Gia is totally into the holidays this year more than ever. She still doesn’t quite understand everything about Valentine’s day as we saw in this video, but, she’s still pretty adorable with all her talk about love and hearts and candy and the color pink. She’s really excited about Valentine’s Day and so am I. I like making heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast and eating candy and celebrating love. (Ok so I’ve never actually made heart pancakes, but I will this year, I swear. Gia specifically requested them.)

Valentine’s day can certainly be a bit of a Hallmark holiday but I don’t think it has to be. Forget about the overpriced flowers and the heart-shaped boxes of candy and focus what’s truly important. It’s a day to celebrate love a little more than we might already.

With Valentine’s day on the horizon I started to think about what I want Gia and Nicholas to know about love. I fully expect to have many chats with Gia (and hopefully Nicholas) about romantic love, as they get older and have school crushes and their first loves. But love is so much more than romance.

So here are 6 things I want my kids to know about love.

1. Try not to worry about romantic love. You’ll find it when the time is right.

2. Love yourself. Treat yourself well. Because if you truly love yourself you’ll have more love to give to others.

3. Love is powerful and it can truly transform lives.

4. There is such a thing as unconditional love. You’ll know the meaning of unconditional love when you have children of your own one day.

5. Love is enough. When it seems like it’s not enough and things get complicated, it usually means someone’s ego is getting in the way.

6. Love is truly the foundation for everything.

♥ ♥ ♥Happy Valentine’s Day from my family to yours! ♥ ♥ ♥

♥ In the comments, tell me what you want to teach your kids about love ♥