Calm with Kids

My daughter got out of bed early on Valentine's Day.

Anxious to share her gifts of cards and candy, excited to see what she "got", it reminded me of a mini-Christmas. After school, she excitedly pulled out her cards from her school friends. Many of them had little chocolates or candies attached to them. However, it was the excitement of cards from her friends that seemed to mean the most to her.

Though the candy that both my children received seemed to cause a meltdown later in the day - there was crying at about the time that the "sugar high" would probably have disappeared - they were generally well behaved, generous towards each other, playing well together and cooperative.

It occurred to me that, perhaps, if Paul and I did more to surprise her with notes of love and appreciation, we would see this big grin on her face more often.