Celebrate Valentine’s Day Benji Bennett’s Way!

Babies and children learn from what they see, feel and experience. By witnessing and experiencing your interactions as their parents, they will learn how to love and be loved.

You are the only ones who can teach them respect, kindness, friendship, patience and all the other beautiful things associated with love, for themselves, each other and nature.

With this in mind, I have a truly magical Valentine's Day suggestion to help you build a loving relationship with your children and help bring your family closer with love.

Simply plan something nice for each other and involve the kids from beginning to end. Let me explain by way of an example of a Dad (that’s me) cooking a special meal for Mum (that’s Jackie).

• Step 1: Early in the day, tell the kids how much Mum means to you, and you want to show her how much you love and appreciate her for all she does for everyone in the house. So, you have decided to cook a special family dinner that mum would love and you need help with.
• Step 2: Brainstorm with the kids and get Ideas for a meal and how to make it yummy and memorable. Kids are excellent at this kind of thing stuff will add their beautiful magic to come up with beautiful ideas to make the evening special.
• Step 3: Take the kids to the shop to buy the magic ingredients. Remind the kids that you want to show Mum how special she is and ask them to pick only the very best ingredients because Mum deserves only the very best. Enjoy watching them as they go to work carefully looking, testing and picking yumminess for dinner.
• Step 4: Pop them up on a kitchen stool and give them a simple job to help prep the meal. Begin a memorable conversation by telling them the story of how you met, when you first kissed, how you proposed and how your love for each other was so strong they picked you to be their Mum and Dad on the night they were born. During this magical conversation, refer to the salt and pepper on the table as Love, hugs and kisses as you season the meal. Explain to them that just like food needs salt and pepper, a family needs love, hugs and kisses. Jackie and I always add a lot of extra love, hugs and kisses to every meal we cook.
• Step 5: Ask the kids to help set and decorate the table with drawings, flowers or candles and make it look extra special to show how much they love their family.
• Step 6: Enjoy what could become your most treasured and memorable Valentine’s day dinner and who knows, there just might be a bit of romance in the air now that everyone has had a lovely day and is feeling happy, relaxed and loved. As a bonus, you know that your children will carry in their hearts the memory of when Mum or Dad taught them one of life’s most valuable lessons - what it is to love and be loved.

Babies and children learn from what they see, feel and experience. By witnessing and experiencing your interactions as their parents, they will learn how to love and be loved.

This recipe for love can be applied to any Valentine's Day romantic gesture. Using the same philosophy and formula in mind, you can organise the following romantic family Valentine's celebrations.

Adam's Cloud Style Valentine's Day Family Walk

Involve the kids in selecting a beautiful or favourite location to go for a walk. When you go on your walk, get the kids to run on ahead a little and hide some flowers or a little present in a bush or behind a tree. When you catch up with them, get the kids to give the flowers/present to (Mum or Dad) and tell them they are from all of you because we love you so much and are so good to all of us.

Before the walk, don’t forget to involve the kids in lovingly packing a Valentine's picnic, making sure you have the most important thing - the flask of hot chocolate. Remember, when you make it, each scoop of powder is love, hugs, and kisses, so don’t forget to add in an extra few Valentine’s Day scoops.

Adam's Cloud Style Family Movie

Involve the kids in choosing a movie and getting the popcorn and goodies ready. Think of a famous line in the film that you could reference and put on a card.

For example, my favourite line is as good as it gets when Jack Nicholas says, “You make me want to be a better Man”. How cool would it be if, at that exact moment, Mum or Dad was given a handmade card that said, “You make me want to be a better person/kid/husband/wife/son/daughter.” Cool, don’t ya think?

Read A Valentine's Day Book

Don’t just read any old love book. Read the Ultimate Expression of Love Book.

Before You Sleep is not just a book for parents to read to children. It is a book that anyone can read to anyone else where you want to express your love to them and be inspired to do beautiful things together.

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone.

Lots of love,

Benji