The Importance of Family Love

Family love is one of our first and most important forces in our lives. It’s a foundation we often return to as a source of strength, comfort, identity, and encouragement. Many people find this connection in the families they are born into, but others discover it through bonds built by other connections. This idea of found family, or the people who stand by us by choice and not out of obligation, can be just as vital.

What Is Family Love?

The first love you ever know often comes from your mother and your immediate family members. This unconditional love seeks nothing in return. Those loving times you remember cuddling with your parents, playing ball with your brother in the backyard, or getting ice cream down the street with your grandmother aren’t just cherished memories – they are foundational moments that influence who you are today.

A family’s love psychologically grounds you and provides a framework for future relationships. It enables you to form secure attachments. Securely attached children feel safe and cared for. If you had secure bonds, your parents were likely responsive and fulfilled your needs when you were young.

Positive attachments and feeling cared for by loved ones lead to higher social functioning later on. Children with secure attachments can also more easily form healthy ties with others when they grow up and throughout their lives.

Benefits of Family Love

Living in a warm environment that is surrounded by a family’s love generates other benefits, including:

You gain confidence and a high sense of self-esteem
You learn conflict resolution skills
You learn about communication and social interactions
You become more resilient and adaptable as you and your family surmount challenges
You feel like you have support when you need it
You feel a sense of stability and predictability based on routine
You don’t have to do anything to earn family love. You have it unconditionally – just for being born
Your childhood experiences and growth are seen in a positive light
You also decrease the possibility that you’ll have mental health challenges in the future

Recent Research

Early family relationships have a lasting effect on health and well-being throughout life. A 2019 study showed that adults with higher levels of positive childhood experiences had lower odds of depression and/or poor mental health and greater adult-reported social and emotional support.

Factors That Can Negatively Affect Family Love

A number of recent events may have contributed to significant disruptions in family love and relationships. For example, during COVID-19, family dynamics often shifted due to spending so much time in close proximity. Spending so much time together made some relationships fray. Lack of personal space led to conflicts and increased frustration with family members.

Though you are related to them by genetics, being cooped up with family members can be challenging. That, combined with other stresses and demands, led many of us to feel like we weren’t getting the understanding or assistance we needed.

Others of us lived and worked across the country from our family. We couldn’t travel to visit them or perhaps we couldn’t give much time to loved ones. Maybe we felt guilty. Maybe we were relieved.

Creating Family Love With Friends

Family love can be built with a group outside of your family, such as your friendship circle. Rest assured you don’t have to be extremely close to your parents or siblings or children to have familial love.

For many people, their close friends aren’t just “like family,” they are family. The important thing is to have close, meaningful relationships as they sustain us.

While we can maintain ties through texting or quick phone calls to just check in, you might want to devote more attention to these important relationships in your life. We need to remember that having these close relationships is a significant aspect of good health.

Tips for Nurturing Family Love

Let’s focus on easy ways to maintain these bonds; they matter deeply. Here are additional ways to nurture family love and significant relationships:

Make spending time with loved ones a priority
Practice better listening skills
Set up a regular weekend hour to chat at length
Travel to your loved one’s home
Eat meals together
Cook together in person or virtually
Set up a weekly happy hour
Join an exercise or weightlifting class together
Join a recreational sports team together
Volunteer together for a charity you both admire
Be sensitive and caring
Tell your loved ones you love them
Express your gratitude to them, which will not only make them happy but make you happier
Use non-verbal expressions like eye contact, smiles, and affectionate embraces

Hugs are also important as we need physical touch as human beings. In fact, during a warm and welcoming hug, the hormone oxytocin is released, which slows down our heart rate, reduces stress, and lowers anxiety. In addition, the brain also releases endorphins that flood us with feelings of pleasure and happiness.