Valentine’s Day and The Child

Someone once said "if we discovered that we had only five minutes left to say all we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they loved them."

As February 14 draws closer, a lot of us are anticipating some kind of fun or the other while some don’t really care. Well, either you care or not, majority of our schools are celebrating, meaning our children are celebrating too.

I had an interesting conversation with a dear child. Our conversation went something like this...

“It'll be Valentine's Day soon!”

“What is it all about?” A child asked.

“It's a day to show love, when people show affection to another person or people by sending gifts like cards, chocolates, flowers, and so on”.

“Ewwwww! But I'm not married!”

“Oh! No! It's not about marriage. It's about showing others how much you care. Not just by the big gifts you give.... but also the little acts of kindness that make someone's day brighter.”

This brings me to a series of questions;

i.    Do our kids really understand this hullabaloo called Valentine’s Day?

ii.   Should they be allowed to ‘celebrate’ it in their schools?

iii.  How should the schools celebrate it?

Love is “a caring, self-sacrificing commitment which shows itself in seeking the highest good of the one loved.” It does not take advantage of one another person, neither is it selfish nor self seeking.

Let us teach our children that, ''it doesn’t matter who they are, what they have or what they give… if they don’t have selfless love, they have nothing."

This age is marked with a lot of sexual perversion all in the name of love. But I assure you, if you invest time in your children and express the right kind of love at home, they will not fall victims of perversion especially in this Valentine season.

As a parent you need to show love to them daily and teach them to have nothing to do with selfish love. This way they will not be starved of love, and so they do not get hungry and desperate for love, trying to get it wherever it seemingly presents itself. This is usually the case of teens who get deceived by so called lovers. They have a low self-esteem.

One of your most important gifts as a parent is to help your child develop self-esteem. Your child needs your steady support and help to discover his/her strengths. (S)he needs you to believe in him/her as (s)he learns to believe in himself/herself. Loving him/her, spending time with him/her, listening to him/her and celebrating lessons learned from his/her mistakes and successes are all part of this process.

Should it be celebrated in schools? Oh! Yes, but in the right way, a selfless way. The School authority should ensure strict guidelines are given to the pupils. They should ensure the pupils are not given too much liberty which could open doorways to assault or perversion.

When our children are taught real, selfless love, it would be easy for them to recognize love that is harmful, to identify fake since they are constantly exposed to the original.

Parents watch your kids/wards, what they wear, listen, ask questions. Let our children not lose their innocence to our carelessness.

Don't forget to say, "I love you" to your children regardless of their age!

What do you think?