“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…” – by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

This is a line from one of my favorite poems. Indeed, it often makes me wonder how many ways exactly can we show our love for another person, most especially to our family.  

For most grown-ups, love seems to be the most complicated, complex concept in this world.  We often think that the concept of love is difficult to fully understanddue to its mysterious nature.  Ironically, however, love is actually one of the very first concepts that bring us to being.

Research shows interesting facts on how, as young as newborn babies, we already develop a basic understanding of the nature of love:

• Newborn babies may not exactly understand every word their parents say but they can actually “feel” the emotions behind it. While inside a mother’s womb, babies already start to listen to their parents’ voices but it is not until he is born that he begins tuning himself to their words and sentence patterns to figure out what they are trying to say.    • From newborn to 1 month, a baby stays emotionally attuned to the people around him. He can actually understand how others feel through their non-verbal way of communicating with him. This is also his way of discovering how special he is to his parents from the way they respond to his basic needs.  

• A baby’s tiny world revolves around his physical and emotional needs. Love, attention, and affection in the first years of life have a direct and measurable impact on a child's physical, mental, and emotional growth. Love and touch actually cause your child's brain to grow, according to Marian Diamond, Ph.D., author of Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child's Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth through Adolescence.