I'm Bringing Store Bought Back

Yeah! 

You know where this is going.



Call it a total failure of modern motherhood if you must, but I bought the kids' valentines at the grocery store.  I'll pause while you say a prayer for our family.

I let each kiddo scrutinize every last terrible, poorly designed, manufactured option on the shelf.  The boys changed their minds no less than three times each.  Captain America!  No, Paws Patrol!  No, the sports balls with flames coming out of them!  Or, are those angel wings?  Lakey zeroed in on her favorite immediately.  I'm certain that her eyes saw a completely empty aisle, save for a single box of Frozen valentines that had to be hers!

Admittedly, I cringed a little during this entire process.  It's a composite of things really. 
1.  Jeremy and I aren't much for the Hallmark holidays.  Though, I do make our economic contribution to the machine in February on Gobstopper and Butterfinger Hearts.
2.  I appreciate one mom's creatively handmade valentine to my child as much as the next mom, and I self inflict pressure on myself to reciprocate sometimes.   However, something about bringing kiddo #3 into our family has alleviated my urge to creatively produce on behalf of my children, except for maybe on their birthdays.  I'm becoming much more okay with enjoying the creativity of others or enabling my kids to do their own thing.  I'm learning.
3.  I know that much of what I am about to purchase is going straight into the garbage.  That's just how it is these days.  The pendulum of my generation is swinging extreme in the direction of natural, organic, gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, dye free, chemical free, fragrance free, etc.  Everything must be free! It's fine.  It's a reaction and possibly an overreaction to the era we were raised where the needle pointed to anything processed or enriched that made life more convenient, and consequently more unhealthy.  So, I get it.  But, until we eat from our own gardens daily again like our great grandparents, I'd like to take it down a notch and rest somewhere in the middle of the madness.

Wait, this post is about valentines!
 
You know what?  Despite my own inner struggles mentioned above, the kids LOVE their valentines.  They clung proudly to them all the way to the check out aisle.  They worked hard to write their own names on all 36 and sound out the names of their friends if they could.  They woke up yesterday morning THRILLED to take their generic valentines to school and deliver them to their classmates and neighbor friends.  It was so fun to watch them!

So, if a store bought valentine is all you can muster or if you have a surge of energy to create something unique, remember that it is really so simple for kids.  They want to give.  That's where they find their joy, and that's where you'll find yours.

Happy Valentine's Day!