Never take for granted the importance of family. Someone once said that in family life, the days are long, but the years are short. Any parent understands this—our days are filled with so many activities and things that it’s easy to get into survival mode when we’re simply trying to get to the end of another day. Yet, we often easily miss some of the most simple, yet important things that should be a regular part of our everyday family life.
Here are five of those little things you should do for your family every single day.
1. I love you…
Apart from spending time with them, one of the best ways to show your kids that you love them is to simply and clearly tell them so. They love to hear you say it, especially when you pull them close and use their name. Love is one of the foundational cornerstones of every family, and the strength of that foundation is reinforced the more we verbalize it.
2. Hugs…
Whether you’re naturally a hugger or not, your kids both need and desire it from you. So, learn to get into the default of giving your kids hugs regularly for a multitude of different reasons – when you want to show them you love them, you’re proud of them, you’re happy for them, you’re sad for them, you missed them, you are thankful for them, you appreciate them. Come up with reasons to give hugs to your children every day, or simply give them unexpected hugs for no reason at all.
3. Compliments…
When someone gives a compliment, it becomes contagious.I don’t know about your family, but in mine, when someone gives a compliment, it becomes contagious. We’ve recently tried to implement an idea in our home that I learned from my friend, Greg Gunn, that we will treat each other better than our best friend. Because sometimes it’s easy to treat people outside of our home better than we do those within it. And it shouldn’t be that way. Compliments are an easy way to help with that.
4. Praise…
You always get more of what you affirm, whether it’s positive or negative. Because of this, praise needs to be a regular part of a home. Yet praise doesn’t usually come naturally, while criticism of one another does. But when we’re intentional, there are plenty of good things we can find to notice in one another if we try. Pointing them out and praising each other for them makes those good things more likely to continue.
5. Acts of kindness…
In a family, acts of kindness should be the norm, not something that we are surprised by. But this starts from the top down. When our kids see mom and dad showing kindness to each other and to others in the family, it has an amazing trickle-down effect.
