Happy Belated Valentine’s Day friends! We made it- you have a year until you have to worry about the class valentine debacle again. Ok, realistically you should start worrying sooner. I thought I was ahead of the game this year and bought PRESTUFFED hearts for my daughters’ class (can I get an amen?). If you are the amazing and gifted person who can pull off the homemade and creative cards, I applaud you. I just cannot get it together to be that person. As I’m doing my smug happy dance, I was informed by my daughters’ school that they are “leaning away” from candy cards this year. Hold on. What does ‘leaning away from’ actually mean… Will they kick her out? I’ll risk it.
Long story short, we spent the night before Valentine’s making TWENTY EIGHT valentines from scratch because Target had approximately zero left in stock. Twenty eight is no laughing matter for a four year old or honestly for her mama. But surprisingly, it did give us a gift no prestuffed valentine could have provided. It gave us the gift of time. Time together and time spent talking through what love means. We spent the night giving each other examples of why we love our friends and each other. And the best part of all is that I got to share with her why we love in the first place. She has a Heavenly Father who created her in His image and He loved her first! This is not our usual flow of conversation but boy was I grateful for every second. The crafting on the other hand, not so much.
I challenge you to take five minutes today to talk with your kids about love. Leverage this yearly rhythm to remind your kids how much God loves them. Although it might not feel entirely natural, you can use this opportunity to share your faith with them. Here are three ideas you can easily pull off at home tonight or sometime this week:
Cut hearts out of construction paper, write something that you love about your child on each heart and tape it to their bedroom door. Share it with them as they get ready for bed.
Plan a special candlelight dinner for your family this week. Making memories doesn’t have to be over the top or elaborate. Take turns going around the table and share something special you love about each person.
Conversation hearts: Look up the verses below as a family and talk about God’s great love for us. And because you don’t go to my daughter’s school, enjoy the treats while you do it!
I was feeling like our talk had really sunk in until we were driving to school this morning. I told my daughter how much I loved her and to make sure she shared kindness with her friends today.
My daughter: “I love you so much Mom!”
Me (through tears obviously): “You do?”
My daughter: “Yep! Old people are my favorite!”
And now, please excuse me while I go cry for an entirely different reason and buy the best anti-aging serum I can get my old wrinkled hands on.