Children react to situations and emotions in different ways due to their inherent love language.

According to Dr. Gary D Chapman PhD and Ross Campbell MD, we are all born with a natural ‘love language’ that determines how we express our love and how we expect to be loved in return.

Let’s unpack one of the five love languages of children which is gifts. Love languages determine our attitudes, behaviour, and development. We all experience and express our love in different ways: e.g. through physical touch, by words of affirmation, by spending quality time, giving and receiving gifts and doing acts of service.

A friend once shared the story of her youngest of five children, a daughter, who always whined for a gift when her mother returned from the grocery store. Her four other children never complained about receiving a gift, and this confused her every time. She went on to google (as we all do) about this very dominant trait in her four-year-old, and when she found Chapman and Ross’s book, the penny dropped.

Her youngest had a love language of giving and receiving gifts. Every time her mother returned empty-handed, she felt unloved. She soon built up a stash of inexpensive but meaningful gifts to present to her little one. Handwritten notes with pictures inside her lunch box or posted on her bedroom door encouraged her daughter’s love language daily. While the older siblings shook their heads and smiled, her baby girl was happy and she thrived.

Children with gifts as their love language cherish every gift they receive and will most likely keep the wrapping and the ribbon for months or years to come. They are incredibly sentimental, and they will cherish their gifts for ages. Your gifts child will look for excuses to make or buy gifts for others, and a flower or homemade card will find its way to your pillow regularly. Birthdays and celebrations are highlights for these softhearted children, and the lack of a gift, no matter the value, could break their hearts.

Children with this love language will always feel adored when presented with a gift. Remember, the gifts do not always have to break your bank account. Get creative with gifts ideas that do not necessarily require a trip to the mall.

We look forward to sharing our next post as we discover another love language.

Until next time,

Keep Sparkling!

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