Valentine's Day. Two words that can bring a smile to one's face in anticipation of the coming day or bring sadness and frustration especially when food allergies are present. For children who are celebrating this day at school with their classmates, it is hard for them to sit on the sidelines and not be involved in the receiving of gifts and edible candy.
My own kids, like all their peers, really look forward to Valentine's Day parties at school with their friends. The exchanging of cards and candies. Hanging out with besties and watching the sappy, cliché movies with soda, chips, ice cream, and chocolate.
Well, all that changed when we cut grain and corn from our diet. The kids still wanted to go to school and be with their friends, so we made it happen. I went and talked to all of their teachers. I asked if they would add to the list that there are kids with food allergies and that they cannot have any candy. (Even though my kids can have certain candy, we thought it best to simplify it for the other parents). Some of the teachers were receptive and others were not. That gave me pause. How is this going to go if my kids see the other children eating all of the candy and they can't? Not only that, but that their teachers didn't care or want to include them. One of the teachers had the idea of having the children open the boxes at home, but they were still going to have the party. Oh okay, hmm. That could work.
Here's what I came up with. My husband (Patrick) and I decided to sit down with the kids and talk about what was going to be taking place at school. We wanted to if they had ideas on how they wanted to celebrate. Talking about the candy they received was something else we needed to address.
The kids came up with plenty of ideas on how to celebrate and what they could do. This is exactly what we wanted to happen. We wanted them to problem solves and identify how they could take an unpleasant situation and turn it into one that they feel in control of and confident in. We wanted the kids to be strong in their decision making and how they would respond to any teasing and making fun of them.
They came up with plenty of ideas and what they could do. Patrick and I has talked beforehand agreed with a few of their ideas. Here are the ideas/solutions that my husband (Patrick) and I agreed on with the kids.
(1). We buy some of the candy that the kids can eat, and they can take a couple pieces to school. When they get home, they trade all the candy they got from school with the candy we got.
(2). They stay home.
(3). They go for the morning, and we pull them when the party is.
Throughout the years we have done all three of these solutions. It truly depends on the year, classmates, teachers, and how the kids would best enjoy the day. If there is a year that a field trip falls on Valentine's Day and the trip is food related, the children have a say as to what they are going to do. As they entered middle school and high school, we highly encouraged that they stay in school on that day. They agreed and Valentine's Day isn't as big in middle and high school party wise.
Something that the kids didn't know is that Patrick and I would also send them a single red rose to their classroom. We wanted them to feel extra special especially when they did not get to eat all that candy.
Since I had spoken to the teachers to see what the party would entail food-wise. We were able to bring in some chips, soda, ice cream, homemade cookies and some homemade marshmallows/meringues.
Now when the kids were/and homeschooled or distance learning we give them a special coffee mug (or teacup) with a stuffy sitting inside, some socks, or something small that we can put inside the cup.
I pray that this helps you with your Valentine's Day. Look at our Valentine's Day Gift Giving post for some ideas for gifts.
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