We each have our own ‘love languages’. I set about to find out what my kids’ were during a special Valentine’s Dinner last night…
I surprised my boys with a Valentine’s Day dinner last night. Both of them had experienced ‘a long day’ and were wanting to unwind a bit, so this was doubly exciting for them.
The table was set nicely with flowers, a candle and our special-occasion wine glasses. The meal was something they would both appreciate – cajun barbecue nachos with hummus, a nice salad with feta and gherkins, ice-cream for afterwards and red grapetizer to drink. The boys were in their element! Food speaks to them (o:
I made them each a card too, with an encouraging message, and some Valentine’s Day bunting inspired by a bible verse that talks about what love is. So even after Valentine’s Day is over, we can have it up for a bit to inspire us to love well.
5 Love Languages
Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to talk about what it means to love and how we can do that well. So, halfway through the meal, we each filled out “5 Love Languages” questionnaires. The “5 Love Languages” books by Gary Chapman are very useful tools to identify how each of us like to be loved and how we like to show love. In a family it is good to know who appreciates what so we can make sure our love messages get through to one another.
It was a lot of fun seeing what the boys chose. One of them scored ‘0’ for physical affection (like me haha), but as soon as there was even a mention of a gift or something he could be given, his eyes buzzed. The other’s need for quality time and acts of service came through strongly. It was helpful to recognise how different each of us is. And good for me to know that both of them felt very loved last night – one pleased to have been given lots of nice food and a card and the other good, uninterrupted time doing something together. Yay. (They did make me think that food could be a 6th love language?!)
I see the Love Languages books are available at Amazon, if you are looking for them, but probably most mainstream bookshops too.
Enjoy Valentine’s Day today. I hope you feel special and loved by someone, and have taken time to appreciate those around you too.
K.
