By Ghadeer Ghloum

KUWAIT: Despite the fact that parents' love for their children is a natural human instinct, some parents fail to reassure their children about their love. Clearly expressing and showing love both verbally and physically is necessary to raise children to ensure tranquility and serenity in the environment that the kids are growing in.

Om Abdullah

Om Abdullah, a mother of three, told Kuwait Times about the necessity of reminding children that they are loved. "Love is the core element of raising children to become peaceful and mature individuals. It is necessary to express love both in words and in action while parenting, because a family is a child's first experience of social life. Growing up in a loving family will result in upbringing an individual who has a good and peaceful character to socialize with others," she said.

People who are surrounded with enough love since their childhood grow into adulthood with a good understanding of its essentiality in life and develop a capability of offering it to others. "Because love has been rooted in their upbringing, my children are capable of reciprocating it among each other, which indicates how their experience at socializing with other people is going to look like," Om Abdullah said.

Nejoud Al-Yagout

To confirm the necessity of notifying children that they are loved and its positive impact on their social, personal and practical life, Kuwaiti author Nejoud Al-Yagout said: "Children need to feel safe and cherished in order to thrive. In essence, children require love. But what does it mean to love a child? A child needs to know that even when things are tough, they have a family who loves them. Children who are raised in loving households mirror love and share it in their communities. Because love is the water, the seed and the fertilizer that provide growth and nutrition to young ones. And when we realize that, we will understand that it is the only way to be with a child."

Parents worry about their children's vulnerability to a wide exposure of unacceptable content on their devices, at school or anywhere else. Om Abdullah said: "Teenagers today are being exposed to various contents that take part in formulating their ideas. However, children will come back to their parents' guidance if they had grown up on an explicit experience of love that created trust and transparency between both sides."

Showing clear expressions and signs of love to children solidifies their connection to their core values despite being exposed to multiple contents and ideas. Personalities differ from one person to another, which makes expressing love uneasy for some parents. According to Om Abdullah, adults who choose to become parents should not submit to this aspect in their personality, but rather learn to explicitly confirm and express their love to their children, because it is the parents' responsibility to fulfill their children's need for love. "This is an uneasy task as it requires a lot of effort and sacrifices. Unlike any other type of love, the genuineness of parents' love remains unreplaceable, which makes it a considerable responsibility for parents," she said.