It happened again just last week.  During one of my therapy sessions with an almost four year old boy, I got to witness a little magic.  He said I love you to his mother for the very first time.  There were tears.  There was laughter.  There were giggles and smiles all around.  It was magic, sheer magic.  This wasn’t just an everyday “I Love You” of course, this was something we had been working on for weeks, even months in therapy.  A lot of hard work (especially by mom) was involved but as you can suspect, it was all SO worth it.

For those of us who have verbal children, how often do we all take those little words for granted? How often do we get caught up in our busy day to day routines we forget to say it each and every day and that’s OK, because they already know we love them, right?  I’m sure they do know it BUT what a gift it is to actually be able to say it loud and clear to them.

Since love is in the air this month, one thing we can all be sure to do without adding anything else to our plates is to stop and really communicate these words to our children.  Both our verbal and nonverbal children.  Look them in the eyes and say it with joy.  Treasure it.  Savor it.  Say it many different ways…

I LOVE YOU.

You are one amazing kid!

I love to watch you ____.

Out of all the children in this world, you are MINE.

How lucky I am to have you!

You light up my day.

Do you know how much you mean to me?

You are one cool kid!

You know how to spread a little sunshine everywhere you go.

You get the idea!  Let’s not get so focused on the “activity” involved this month celebrating Valentine’s Day, that we forget the most simple and meaningful way we can connect with our children, communicating our love to them out loud.  They can never get enough of it.  If you are lucky enough, you may just be on the receiving end of a love message right back at you too!

Happy Valentine’s Week!!

**Disclaimer:  All communication tips offered in the blog are not meant to substitute for professional speech and language services if your child qualifies for them.  They are meant for educational purposes only,  to provide simple examples of ways to promote speech and language development in children.