14 things to say to your children

And a call-and-response we use at bedtime

I’ve written before about the phrase John has repeated to our children for their whole lives: “you are very precious to me.” That’s literally what he says: you are very precious to me.

I don’t know where he got that particular phrase, but he has been saying it, sometimes multiple times a day, since June was small: when he wakes them in the morning, when he tucks them in at night, after a game, after a report card, in a quiet moment. Sometimes it is met with a shrug, sometimes a smile or hug. Sometimes they’ll even repeat it back to him.