What I Want To Teach My Daughter About Valentine’s Day

I love to celebrate holidays. I somewhat believe that Valentine’s Day is a Hallmark holiday but even so, I still insist to celebrate in one form or another. Since Rosie’s come into the picture, I’ve been thinking a lot about holidays, how we celebrate them, and what they teach my daughter about our values and beliefs.

I admit I’m the type of gal who loves excessively romantic gestures, especially on the day of love. Then I got married. My taste for the extravagant quickly died down. (Let’s be practical – it’s a sure win to have a lazy night in: snuggles, cuddles, some serious quality time, and no dent in your wallet). Even so, I find that the love I want to celebrate on Valentine’s Day is rather superficial. The romance that I crave definitely doesn’t match up to the perfect love that is defined in the Bible.

Valentine’s Day 2019 has caused me to reorient myself to the type of love I want to celebrate. I hope that by our example, Rosie will also learn about God’s true and perfect love. I hope that she will not settle for anything less.

Here are three simple truths I want to teach her about Valentine’s Day:

The love that we celebrate on Valentine’s day is more than romance, hugs and kisses, flowers and chocolates, mushy love notes and warm bubbly feelings. True love is sacrificial. The love chapter (1 Cor 13) describes characteristics of love: love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy or boast, isn’t arrogant or rude, doesn’t insist on its own way, isn’t irritable or resentful… Ultimately we cannot understand or make sense of love without looking to God. God is love.

She is loved. I want Rosie to know that she is dearly loved by the people around her. Mommy and daddy love her. So do a bunch of her family and friends. But most importantly, I hope she will grow to understand that God loves her most. She is valued, precious and worthy.

Love others freely and generously today and every day. Knowing God’s love prompts us to love others freely. I hope Rosie will learn to serve other people joyfully. I am praying that God will cultivate a servant heart in her.

So with these truths in mind, here are a few ways Rosie celebrated Valentine’s Day this year:

Making cards

Rosie had lots of fun creating some simple Valentine’s Day cards for her grandparents.

I cut some little sponge pieces for her to dab poster paint onto pieces of cardstock. Earlier, I cut out letters (L “heart” V & E) from tape to create stencils.

Let her go wild, try off the cards, peel off the tape and viola, it’s a fool-proof toddler masterpiece.

Baking Cookies

I really love to bake so it was special that Rosie and I did some baking together this week!

We made sugar cookies and decorated them with Valentine’s Day themed icing.

Rosie’s favourite part – playing with the sprinkles.

Of course we had to eat the ones that were messed up.

I want to insert a plug here. PinkBlush gifted me this gorgeous sweater and I’m in love! One perk of being a pregnant mama is the excuse to shop for cute maternity clothes. I’ve been meaning to look for maternity tops for some time now. I adore loose and comfy sweaters so I was ecstatic to find this light pink v-neck knit. Thanks PinkBlush!

Getting A Sweet Treat

After a busy week of being a blessing, mommy and daddy took Rosie out for a family favourite – fondue!

Look at that little hand. She ate all the graham crackers.

So that’s what I want to teach my daughter about Valentine’s Day! Maybe these activities will carry down as traditions through the years or maybe not! Either way, we’re taking teenie tiny steps to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a more meaningful way.

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Zhou family!

Wondering how to celebrate? Here’s our list of 10 small but powerful ways to say ‘I love you’