Aahh, Valentine’s Day. This holiday is tricky. It can be seen as a plague among the unintentionally single. It’s resoundingly denounced by the conscientiously anti-consumerist. For parents of young children, however, nothing’s sweeter than another opportunity to smother them with love, kisses, and symbols of affection.

And chocolate. It’s always fun to bend your own parenting rules and become the bearer of sweet treats!

The Doing Good Together newsletter offered a wonderful array of Valentine’s Day options for transforming this day into something more meaningful.

It’s still not too late to send free Valentine e-cards that benefit charity. Consider supporting The World Wildlife Fund , the Nature Conservancy or a variety of other causes.

You still have time to buy your loved ones some Fair Trade chocolate.

Or this is a good day for a random act of kindness. Bake muffins for a sick neighbor, clear that last stubborn ice off of someone’s driveway, or make cards for people in  your community.

My intention was to transform all of this focus on love into a more intentional, more meaningful celebration of appreciation. I’ve crafted notes for the both girls and hid them around our house, letting them know all of the little ways I appreciate them. They were so excited to find a new note and to read some little praise or affection, this is sure to be a yearly tradition.

To help them practice appreciation, I intended to have them craft an “I appreciate you” book for others in their lives (another helpful tip from the DGT newsletter). Miss Kindergarten enjoyed planning the activity. She selected her teacher as the target of her affection – and who among us doesn’t still have appreciation for our long lost kindergarten teacher.

I helped her write out her points of appreciation:

I appreciate how you help me learn.

I appreciate having  you as a teacher.

I appreciated taking Buddy Bear home!

I appreciate playing pop!

I love you!

The appreciation was all hers, but unfortunately the effort sort of ended there. No amount of prodding could convince her to decorate her book. It rests, still, on my counter, perhaps to be completed later. Perhaps to be recycled. We’ll see.

About a week ago, we did find time to make “Love Mobiles.” We simply cut spirals out of pink and purple construction paper, hole punched them and hung them from a hanger. Then we cut out hearts and labeled them with all of the things, people, and ideas we love. We glued the hearts to the spirals, and voila! a visual representation of our love.

Although it pales in comparison to the appreciation book, it did help both Little Miss Three and Miss Kindergarten take time to consider the people and things that are important to them. It was another small effort to practice gratitude. And for now, it was all we could manage.

Tags: Craft, Holidays

About Sarah

Sarah Aadland is striving to make family volunteering a meaningful habit for her family of five. Join the conversation as she ponders what they may (or may not have) learned and looks for helpful information about raising compassionate kids.Though she plans to one day put her Masters in Public Policy back to work for social justice, she sees family volunteering as a way to build a stronger community, a better world, and a more connected family. In addition to her children, Sarah tends a large garden, a small flock of chickens, and a habit of mindfulness amid the necessary rituals of parenting.

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