16
FEATURE
Our Children | Spring 2020
on stage April 17 - 19 Spending quality time together may be what your family needs to feel connected.
Book now at
neptunetheatre.com
Young men often learn that showering people in his life with gifts is what’s important. “As they grew up, they were taught to speak that specific language,” Chapman says. “So when you grow up with the idea that gifts equals love, he then buys gifts for his wife, but that’s not what he wants. He’s doing that because that’s what he was taught to do.” Chapman’s top advice for parents is to learn their own love language. “If both mom and dad are open to the concept, and they can see how important it is to their marriage, then they’re going to see how important it is to their children,” he explains. His advice would be to read the book for couples first, take the quiz to discover each other’s love language, and try speaking it to just see what happens. “I think they’ll see an improvement of the emotional climate in their marriage,” he says, “so when you bring up the concept of children having different love languages, they’ll be highly motivated to make sure their child gets the right language.” This process will set you in the right direction to maximize the love of your child. “The question is not do you love your children,” he says. “The question is: do your children feel loved? Parents are sincere in their love for their child, but there’s some children that aren’t going to feel loved because they aren’t receiving love in their own love language.” Maureen agrees that starting personally was a key factor in understanding the languages of everyone in her family. Her primary love language is acts of service. She recalls telling her husband approvingly about a husband she saw on TV who makes coffee for his wife every morning. “Now when he’s home he does that for me every morning,” she said. “It’s fun when you can get some clarity on what you appreciate the most.” Learn more about love languages, including a quiz to help you identify your own love language, at 5lovelanguages.com.
Feedback www
ourchildrenmagazine.ca
OurChildrenMagazine
tadams@metroguide.ca
@OurChildrenMag
www