About teaching children to give and to receive love

We need to surround our children with the armour of love - and that is love given but also love returned, not just love taken and especially not love 'taken for granted'.

Children need to be taught how to give love, to care about and for family, friends and others. We must let them learn the pleasure of giving cards and presents and little acts of kindness. We mustn't let them feel that giving is a one-way street.

The more we teach them to love and care for others, the more love and care they will be able to receive and appreciate. By allowing them to be selfish, we do them one of the greatest possible disservices.

If we bring them up to be the centre of their own universes, we deprive them of the greatest gift in life. That is the knowledge that other people exist, that they matter, that being aware of other people's needs and concerns and responding to them, can be the greatest source of true happiness in this world. If we help them to connect with the world, the world will connect with them.