Love Test

There are moments in my days of mothering when I'm sure a dumbstruck look appears on my face and I stare mutely at one (or more) of my children. They have the ability to completely surprise me with their reactions or comments or even their sometimes volcanic emotions.

Who are these little people anyway? What makes them tick? How can we as parents (almost always learning as we go) learn to show our children love in the exact way they expect to receive it?

When my husband and I were dating, we read through the popular book, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. We took the fun little quiz and found out that my husband's love language was touch while mine was time. We recently took the same quiz again and my love language is now gifts (or as I like to call it: meaningful gestures). Surprise of all surprises, my husband's is still touch. Shocker!

What I didn't know is that a similar version of the love language test is also available for your kids. I highly recommend doing this with each of your children. If nothing else, it's loads of fun.

About a month ago, we sat Cody down and asked him the 20 questions. Turns out he's a total words-of-affirmation kiddo. So we try to make an effort to love him up with all kinds of praise and attention. He's loving it...and always wanting to hear more. As I tucked him in bed last night, he asked, "mom, did you see how fast I went on my bike?" Sure it could have been a bed-time stall tactic. Or it could have been him letting me know in his own way that he needed a little more "love" from me. Either way I was happy to applaud his new two-wheel fast bike-riding skills.

Take this test with your kids today. You might just be surprised with what you learn.

Have you ever done a test like this with your child? What was their "love language"? What is yours? Do you find your "love language" fluctuates or is it always the same?