It’s easy to get caught up in the commercialism of holidays. But, our kids don’t know about that. They just know Valentine’s Day is a day they get Valentine’s from their friends and maybe something from their family. Oh, and sweets. Lots of sweets and pink stuff…errr… hearts everywhere. So, why not focus on kindness and love within your family this February?
Each day in February (or at least the first two weeks until Valentine’s Day), I give my children a heart with one thing written on it that I love about them. I make these genuine complements and try to connect it to their character and who they are, rather than their appearance or things they like to do. Why? I want them to think about who they are, and that they are important, unique, special, and all that good stuff. Because they are. But, in the chaos of our day to day lives, I’m not sure that I always remember to slow down and show them that.
Will 2 weeks of the year make a huge impact?
Maybe not.
Not in the grand scheme of things.
But, it’ll be a fun tradition to look back on for them. They’ll remember that each year, starting on February 1st (or some random time before Valentine’s Day), that I always gave them little love notes and made them feel special.
Now, to be honest, I’m terrible at keeping up with random new short term things. Even when they are simple like this. So, rather than write one each day and remember to do that, I write 14 things I love about each kid at the beginning of the month (because ideally, I’d do it at the end of January, but let’s be real. That didn’t happen this year either, so here we are, in the wee hours of February 1st getting this done). Anyway, those 14 things are written and stashed somewhere so that I can grab one each day and give it to them. After a few days, the kids come to expect it and look forward to seeing what’s written on their heart that day.
Like most moms, I fear not doing enough with my kids. I fear missing out on something or looking back on their childhoods and thinking, “gosh, I didn’t do enough.” So, I take this one step further and glue all their hearts for the year and put it in their perfectly done, up-to-date scrapbooks. Ha! I wish I had their scrapbooks done, but I don’t, so I stash these in their “Memory stuff” bins for a later date. But, envision a beautiful scrapbook of random stuff they’ve made, done, and received and you get the idea. Each year, there’ll be a few pages of hearts and things that stood out to me in that season of their life. And, that, my folks is beautiful. It won’t be perfect, and it’s not done yet, but it’s all there for us to look back on “someday” and have a tiny glimpse into our lives at that moment in time.
To start this tradition…
- Cut out 14 hearts per little one. Any size and color paper works. Jazz it up a bit with scrapbook paper if you want to get fancy. Grab my FREE printable at the end of this kindness post or go free-style and fold paper in half and cut out half hearts.
- Write one thing you love about your child on each heart. Stash them somewhere “safe” (but not so safe that you lose them!) and dole them out one at a time until Valentine’s Day (or go big and do these for the whole month). Pro Tip: color code for each kid or write their initials on the back so you know which hearts belong to which kiddo.
- If desired, glue the hearts on a larger piece of paper and stick in a scrapbook. You could also string them together on twine and make a cute little banner.
This is a great activity for your children to do for grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles, etc.
And, who wouldn’t love receiving complements about themselves, especially from a precious little one?
Simply ask your child what they like or love about ____ and write it on the hearts for them. It’s a great chance for your child to see their thoughts and words written down and a great chance to talk about good qualities and things we like about others. 
Ready to make this project fancy and be able to do all kinds of cool art projects with your littles? I used my Cricut to cut out hearts from scrapbook paper this year and I absolutely love the way they came out!
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