Parenting Perspective 

Children naturally recognise love in the form of hugs, kind words, and gifts. However, lasting family love is most deeply strengthened by service, which includes the daily actions of caring for, helping, and showing up for one another. If children only learn to receive service, they may grow up with a sense of entitlement. If they see both giving and receiving as acts of love, they learn that service is not a burden but is instead a source of connection and growth. Parents can weave this beautiful lesson into everyday family life. 

Model Service with Joyful Intention 

When you hand your child their food, adjust their pillow, or listen to their stories, you can add a simple phrase like, “I do this because I love you, and serving you makes my love for you grow.” Linking your actions to a feeling of growing love helps them to see your service as a privilege and a joy, not a complaint. 

Highlight the Power of Small Gestures 

Take the time to notice when your child helps you, even in the smallest of ways. You could say, “When you passed me that glass of water without me asking, it made me feel so cared for. Thank you.” By recognising these small acts, you show your child that love grows in ordinary, everyday moments, not only in grand gestures. 

Create Shared Rituals of Service 

You can build simple routines where everyone in the family serves one another. This could be as simple as siblings preparing a fruit plate for each other in the afternoon, or a child bringing a cup of tea to a parent. When it is practised together, mutual service becomes a natural family rhythm that strengthens affection. 

Use Service as a Tool for Repair 

After an argument or a moment of tension, you can encourage a simple act of kindness by saying, “Why do we not do something nice for each other to show that our love is stronger than this disagreement?” In this way, service becomes not only an act of maintenance but also one of healing. 

Anchor Service in Gratitude 

You can say aloud, “Alhamdulillah, our love for each other grows every time we serve one another.” This sense of gratitude helps to reframe the act of service as a blessing, helping your children to see that giving care increases love rather than draining it. 

With these simple steps, your children can learn the beautiful lesson that true love is not weakened by effort, but is in fact multiplied by it. 

Spiritual Insight 

In Islam, serving one’s family with a sincere heart is a profound act of worship. It is a practical way to live out the teachings of our faith and to strengthen the bonds that Allah has deemed sacred. 

The Quran on Doing Good Within Families 

Allah Almighty states in the noble Quran at Surah Al Nisa (4), Verses 36: 

‘And worship Allah (Almighty) only, and do not ascribe to anything instead of Him (Allah Almighty); (which amounts to  icon worshipping/paganism); and with parents (proceed with them favourably), and with close relatives and friends and impoverished (people); and your neighbour that is close to your neighbourhood, and the neighbour that is remote from you; and the companion by your side and the traveller and those (women) that are legally bound to you; indeed, Allah (Almighty) does not love those who are deceitful and arrogant.’ 

This verse makes the acts of service and kindness essential parts of a believer’s faith. When parents frame their service to their children as an expression of their love for Allah, children learn to see the act of helping their family as both an act of worship and a gesture of affection. 

The Hadith on Service as a Mark of Faith 

It is recorded in Riyadh Al Saliheen, Hadith 278, that the holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: 

‘The most perfect of believers in faith is the one who is best in moral character.’ 

This Hadith links the strength of a person’s faith directly to the beauty of their character and their care for their family. Parents who show their love through acts of service and invite their children to do the same are teaching them that love is an active expression of faith. Over time, the family bond becomes a living reflection of mercy, where love grows not through words alone, but through consistent and caring action.