The 5 Love Language of Children, Review and Giveaway

About a month ago, I shared about the book A Perfect Pet for Peyton. When I received that book for my kids, I also received The 5 Love Languages of Children for me to review.

About 5 Love Languages of Children (from the publisher):

To be their best, children need to feel loved. But if you and your child speak different love languages, your affection might get lost in translation, affecting the child’s attitude, behavior, and development. Dr. Gary Chapman’s groundbreaking Five Love Languages series has helped millions of couples communicate love more clearly, and Dr. Ross Campbell M.D. has applied the innovative system to children as well. The 5 Love Languages of Children gives practical suggestions for learning how your children interpret love and creating a sense of security in which they can thrive.

What I thought:

I've heard about the five love languages before, and I was very impressed with the way the authors applied the general love languages concepts to parents and children. Each language received a chapter explaining what that specific language means to a child and how to speak to your child in that language. I particularly liked the two page spread at the end of each of these chapters that gave specific examples of ways that a parent could love their child in that particular way.

If this book only taught how to better love your child, it would be worth reading. Those lessons are in the first half of the book, and there is so much more to learn. The second half deals with even more practical applications of the love languages -- parenting, disciplining, and learning. I keep thinking back to the question that I learned to ask in this book, "What does my child need when she misbehaves?" Often, misbehavior is a cry for love. I'm still trying to figure out how I can apply this question and all the lessons in this book to my family, but it has given me a good place to start.

I'd highly recommend reading this book for any parent or anyone who works with children. The book is fairly easy to understand, but it will challenge you to look at more closely at yourself and your relationship with the children that count on you to give them love.

Giveaway:

In addition to a copy of the book to review, I also received a copy to give away to a reader. I'm going to make this giveaway an easy one to enter. Simply leave a comment below, and I'll draw a random number to be the winner. Contest ends Saturday night, June 9th.