Being a parent is hard. Being a working parent is its own kind of difficult. Many parents love their jobs or need to work in order to pay the bills. Either way, work is essential, and that means that they can’t spend as much time with their children as they might prefer.

There are many ways to make sure your children know you love them even if you are not with them throughout the day. Sometimes a small gesture that only takes a few minutes can mean the world to a child.

Hoda Kotb is a mom of two adopted children, Hope, who is two, and Haley, who is five. Working on a show like TODAY means that she has to get up and leave the house extremely early each morning, yet she always makes time for her daughters before going to work.

Kotb has a unique way to make sure her daughters know their mom is thinking about them, and it’s something that literally any parent could do. She writes the girls a special note and draws a picture of them. She explained that Haley reads the words, and Hope points out who is who in the picture.

On a recent episode of TODAY, Kotb opened up to Jenna Bush Hager about these special notes that she writes for her daughters and gave an example of what the drawings might look like. Watch the video below to learn more about Kotb’s notes and to see Hager’s emotional reaction.

Do you have any special traditions that you do for your children so that they know how much you love them? Have you ever written notes for your children? Does Kotb’s idea of writing notes each morning inspire you to try doing something similar? What are other ways you could make sure your children start the day knowing they’re loved?