You already show your children the most sincere kind of love by the sacrifices you make for them, but children don’t usually understand this or make the connection between your sacrifice and your love. Therefore, make sure your children hear your love by expressing it verbally.

For example, say this: “I love you and would never want anything bad to happen to you in this life or the next.”

Then, make sure your children see your love in all your actions. For example, talk to them in private better than you talk to strangers in public. (Think about that for a minute.) When you argue, don’t be nasty, hateful or ugly to them – just be firm and control your anger to the best of your ability. Don’t hold grudges against them or bring up past hurts, etc.

In short, create a higher standard of treatment for your children than you would for other acquaintances, and make sure your children always see that standard. After all, your family should always treat you better than they treat other people and never worse, right? In too many homes, this is simply not the case.

If your child knows that you love him more than anybody else does, he will value your opinions, teaching, and example more than other people’s.