Family Valentine’s Day Ideas

Does your family skip out on the romantic nights and date nights because you rather be together?  There is nothing wrong with having alone time with your significant other.  For our family, we prefer 95% of the time having the kids with us.  We are so excited to share Family Valentine’s Day Ideas that should help your family bond, create memories, and share love!  My husband and I both work, and we both work a lot. So on Valentine’s Day, we like our date night to be with our kids and we want to include something special for them.

This time instead of me giving you tons of ideas to use for your family on Valentine’s Day, I went and asked some of the experts! Here are the ideas that we loved!

Family Valentine’s Day Ideas

A Sweet Breakfast:
Plan a delicious, sweet, and special breakfast for your entire family that the kids will love. We loved our Valentine’s Day spoons that can help make your table look special too.  Elaine Taylor-Klaus (CPCC, PCC, Parent Coach, Speaker, Author) shares her thoughts on a Valentine’s Day themed breakfast:
“I’m a big believer in “chocolate for breakfast” on valentine’s day — adding chocolate to muffins, fresh fruit, and other healthy balances. When you start off the day with “permission” to eat a little chocolate as PART of breakfast, it actually tends to eliminate the “sneaky” behaviors that tend to happen around this sweet-fest of a holiday, and takes away the urgency of stuffing in chocolate before anyone finds out. Make it matter of fact — and special, for one day only. Consider chocolate chip pancakes or muffins to go with whatever other chocolate favorites you might love. I like to have the table set and waiting for the kids, with cards, chocolate, fruit, and something non-edible for fun. They start off the day feeling incredibly loved — setting the stage for any other messages they might or might not get throughout the day. No matter what else they do get that day, they started the day knowing that they are loved by a parent — and that is a powerful way to start the day!”

Enjoy One on One Time with Each Kid:
Kate Olson, author and parenting instructor suggest creating “special time” for each child on Valentine’s Day. Create a list of activities that you can do with each kid one on one. You can divide the activities with dad too! Make it special each child by allowing them to pick.
“One thing you could do which is what Hand in Hand Parenting calls ‘Special time.’ It’s when you spend 1-1 time with your child doing whatever they choose. It’s a chance to relax the rules and say ‘yes’ to pretty much everything! Just for a short period of time, or a day for very special circumstances. This can be a very bonding experience for parent and child. For more than 1 child you could adapt this idea, and talk together with your children in advance to plan a day where they get to choose between them what they’d like to do.”

Choose Kind and Write Thank You Notes:
While thinking of activities to do. Valentine’s Day is definitely a holiday where you should learn to love and not hate. It doesn’t have to be a “romantic holiday”. Blogger, Heidi Bender, suggests taking Valentine’s Day as a reminder to write thank you notes to all your friends and family.
Grab some crafts, scissors, construction paper, jewels, beads, puffy paint, and more. Make a craft night out of choosing kinds for everyone you know. Bender suggests, “have the kids write a thank you message on their Valentine’s cards to their friends that they know well. It could be as simple as “Thanks for being my friend”.” She shares more ideas on her blog.

Romantic for Mom & Dad and FUN for the KIDS:
Although you might think your family wants to spend Valentine’s Day together. Dr. Fran Walfish, Beverly Hills family and relationship psychotherapist, suggests, “Offer to hire a babysitter for the children for the weekend so you can treat him/her to a “Surprise” fun weekend away (or in town!). This will surely bring a smile to your her face and heart. She will likely want to reciprocate one day when you’re overwhelmed.” If you do this, be sure that the babysitter has some fun Valentine’s theme activity and snacks for the kids. We find that many kids LOVE to have their favorite babysitter watch them for an evening or even a weekend!

So whether you are going to go for the romantic night or not, make it special for the little ones at home. They are only small and little for such a small period of their lives.  Make memories and make them last.  To this day, I still remember my dad buying me a stuffed animal for Valentine’s Day.  Cherish these memories and most importantly, Happy Valentine’s Day to your families!  OXOXOX

A special “Thank you” to our experts:

Sources:

Elaine Taylor-Klaus, CPCC, PCC
Parent Coach, Speaker, Author
www.ImpactADHD.com   

Kate Olson
www.kateorson.com
Tears Heal: How To Listen To Our Children.

Dr. Fran Walfish, Beverly Hills family and relationship psychotherapist, author, The Self-Aware Parent, regular expert child psychologist on The Doctors, CBS TV, and co-star on Sex Box, WE tv.  www.DrFranWalfish.com

Heidi Bender

Blogger at TonsOfThanks.com