A family tradition encouraged by our church is to devote one evening each week to family time, particularly helpful during non-pandemic days of yore when every other night seemed filled with sports, music lessons, school activities, and such.
Typically, we teach our children life lessons that my wife and I feel are needed by one or more family members at the time. Other times we play games, go hiking, make s'mores, etc.
This past week my wife had the idea to share Gary Chapman's Five Love Languages concept with our children. We were introduced to his book early in our marriage which helped me understand better why I'm so bad at gift-giving. I actually have an amazing gift-giver friend who I consult with regularly because I'm so blind in this area. Anyway, I digress.
So, we found this great feature on Chapman's website where couples, singles, teens, and children can take a quiz to help them understand their love languages.
I was surprised how well our children responded to the quiz and the discussion that ensued. Each of us shared our primary love languages and those where we scored low. It was helpful and insightful for each of our children to hear about one another and learn more about themselves. We learned a great deal about whose love buckets weren't getting filled properly and how we could do better.
We ended our discussion by going around the room and sharing how we can improve how we can show love to each family member. 5 out of 5, highly recommended!