Tell Them The Way You Feel

Each year that I have been a leader at girl’s camp I have given the girls a letter from their parents to make them feel special and loved.

One night I gave each of the girls their letters. Some got emotional while others made light of them. Later that evening I found one girl quite emotional. I ask her what was going on and she handed me the letter and ask me to read it. In it her mother told her how much she loved and appreciated her and said how proud she was of the life she was living. She told me that her mother had never told her anything nice like that before and it meant so much to her.

One mother told me thanks for asking her to write a letter to her daughter and said it had really strengthened their relationship. The girl told her mom that she never knew her mom felt that way about her. She wrapped her arms around her mom’s neck and asked her mom to hold her. It had been years since she had done that.

This experience taught me the importance of letting people know how much we love them by saying it and writing it. I’m sure these mothers show their daughters that they love them by their actions but maybe not in spoken or written word that they can easily understand. Everyone has a different way of expressing their feelings, but I learned that kids need to hear it and read it. They don’t always just know how we feel. It’s so important to let our kids know that we love and cherish them and that we are proud of them too.