How To Valentine's Day Like a Boss

Let's be honest for a minute, Valentine's Day is weird. 

It is so weird. And I love holidays. I decorate, celebrate, commiserate, mediate, alleviate, try not to hate... all that. I put up the hearts, I fill the candy jars with conversation hearts, cinnamon lips, and mini sour hearts. It's always been a little uncomfortable, though, how we feel pressured to go out, buy cheesy gifts, and/or feel sorry for ourselves if we don't. When you have kids--especially those in grade school--Valentine's Day is all about making amazing cards for all their classmates, special boxes in which to hold them (our school even has a Valentine box competition!), class parties, and so much sugar that you consider banning all sweets for the next month or three.

It might be weird, but it's kind of cute for the kids. FOR THE KIDS! I have compiled a few different lists of cards, boxes, party ideas, and non-sugar-related items for your kids' best Valentine's Day ever. And if your kids are happy, YOU are happy. Especially when you have to do little work and research. It's all here.

Delicious Valentines

Love Bugs
You're All That... and a bag of chips
Funny punny sweets
All the fish in the sea
Off the hook worms

Valentine Boxes

Hot Air Balloon Box
Slam Dunk Basketball Box
Ruffled Cake Box
A great page dedicated to Valentines boxes

Valentine Parties

I know there are a lot of ideas, but THIS BINGO set is amazing. My family played it last night and everyone was having a blast. It's adorable, it's smart, it's ready to go. Huge recommend.

Check out this Valentines Pinterest page for more ideas for classroom parties.

Non-Food Valentines

Will Zoo Be Mine
Love is a Battlefield
Bouncy ball Valentines
Blow Me a Kiss Whistles

Or you can just forget all that and buy bags of M&Ms and watch a good chick flick. Yeah, do that!

When you have a kid...

Last week was our semi-annual teacher-parent-student conferences at the elementary school. I have all three of my boys at the same school right now, which is pretty convenient for a lot of reasons. First meeting was with my kindergartner and his teacher: he's meeting all expectations for a five year-old. Huzzah! All of our trips to Target and the dollar store during his preschool years paid off!

Next, my sixth grader and I went upstairs to meet with his teacher. Like every year before this one, he is testing high, turning in all of his work, helpful, and the easiest kid in the class (which, I'm not going to lie, presents its own kind of problems, like, how do I help this kid learn to fail and struggle? It's an honest-to-goodness issue, but not the discussion for this post).

Last meeting of our day was with my fourth grader. His teacher was running behind in her appointments and my son and I danced in the hallways and Snapchatted to pass the time (why did it feel like we were in trouble?). Finally, we sat down with his teacher and she looked exhausted as she moderately complimented my son on a few things she felt he was doing well. And then the storm rolled in and I was told for the first time that he was in "Resource" groups that took him from running outside with his class and into extra help with math and language arts (reading comprehension). I had no idea. Also, he's not listening, apparently. His scores are low. And all that jazz. 

Which just breaks my heart. This kid of mine has had two teachers out of five who have complimented him and seen that he is a good kid who tries. I have seen him turn completely apathetic when teachers have him feeling slow or dim. This, in turn, gets him even further behind and less excited to try. 

Let me be perfectly transparent: I am not worried about this kid's intellect. He is smart in ways that his brothers are not. He is quick-witted, has excellent hand-eye coordination, and can solve puzzles faster than anyone. I have no doubt that he will be a success in whatever he chooses to do as he grows up. He is a good kid and has one of the most tender hearts of anyone I have ever met.

BUT, I am concerned that he is not going to learn how to feel success in learning. I worry that his apathy will turn to disdain. I wonder if that even when I am telling him how proud I am that he is doing his homework and learning so much, that he is hearing seven hours every day his teacher's frustration and disappointment that he is not the kind of smart that the school system deems valuable. 

How do you help your kids find success in education EVEN WHEN they are being told at school that they are unsuccessful?

Tell us below or join the conversation on Facebook.

Love you and your kids. Thanks for doing YOUR best.

Anna

Five crazy kid alarm clocks

We start school in two weeks. Over the summer some of the kids shifted into different bedrooms and how we managed school mornings last year isn't going to work this year. While we were discussing our new wake-up routines, I told the kids about the alarm clock that I had as a kid. It was a rooster playing the guitar and it sang the most annoying song over and over again until you pushed on its head. And like any millennial parent, I thought I'd see if it was on youtube to show my kids. Ten seconds later we were watching the terror of my childhood mornings:

Can you feel the emotion?

My brother had the alarm clock with a gorilla playing the drums. And my mom had a clock where a wino clown whistled at the top of the hour. That one freaked out my friends during high school movie nights. 

Apparently I don't own enough whacky clocks as an adult. But watching all of these clocks from my childhood caused my children to want a crazy alarm clock for their school mornings this year. We did a little internet searching and here are some of the whackiest and most amazing alarm clocks we found right now:

A dancing, rapping bacon alarm clock. What is not to love? (LINK)

This gun alarm clock has my little boys the most excited. You have to shoot the target to get the alarm to stop, which sounds fun to them and painful to me. (LINK)

If your kids like cars and racing, imagine how revved they would be to wake up every morning to "start your engines" and the intense sounds of race cars. I might have a heart attack, but if you've got a deep sleeper, this could be your/their answer. (LINK)

Star projection at night and eight different sound options to wake your child. I love this one, but my boys aren't buying it. I love ceiling projections. (LINK)

A cuckoo alarm clock perfect for kids. It's vintage and current and I want one for my room. (LINK)

A new alarm clock might be just what we need to get everyone up on the first day of school. And every day of school thereafter. Let's hope so, at least.

Do your kids wake up with an alarm clock or do you wake them up?