My wife sent me a St. Valentine’s Day request that was remarkable. I don’t mean in the sense that it was over the top or grand. It was a request that called for the engagement of our oldest son in the preparation and purchase of the Valentine’s Day meal.

The request was that our oldest help plan the meal from what we are going to eat, to how much it would cost to buy the meal and how we are going to prepare the meal. In doing so, his passions are engaged and he gets some real world experience and education.  Our oldest loves cooking and money. He recently turned five, so his knowledge of either is limited, but his desire is strong.

In short, he’s going to learn about writing, purchasing, money management, cooking, shopping, and communication through the process. The beauty is, he’s going to have a real world experience and result, which should speak to his desire to do and create. 

My wife’s creativity in this request is wonderful because often times we don’t see beyond what we are doing or requesting to highlight a learning opportunity. As a kid living on a ranch, I had these frequently because we were extremely self-dependent whether it came to health care for animals or mechanic work on tractors. We hardly ever (as in just about never) had a vet or mechanic show up. This meant I got to participate in to a greater or lesser degree in a host of activities that taught me things by doing them. Not many kids are living with cattle or farm related machinery.  Our kids aren’t.

Thoughtful and meaningful learning opportunities like that one my wife proposed are great because they are tied to an event that has a central point in time. It’s sort of like the Super Bowl, Valentine’s is an event that builds up and then is over and is focused. It’s something that our oldest is aware of and will learn to understand as he hears about it at home or at school and will know that his activity is directly tied tot the event. In doing so, this will help ensure the activity he is engaging in has a level of excitement, which kids need. 

Here’s to a loving Valentine’s Day experience.