I don’t remember how I celebrated Valentine’s Day when I was an elementary school student. 

But I do remember how I celebrated as an elementary school teacher.

A few weeks before Valentine’s Day, I sent a note home which included a class list. If children wanted to pass out Valentine cards, they were asked to bring one for each classmate. (This was not just a Mrs. Kennar-rule. Other teachers did the same thing.)

When I taught fourth grade, I added an in-class activity. Each student was given two stapled papers. The papers had lines on them and some decorative hearts in the corners. Each student was instructed to write their name at the top of the page. 

The whole class stood up and left their papers on their desks. Everyone moved one seat down and wrote something complimentary on their seat mate’s paper. There were a few rules: no compliments or praise based on looks, including things you wear or levels of attractiveness. 

Before we began, we did brainstorm some possible compliments and words of praise we could use for each other. Such as:

You always share your eraser with me.

You have neat handwriting.

When you read aloud, I can always hear you even though I don’t sit near you.

You always remember to say thank you when I pass out papers.

We spent quite a bit of class time, making sure we wrote on each student’s paper. And, my students would encourage me to have a paper as well. When the activity was done, we returned to our seats and took time to quietly read the words of praise our classmates had written. 

It was one of my favorite activities, because I think too often we don’t know how we have impacted someone else. We don’t always take the time to share a kind word. But with this activity, my students would have these written words to take with them, and they  could look back at them any time they needed a boost.

So along those lines, I am going to take this opportunity to show a bit of self-love. I am always quick to praise and compliment and offer kind words to others. It’s much harder to do the same for myself. 

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, a day of friendship and love, here are two compliments I give myself:

– I am considerate. I offer cold bottles of water to any service technicians or repair people who come to our home. Any time I see our mailman, John, I thank him for the day’s mail and give him a cold bottle of water as well.

– I am thoughtful. I make notes of friends’ doctors appointments and important life events so that I can reach out with a text, an email, or a phone call and let my friends know I’m thinking of them.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my dear readers! Feel free to share a compliment or words of praise about yourself.