Are you feeling bombarded with pink? It’s that time of year again... Valentine’s Day. Restaurants
will be booked solid, chocolates will cap every aisle at the grocery store, and
those not in a romantic relationship will feel left out. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In our family we like to make a big deal of
every holiday; we even make them up and Valentine’s Day gets its own spin. It’s just about love and appreciation – love of
family, love of friends and even the dogs.
We have to make the effort to make it this way. It’s the lone holiday that commercially doesn’t really revolve around the kids or family. Our first year together we tried to figure out how to make it kid-friendly. We knew that a new man in the kids’ lives taking their mother out wasn’t really a great start. We wanted a family meal that included the kids. It had to be red. Spaghetti sauce. Meatballs. Meatballs in the shape of hearts – all made by the us and the kids. That was key. When blending a family and raising kids to enjoy food you must include them in the process no matter how brief the attention span. This is now the traditional Valentine’s dinner…somewhat-heart-shaped meatballs and spaghetti. We share a meal, and chat about things we love. The kids giggle or cringe if we get to gushy and yell, “yuck!” if we kiss, but we all have light-hearted fun and hug and dance around the kitchen. To get ready for the meal the kids and I now go grocery shopping and we each buy flowers for mom. This began as a Valentine’s Day thing, but now the kids often ask to buy mom flowers when we go shopping together. If they grow up wanting to buy their mother or significant other flowers every so often, I figure I’ve done alright. In fact, if that’s what they like to do, they got the point…Valentine’s Day is about celebrating the love we all have for each other, not just romantic love.
We have to make the effort to make it this way. It’s the lone holiday that commercially doesn’t really revolve around the kids or family. Our first year together we tried to figure out how to make it kid-friendly. We knew that a new man in the kids’ lives taking their mother out wasn’t really a great start. We wanted a family meal that included the kids. It had to be red. Spaghetti sauce. Meatballs. Meatballs in the shape of hearts – all made by the us and the kids. That was key. When blending a family and raising kids to enjoy food you must include them in the process no matter how brief the attention span. This is now the traditional Valentine’s dinner…somewhat-heart-shaped meatballs and spaghetti. We share a meal, and chat about things we love. The kids giggle or cringe if we get to gushy and yell, “yuck!” if we kiss, but we all have light-hearted fun and hug and dance around the kitchen. To get ready for the meal the kids and I now go grocery shopping and we each buy flowers for mom. This began as a Valentine’s Day thing, but now the kids often ask to buy mom flowers when we go shopping together. If they grow up wanting to buy their mother or significant other flowers every so often, I figure I’ve done alright. In fact, if that’s what they like to do, they got the point…Valentine’s Day is about celebrating the love we all have for each other, not just romantic love.
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