Raise an Emotionally Healthy Child that will thrive out in the world? I created a free 5-day parenting course for you! (sign up below)

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