10 Ways That Parents Show Love for Their Children

Elizabeth Stone wrote in her book, A Boy I Once Knew: “Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart walking around outside your body.”

This sums up the way many parents feel about their children, and the love that they feel is often described as incomparable to any other kind of love. New parents are often astounded by the amount of love that they are capable of having.

Expressing parental love comes in many different forms. Here are 10 typical ways that parents show love for their children every day:

1. Putting food on the table and a roof overhead.

Making sure that a child’s basic needs are met is a major expression of love. For some parents throughout the world, it’s also one that is not always easy to accomplish.

2. Making sacrifices.

Putting a child’s needs before your own sometimes means putting your wants, needs and desires on the back burner – indefinitely.

3. Willingness to change and adapt.

Flexibility is key to being a parent. Perspectives and ways of doing things are often challenged. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to raising a healthy, happy child.

4. Always being on call.

Parents don’t punch a time clock; they are always on duty. Even when a child is grown and living on his or her own, a parent’s job is never done.

5. Providing protection from outside dangers.

Parental responsibility includes always aiming to keep a child safe from harm.

6. Teaching life skills.

One day, your child will leave the nest. A parent’s job in raising a child is to prepare the child for that day.

7. Supporting a child’s interests and dreams.

In most cases, if something is important to your child, even if you don’t understand why, it is important that your child has your full, unquestioning support.

8. Wanting to hear about what’s happening in a child’s life.

Your child is your world, your everything. Simply hearing about your child’s day can be rewarding.

9. Being a child’s biggest cheerleader.

You are your child’s number one fan, and are often quick to tell other people just how amazing your child is.

10. Always keeping a child’s best interest at heart.

You want what is best for your child, with no ulterior motive. Because of that, you always try to provide unbiased support and advice.

Another way that a parent shows love for a child is by putting money aside for the child’s future, such as by purchasing a savings bond or opening a savings account in the child’s name. Some parents also buy a children’s whole life insurance policy, such as the Gerber Life Grow-Up^® Plan, to help protect a child should the unthinkable happen to a parent, and to help provide greater financial security for child’s future.