How Do You Concretely Show Love For Your Family Daily?

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virtueworks

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It would be great to know (and surely an inspiration for readers) how fathers, mothers, and children show their love for each other daily. Someone said that people who love need no resolutions. But it would be good to learn from the ordinary efforts of people who are committed to loving their family for life. Let us know then.
 
Whenever I can, cook for them. (And I’m pretty good at it 😃 )

Blessings,

Gerry
 
I cook for my family; I do their laundry; I work on homework with my children; I drive my children to many activities and then stay and watch them participate; I volunteer at my children’s school so they see me there and know I care, I also want their school to be as good as it can be; I read with my children; I do not allow my children to watch much television–most days none. I discipline my children with love and firmness; I try not to allow them to eat junk food; I make a point of commenting on the positive things they do; I hug and kiss my children often.
 
my husband and i show love for each other in the small ways. we find it’s remembering and providing the tiny comforts we individually enjoy that makes each of us feel special.

*i have dinner ready shortly after he arrives home
*i turn down his side of the covers before bed
*i send little notes in his lunch
*i let him listen to cheesy Hall & Oates during long car trips (we are only 25 so H&O isn’t exactly our generation)
*i stop whatever i’m doing when he comes home and we cuddle and talk about our day
*i surprise him with rented movies that i find horribly boring but he finds ridiculously entertaining
*i watch Eagles’ games with him and yell things at the tv even when i don’t really know what i’m talking about, because it makes him laugh
*i play endless games of “catch” even though it hurts my arm and back after awhile, but he loves it
*i play kickball with him and the neighborhood kids, so he doesn’t feel silly about being the only “big kid” out there 🙂
*i keep track of his reading glasses because he always manages to lose them!!
*i refrain from getting the mail and let him do it, since he was never allowed to as a little kid and for some reason it’s never lost it’s thrill as an adult 😉
*i buy orange juice with tons of pulp in it because that’s what he loves, even though the mere thought of all that pulp makes me slightly sick
*i write notes to him in the shower steam on the mirror
*i pray with him whenever he asks me to, even if i grumble a little bit about it not being our “scheduled time”…which is silly for me to complain about…as who wouldn’t want a husband who wants to pray more!!!

anyway, these are just a few examples…it’s just about finding the little things that make someone feel special and appreciated.
 
I came up with a little note I posted on my fridge to remind me to love my children: P.I.E.

Praise
I Love You
Eye Contact

You know it’s so easy just to get caught up in the chores and “…yeah…uh huh…” to what your children say to you without even looking at their faces when they are speaking to you. This little reminder helps me to remember that I am not staying home with my children to do dishes or laundry, I am staying home with them to make sure they grow up right and faithful…
 
Practice your Catholocism faithfully… the best gift you can give your family…👍
 
I guess I show it in service to them…

I spend time w/ them…

The different ways in which I love them: telling them so…
Showing them… I’m very expressive…“huggy and kissy”:love:
I’m honest with them…
And, I pray with them and for them…🙂
 
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Princess_Abby:
my husband and i show love for each other in the small ways. we find it’s remembering and providing the tiny comforts we individually enjoy that makes each of us feel special.

*i have dinner ready shortly after he arrives home
*i turn down his side of the covers before bed
*i send little notes in his lunch
*i let him listen to cheesy Hall & Oates during long car trips (we are only 25 so H&O isn’t exactly our generation)
*i stop whatever i’m doing when he comes home and we cuddle and talk about our day
*i surprise him with rented movies that i find horribly boring but he finds ridiculously entertaining
*i watch Eagles’ games with him and yell things at the tv even when i don’t really know what i’m talking about, because it makes him laugh
*i play endless games of “catch” even though it hurts my arm and back after awhile, but he loves it
*i play kickball with him and the neighborhood kids, so he doesn’t feel silly about being the only “big kid” out there 🙂
*i keep track of his reading glasses because he always manages to lose them!!
*i refrain from getting the mail and let him do it, since he was never allowed to as a little kid and for some reason it’s never lost it’s thrill as an adult 😉
*i buy orange juice with tons of pulp in it because that’s what he loves, even though the mere thought of all that pulp makes me slightly sick
*i write notes to him in the shower steam on the mirror
*i pray with him whenever he asks me to, even if i grumble a little bit about it not being our “scheduled time”…which is silly for me to complain about…as who wouldn’t want a husband who wants to pray more!!!

anyway, these are just a few examples…it’s just about finding the little things that make someone feel special and appreciated.
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What a list…and only 25!! The trick is to make sure you don’t start crossing an item off with each passing year of your marriage.

As for myself…I was profoundly challenged when I gave up a career for full-time motherhood. I have no regrets or think for a moment that my time could have been better spent somewhere else, but that sentiment does not always make the process flow naturally.

My gifts are doing things that challenge my own desires or weaker skills but serve the needs of my family. Things like allowing an army of kids to be invited over after I just cleaned the house, laundry, cooking with the kids so they can “help” (make a mess!), laundry, volunteering for inane school fundraising projects (couln’t we all just write a check and call off the candy sale!), teaching CCD, laundry, letting all the kids pile into my bed on Saturday morning instead of sleeping in, laundry, playing the same board/card game for the 56th time in one week, laundry, counting to 10 or saying a desperation Hail Mary before “expressing disappointment” with a child or spouse…did I mention doing the laundry?

There are more…but I’ll stop here before I sound too ungrateful for the wonderful life and family God has blessed me with.
 
I hug and kiss my sons a lot. I listen to them when they talk. We pray daily as a family. I also ask them questions about their day and don’t let them get away with the brushoff answers “it was OK”- “we did nothing in school today”.

Most of all, I am their mom and not their friend.
 
I’m one of those who goes to a job, every day, as a way to show love for my family (in fact, the picture of my son is the only thing that keeps me from walking out somedays!)

When I get home, around 7 PM - no matter how wiped out - we sit and talk, all of us (teenage son included) - sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes for hours. And every night before he goes to bed - and every morning before I go to work, I “bless” my son by tracing a cross on his forehead. He still comes and pushes his head down where I can reach it, even when he has friends over!
 
I cook their favorites
Help with homework even when I’d rather not (I mean like when they
tell you at 10pm that they need a poster board)
Talk to the kids, and really find out what is happening in their lives
Drive people places
clean (YUCK!)
accompany them to church, and pray at home
keep up family outings even when they get older
spend time and make them your priority
put family before phone calls, computer and friends
 
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Fitz:
I cook their favorites
Help with homework even when I’d rather not (I mean like when they
tell you at 10pm that they need a poster board)
Drive people places
clean (YUCK!)
put family before phone calls, computer and friends
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Thanks, I needed that reminder. While I do all of these things, too, my challenge is to do them CHEERFULLY and without complaining.:o

Also I make a conscious effort to speak to them always in loving terms and with gentle words. This is a real penance sometimes when you’re dealing with rebellious teenagers.
 
I try to treat my family better than I treat strangers, because we very often do just the reverse.
I go outta my way to SAY “I love you” lest something happen and they not hear that on the day that one of us dies.
I make very sure that my sons (3 fine, all-but-grown sons) know that I love them and that I’m proud of them for how they live their lives because they’re all good dudes, but I also tell 'em that NOTHING, but nothing will ever change that love that we have for them.
I speak to my beloved wife as I did in the days when we were first in love, because that falls by the way side after one is married…and shouldn’t.
I do my best to live the kind of life that points them to a deeper relationship with Our Lord and stress the fact that being both Irish and Polish, we are basically Catholic all then way back to our DNA.
 
you each put me to shame; I feel I have been yelling a lot lately and I feel my children are not having the Catholic family upbringing I wanted even though we go to Mass, my husband goes to Eucharistic adoration. I find that when the parents are not acting as a team the family is torn apart.
 
Answer: with Lots of Affection, praise and encouragement, frequent telling everyone how smart, wonderful they are, how they "did the right thing, how proud I am of them, etc., general concern for their lives, taking an interest in their job (hubby), and school (kids), cooking healthy meals, keeping an orderly cozy home, telling family “I Love You” daily, buying them little surprises from time to time, etc., i.e., a new sweatshirt, some cologne for hubby or a new shirt or tie, or little pastries for dessert to have by the fire, i.e., little things mean alot!!! IMO

Most of All, thanking God daily for the abundant blessing of a family to love:)
 
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bapcathluth:
I cook for my family; I do their laundry; I work on homework with my children; I drive my children to many activities and then stay and watch them participate; I volunteer at my children’s school so they see me there and know I care, I also want their school to be as good as it can be; I read with my children; I do not allow my children to watch much television–most days none. I discipline my children with love and firmness; I try not to allow them to eat junk food; I make a point of commenting on the positive things they do; I hug and kiss my children often.
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You’re awesome!!!

God Bless You~~~~
 
An interesting book I found was The Five Love Languages. It is a protestant author but the value is in the message of how we show love to each other.

My husband and I took the “test” and it was very enlightening. People tend to show affection in the way that they want to be shown affection, and not necessarily how the other person views affection. Did that make sense? Basically my husband is Words of Affection and a Touchy Feely. Meanwhile I’m a person who knows they are loved when things are completed (such as taking out the trash!) and just by being in the same room as each other. By learning what they other appreciates, we communicate so much better and our marriage is stronger.
 
The month of February reminds us of renewing our love for our beloved…
 
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