Lyndsae Benton: 40 Ways to Tell a Child You Love Them

1. Read them a bedtime story.
2. Bake them cookies.
3. Let them bake you cookies, eat them (no matter what they taste like), then clean up without complaint.
4. Draw them a picture.
5. Dance with them.
6. Turn on the sprinkler for them to run through in the backyard.
7. Take them on a walk and let them pick the route.
8. Watch cartoons with them.
9. Tell them funny stories from when they were a baby.
10. Cuddle them when they are sick.
11. Keep on building that block tower, no matter how many times they knock it over.
12. Write them a poem.
13. Pack in the words “infinity times a million bazillion times infinity plus two” any time you say “I love you.”
14. Write messages with the icing on their Toaster Strudel.
15. Make a treasure map and let them dig up the backyard.
16. Hang their paintings on the refrigerator.
17. Take them to birthday parties that you don’t want to go to.
18. Listen to their stories. Ask questions. Make animated faces.
19. Sing to them, especially in the morning.
20. Greet them with phrases such as “Now there’s my favoritest most specialest thing in the whole wide world!”
21. Twirl them around in the air.
22. Play catch in the backyard. Kick a soccer ball around. Throw a frisbee.
23. Teach them the really important things from childhood: how to transfer the funny papers onto silly putty; how to fold a paper airplane; how to whistle, how to climb trees, how to do a cartwheel.
24. Let them wear lip gloss. Paint their fingernails. Play dress up.
25. Build them a tree house.
26. Leave a note in their lunchbox.
27. Wake them up gently.
28. Make them buckle up in the car, and tell them that it is because you love them when they whine about it.
29. Feed them healthy food.
30. Hug them often. Smother them with kisses. Tickle them.
31. Teach them how to build forts out of sheets and chairs. Leave them up for a day or two.
32. Help them with their homework. Be involved in their school.
33. Bring them a “prize” for no reason.
34. Take them on fun vacations.
35. Take them to do things you know that they love: swimming, going to the zoo, shopping, whatever it is…
36. Carve jack-o-lanterns. Decorate Christmas trees. Hide Easter eggs. Cut out red hearts.
37. Tell them stories from your own childhood, especially the embarrassing ones.
38. Make messes with them.
39. Always say nice things about them to others when they think you don’t know they’re listening.
40. Say the words. I love you. Every day. Every day. Every day.