Valentine’s Day and Kids

How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?  With your significant other?  As a family?  Date night?  Movie at home?  A getaway?

Valentine’s Day is one of those days that makes you feel really loved and cared for or completely depressed, depending upon your life situation and circumstances.

In our house, I’ve always had a huge conviction to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the kids. We love date nights, but let’s face it, waiting at a restaurant on Valentine’s is stressful!  We take a different route.  I want my children to know without a doubt that they are loved.  I can remember, as a child, waking up on Valentine’s morning to little treats my mom left out on the kitchen table, making me feel incredibly loved.  In elementary school, we also had Valentine’s parties at school where we exchanged cards and small gifts.

Then, junior high and high school came.  No more Valentine’s parties, but then came the day of the Valentine grams.  I would always take my dollars to buy a carnation for those people who were important to me.  Rarely did I get one in return.  It’s hard to be that age, watching “everyone” around you with arms full of Valentines and gifts from their boyfriends/girlfriends, with empty arms yourself.  I can remember doubting my self-worth through those times. I’m not asking for pity.  I’m trying to prove a point.

I don’t ever want my children to feel that way…that they are unloved or unworthy of love.  We always celebrate Valentine’s Day big.  We give them flowers and gifts, we do a special family dinner, and we spoil them a little.  Last Valentine’s Day, we took a trip to Ruidoso, NM and took them tubing for the first time.  It was such a sweet and special time.  Valentine’s Day is something looked forward to in our house. We celebrate!  We want our kids to know they are loved by their parents, but most importantly, we want them to know that they are loved by God.  There is no person in the world, including us, that can love them like God does.

They don’t have to have a boyfriend or girlfriend to lavish them with gifts.  Their self-worth should not be based on any relationship aside from their relationship with their Heavenly Father.

You don’t have to have a significant other, tons of friends, lavish gifts, Valentine grams, etc.  Jesus Christ loved you so much that He laid his life down on a cross for you.  No matter what your circumstances are this Valentine’s Day, Jesus loves you.  He gave everything for you.  That is true love.  May you find peace and your worth in Him, and don’t forget to share that truth with your children this Valentine’s Day!  They need to know that kind of love as well.