parental love

Mother's fierce tenderness

Parental love is the deep affection and protective devotion a parent feels toward their child.

It encompasses nurturing, sacrifice, and an instinctive drive to ensure a child's wellbeing: Nothing compares to a parent's love.

The term often appears in discussions of attachment, child development, and the bonds that shape early life.

Opposites
emotional orientation toward children

parental lovechild abuse

Harm inflicted on minors

parental neglect · child neglect · parental rejection · filicide · child abandonment

relational direction

parental lovefilial love

Affection toward one's parents

filial piety · filial devotion

Family

love, parent, loving, parents, parenting, parental, grandparent, parentage, parenthood

Familiarity
Top 200,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Positive · Everyday, not technical · Rated G