The University of Guelph’s Tricia van Rhijn offered insight to Today’s Parent magazine about forging bonds with children in a way that meshes with their way of expressing love.

Van Rhijn, a professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, explained that it’s important to understand a child’s primary method for experiencing love, whether it’s through hugs, words of affection or other ways.

Determining a child’s “love language” can help deepen a parent’s relationship with them, she said, and the best way to do that is to spend lots of one-on-one time together.

Van Rhijn is a registered early childhood educator with interests in adult education. She studies parent-child relationships, child development, early childhood education and care, and family relations.