Jurnal Psikologi Malaysia 29 (2) (2015): 11-19 ISSN-2289-8174 11 HOW DO MOTHERS NURTURE LOVE VIA PARENTING? Jamiah Manap 1 Fazilah Idris 2 Syaidatun Nazirah Abu Zahrin 2 Zuraidah Ali 3 1 Centre of Psychology and Human Development, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2 Centre of CITRA, National University of Malaysia 3 Department of Language and Social Sciences, College of Foundation and General Studies, Universiti Tenaga Nasional ABSTRACT Love and compassion are two of the most persuasive emotional attachments in the family. Mothers’ true love empowers children’s survival in the world and hereafter. Thus, this research aims to understand on how the Malaysian award winners for exemplary mothers category (Ibu Mithālī) show their love and mercy to their children in order to develop parent-child attachment. To answer the research question, research was done using Grounded Theory approach. As a result, three main themes have emerged: physical touch, emotional touch and spiritual touch. Love and mercy from mothers are pertinent in child development. Therefore, mothers should nurture their children with love and compassion to balance firm discipline and strict rules in the family. Keywords: Love, family development, exemplary mother, parenting. INTRODUCTION Love is the most important essence of family well-being. Love in family strengthens family attachment and strengths. Parental love especially from mothers gives positive impact in child growth and development. Children with loving mothers are more likely to have high self-esteem and higher academic achievements than their counterparts (Jamiah, 2013). However, the question arises: what is the best practice of parental love? How should the mothers portray their love and compassion towards their children? Thus, the research was carried out to understand how exemplary mothers, the National Ibu Mithali’s award winners, shower love and compassion to their children without spoiling them. Literature Review What is Love? A novelist, Lisa Apegnanesi perceives love as an unruly emotion (Webster, 2012). Love has no age boundary. Anybody can fall in love either he is a little baby, a toddler, a teenager, an adult or an old man. However, the energy of love is less when people get older. Turgenev in his novel said that he never had a first love but he began with the second. The first love is for his mother or career (Webster, 2012). Al-Ghazali (2009) in "The Alchemy of Happiness" defines love as a tendency to engage in something delightful. He also defines love as an attraction to the mind which pulls toward something interesting and gives peace. When the attraction is strong and firm, then the love will get deeper. Al - Jawziyyah (1997) defines love (mahabbah) as something sacred, calm, strong and peaceful. It also refers to painful feeling when a person falls in love particularly in situations of deep longing for loved ones. Through this, one's love towards someone or something becomes very exciting and at the same time, a wave of emotion is created in the hearts of lovers. Love is also known as 'hawa' which is a tendency, and a deep desire for a