A Parent's Guide to Valentine's Day
for Kids, Tweens & Teens
Valentine's
Day brings to mind presents, chocolate, flowers, cards, but most
of all love.
February
has been the month to celebrate love as far back as the Middle
Ages. The exact history of Valentine's Day has been lost in the mists of time, but
the meaning is not missed by anyone young or old!
Valentine's
Day for kids & toddlers
Today,
even small children enjoy this holiday dedicated to love and afffection.
Parents can help
their children with Valentine's Day craft projects to write out homemade cards cut from colored construction
paper. (Simply fold to paper in half then cut, on the folded side,
half of a heart. It will open into a full heart shape where the
message can be written.)
Or, get extra crafty with a cute "heart in hand" greeting made from your child's handprint and a heart shape ...with a hand-written greeting to a special person in their life!
Cookies
are also simple enough for kids to make with a little help. Nestle Tollhouse Cookies
mix bakes up perfectly. Get creative and combine a couple of different
flavors together and make one huge
heart shaped cookie that kids will love.
Valentine's Day for tweens
Valentine's Day for tweens and junior high age children gets a little trickier as friendship boundaries get blurry. Should gifts be
exchanged? How expensive they should be? These are some of the more common questions asked by parents during what should be a fun, care-free holiday.
Take the pressure off youself - and your kids! - by keeping it light and suggesting a teddy bear, homemade cookies, or some chocolate as gifts for their object of affection.
Valentine's Day for teenagers
The same guidelines go for celebrating Valentine's Day for teenagers. Relationships can become more serious in the later teen years, so expensive gifts might be acceptable. If the young couple have only been dating for a couple of months, keep it light and humorous.
No one should feel lonely on St. Valentine's Day. For teenagers who have experienced their first heartbreak, remind them that this day is not only for couples, but for friends and family too! It is a holiday to celebrate love in all shapes and sizes, and it shoud be fun.
Good advice for anyone this time of year? It is NOT how many more Valentines you get than someone else or how many less! Remember that it's quality not quantity that counts in life and love. The caring and friendship with which each Valentine is given is the most important measure on Valentine's... or any day!
The
History Channel - Valentines Day - Fun statistics on marraige and how
much chocolate is consumed each year in the United States. Interesting
tales on some of the great romances in history and on St. Valentine
himself.