Have a Heart…

One of my friends recently posted an article on Facebook from Sheryl at Moms of Teens and Tweens (see link below). For those of us with older kids, this is such a sweet idea to honor them and let them know our feelings. I was so taken by the idea of posting a heart on their door every day that I’m going to take her advice!

Let’s Put A Heart on Our Kid’s Door Leading Up to Valentine’s Day to Tell Them All The Things We Love About Them!

I’m a recovering scrapbooker, so this craft is right up my ally. Granted, my teenage daughters are almost grown at 15 and soon to be 19, the older one in college, but I’m still going to do this for both of them. My older daughter will be home this weekend and next, so I’m hoping she will enjoy the surprise!

How does this go? Post a heart on their bedroom door each day from February 1st through 14th, kind of like an advent calendar for Valentine’s day. Each heart has a note about something you love about your kid!

Both of my girls are making the best of a less than ideal situation with the pandemic: one learning virtually and missing her friends, the other grieving the loss of her senior rites of passage followed by a rather strange initiation into college life. This week, my younger daughter is enduring the stress of exams, something she really didn’t deal with quite so much last year due to schools closing, but this semester with the added stress of condensing an entire subject into one semester. 

Teenagers are just as tired of dealing with the pandemic as the adults in their lives, yet may not have all of the tools they need to manage all of their feelings and disappointments, all with the added burden of possessing a keen awareness and understanding of what is going on in the world. All of our kids are living through unprecedented challenges right now. I’m hoping the heart project will add a bit of light to their lives! 

My tradition in the past has been to buy them a small box of chocolates. Last year, they went mostly uneaten! I’m hoping this will be more meaningful. 

Does this sound fun, but you don’t have time to make hearts? Use sticky notes. Even a simple card on Valentine’s day with a note about how much you care about them I’ll bet would mean a lot!

Sometimes wellness means lifting our family, too. Do you have any traditions for Valentine’s Day with your kids? I’d love to hear about it! As always, I hope you all are safe and healthy.