This article examines the affective dimension of the linguistic repertoire of multilingual families. Specifically, resulting from a three-year ethnographic project in Norway, this study sets out to better understand the role of affect in parent-child interactions as members of two Brazilian-Norwegian families draw on their multilingual linguistic repertoires in the ongoing construction of their familial ties. A discursive analytical approach was employed to examine audio-recordings made by one of the parents of each family (i.e. around 15 h of recordings in total). The analysis demonstrates how certain linguistic features (i.e. terms of endearment and the 'you are … '-format), combined with the use of the participants' multilingual repertoire, accomplish three interrelated social actions; they: (1) convey parental value-laden aspirations of child-rearing, (2) position children according to expected social roles, and (3) forge parent-child ties. These findings are supplemented with interview data, which serve to illustrate the role of home-external contexts in encouraging the parents to use Portuguese with their children in the home. Focusing on the affective dimension of parent-child interactions as they draw on their multilingual repertoires to construct familial bonds contributes to an underexplored area in family multilingualism studies.