Valentine's Day Affirmations
for Children
Growing up, my daddy always did Valentine’s big! He made it into a family celebration so it was never just a romantic festivity for me. It was about the love of family and friends. The Spanish translation of Valentine’s Day conveys this message best: El Día del Amor y la Amistad (The Day of Love and Friendship).
Over the years, I’ve continued to celebrate family and friends with meaningful gifts and service. But last year, we started a new tradition with our daughter that focused on words of affirmation.
My dear friend, Kinah, shared how she writes one reason why she loves her daughter daily from February 1st until Valentine’s Day. She’s been doing this for years and inspired me to do the same.
My daughter loved it! Every morning, she woke up with excitement and expectancy to see how she was loved and appreciated on that particular day. My hubby and I alternated so she got an equal distribution of love from two different perspectives.
We don’t ever want to take our child for granted and assume she knows she’s loved. So this simple tradition was more about being intentional in telling her how we value everything about her. On the 14th, she received a gift as usual, but these small little hearts filled with our sincere sentiments made this celebration of love all the more meaningful.
Last year, we taped the heart notes on the wall outside of her room to see the moment she got up. This year, we bought a cute little mailbox from Dollar Tree to leave them in daily (but she still hangs them up on the wall afterwards).
Now I pay it forward in hopes that families everywhere can be more intentional in affirming their loved ones with their words.
Considering how every family is unique, here are a few ways you can implement in the home:
- In a single parent home, 1 parent can write all 14 affirmations or you can alternate with your child so they are also leaving words of affirmation for you on their heart notes. Other family members like grandparents, godparents, etc…can write a message or you can write their sentiments if they aren’t physically present when your child receives their note.
- 2 parent homes, both parents can alternate so each one writes every other day. Other family members can contribute affirmations as well.
- If you have multiple children, the parent(s) can write heart notes but the siblings can also alternate so one child will have his or her turn to write notes for their siblings and parent(s).
- Regardless of how many members are in a family, maybe you can alternate with your child so they are also leaving words of affirmation for you on their heart notes as well as receiving them from you.
- You can write them all ahead of time and surprise your child every morning or write them daily. Whatever works for you is fine.
The options are endless and how you implement this new tradition is totally based on your family.
Below, I have included a free PDF of 14 hearts you could either print on color paper or print on white paper to decorate individually. Accompanying the hearts is a title page that you can print as is or color in yourself, if you choose to use it.
I’d love to hear testimonials on how starting this new tradition in your home went if anyone would like to share in the comments below.
Please feel free to share this post and spread all the beauty that comes from affirming our children every day of their lives, not just on Valentine’s Day.
This is such a sweet tradition! I love the simplicity of it and how meaningful it is for the entire family. And thank you for the download!
Thank you Amber! Hope you got to use them with those beautiful kids of yours!
Will definitely incorporate this into our traditions , such a sweet idea! Thank you so much for sharing it!❤️
I love what you did with your girl Eve! I might do something similar next year with book gifts, thanks to you. xoxo
Love this idea, thank you for sharing it! Having siblings join in will be great for us and their relationship with each other.