Mama loves you no matter what

This is the phrase that my girl loves to hear me say the most. Recently, I managed to buy some good quality Scholastic story books for under RM5. It was a steal. My girl particularly liked one book called "Mama, Do You Love Me?"

In it is a story of a little girl who asks her mama how much, how long and whether her mama still loves her if she has been naughty, broken some stuff accidentally or turns into something hideous. Of course the answer is "Yes, Mama loves you dear one, Mama Loves you no matter what."

I think its important to give this message to our children ie that our love for them is unconditional that we love them no matter what, no matter who they are or what they look like. I always try to show my children this but sometimes I worry that I may have overdone it.

I worry about this when my girl seem to seek loving reassurance from me too frequently. She would go round all day telling me "Mummy, I love you" and if I don't reply with a "I love you too." she'd become unhappy. When that happens, I can see hubby in the background rolling his eyes.

I am a little worried that the kids seem to always seek reassurance from me. Whenever they have been bad, they would come to me and try to force a smile out of me by smiling at me right in my face. If I don't give them a smile in return (and it has to be the exact same kind of smile that they are giving me which is an opened mouth grin for my boy and a smile with lips closed for my girl), it would make them cry. When I tell them, "No, I don't want you to behave like this. You cannot force someone to smile at you exactly in the way that you want!" they would tell me "Mummy, we want you to be happy!" Its blackmail I tell you! The kids are really good at blackmail and sometimes I'm at a loss as to how to handle this situation.

Parenting is hard. Its a fine line......trying to give but not giving too much.... of anything.... even affection.

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