Valentine’s Day 2013…The Many Faces of Love

Posted on February 14, 2013 by viviankirkfield

Valentine’s Day is a holiday that celebrates love. It began in honor of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Valentine’s Day was first associated with romantic love by Chaucer when he wrote a poem in 1382 to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia.

“For this was seynt on Volantynys day

When every bryd cometh there to chese his make.”

Back in college, I took a course on Chaucer and Old English…it was the only college course I ever dropped…but here’s a translation those two lines: “For this was sent on Valentine’s Day, When every bird comes there to choose his mate.”

By the 15^th Century, lovers would give each other flowers, candy and cards (which were known as Valentines.

Then there was Hallmark…and the rest is history!

Valentine’s Day celebrates many types of love. According to psychologist Elaine Hatfield, there are two main types of love: Compassionate Love and Passionate Love. Compassionate love features mutual respect, attachment, affection and trust. Passionate love is filled with intense emotions, sexual attraction, anxiety and affection. Ideally, passionate love, which is transitory and short-lived, turns into compassionate love, which is enduring and long-lasting.

C.S. Lewis, in The Four Loves, identifies four categories of love: Affection or storge which is fondness through familiarity, Friendship or philia which is the strong bond that exists between people who have a common interests, Romance or eros, which is being in love or loving someone and Unconditional Love or agape which is the love of caring regardless of the circumstances.

But what of a parent’s love for a child…what type of love is that?

Last night, I watched one of the old Leave It To Beaver episodes and I witnessed the four loves described by C.S. Lewis.

In the show, little Beaver loses his lunch money several days in a row. His parents warn him that he will be in trouble if it happens again. His father gives him money to go to the barber shop to get a haircut, but when the little boy gets there, he realizes he has lost the money again. His older brother agrees to help him and, when this results in ‘the haircut from hell’, the boys try to fool their parents by wearing hats.

Affection or fondness through familiarity: This is evident in the day to day interaction…Beaver’s brother is almost always willing to help him; Beaver’s mom and dad are caring and understanding.
Friendship or strong bond that exists between people: Beaver’s mom, “Kids are more afraid of losing their parents’ love than of being punished.”
Romance or loving someone passionately: Beaver’s dad, “The trouble with being a parent is that you love your kids so much, you scare the pants off them.”
Unconditional love: Beaver’s brother, “You can come to parents with any problem and they will understand.”

Happy Valentine’s Day! What are your plans for today? If you have young children, have fun with them…why not go for a walk, play ball, sing a silly song, draw a picture together, read a book with them. SHOW them as well as TELL them that you love them…every day. It will make a positive impact on the rest of their lives.

There is still time to nominate your favorite literacy organization to win the International Book Giving Day $25 donation…please leave a comment on my post. Tomorrow we will choose the winner with Random.org.

And if you have the time, you can take a look at the Valentine’s Day/International Book Giving Day YouTube video I made yesterday with author/educator Susan Case: SHOW THE LOVE: INTERNATIONAL BOOK GIVING DAY. We shared several picture books and crafts and ideas on helping kids celebrate Valentine’s Day and International Book Giving Day. Susan is giving away TWO copies of her fantastic Happy Mommies Handbook…don’t miss out…leave a comment on her blog post: http://kindergartenbasics.blogspot.com/2013/02/celebrate-international-book-giving-day.html

Valerie Van Der Graaf for I Love Wildfox’s Valentine (fashioncopious.typepad.com)
Happy Valentine’s Day! (kphoenixlove.com)
Valentine’s Day (ljiljanahavran.wordpress.com)
Some Thoughts on Romantic Love (trenchcoatintrospective.wordpress.com)
Love with a side order of passion, please. (livelovebegreen.wordpress.com)
International Book Giving Day: Win some books!(Kindergarten Basics)
http://eof737.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/happy-valentines-day-12-tips-on-self-love/

Don’t Be Afraid…Go Ahead…Write Picture Books!

Posted on November 7, 2012 by viviankirkfield

Picture Books are…fun to read, a pleasure to look at, educational, wonderful to listen to.

Picture Books can: encourage a special bonding between parent and child, teach children about the world, help kids with the challenges they face.

I love to write and I love picture books…so I’ve taken the plunge and put myself out there several times in the past year, participating in a couple of writing contests.

If you’d like to read the EIGHT finalists’ entries (mine is among them 🙂 in Susanna Leonard Hill’s Halloweensie Contest, you can visit her blog and vote for the one you like best. Maybe you will be inspired to enter the next contest!

If you need more encouragement, you can check out Tara Lazar’s PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) where you will find amazing posts every day this month that will give you golden nuggets of inspiration to get you started and keep you going.

And if you just like to read them to kids, you can visit Susanna’s Perfect Picture Book resource page where she adds dozens of picture book reviews (with activities) every Friday or hop over to Dianne de Las Casas Picture Book Month website where every day this month she is featuring guest posts on the importance and joy of picture books, or check out my book, Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking, where you will find 100 classic picture book summaries with both a craft and a cooking activity for each…you can also follow my new weekly YouTube series, SHOW ME HOW: PICTURE BOOKS AND CRAFTS FOR KIDS.

By the way, Tuesday was Election Day in the U.S….I hope everyone voted…it is a precious right and we should cherish it!

Celebrate Picture Book Month (misshelenwrites.wordpress.com)
Draft a Picture Book Every Day for a Month (onewaytowonder.wordpress.com)
Some Notes from the Kansas SCBWI Fall 2012 Conference (illustratorsforkids.com)
Perfect Picture Book Friday: Norman the Doorman (viviankirkfield.wordpress.com)
PPBF: Cat Tale….A Lesson in Group Dynamics and Word Power (viviankirkfield.wordpress.com)

Sunday Post: Wonderful…Show Me How Picture Books and Crafts for Kids on YouTube

Posted on November 6, 2012 by viviankirkfield

Jake at Time after Time has a Sunday Post Challenge and every week he provides a theme…this week’s theme is WONDERFUL.

Sharing a WONDERFUL picture book with a WONDERFUL group of children is a WONDERFULLY magical experience.

Cuddling with a WONDERFUL child and reading a WONDERFUL picture book provides a never-to-be-forgotten WONDERFUL experience for both reader and listener.

November is children’s author Dianne de Las Casas Picture Book Month…a time to celebrate the importance and WONDER of picture books in the lives of young children.

So this past Sunday was a WONDERFUL time to kick off my new Google+/YouTube series: Show Me How: Picture Books and Crafts for Kids.

http://youtu.be/8hqUZBSSMN8

I’d love to know what you think of it…and welcome suggestions that will help it be better!

I plan to present a different story and craft each week. I had a lot of fun and I am hoping to provide a quick and easy fun-filled educational self-esteem building activity for parents to do with their kids. Most of the stories and crafts I will use come from my award-winning book, Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking.

I just checked the Amazon site for the book and there are three sellers who are offering the book USED for $60+…we are selling the brand-new copy, signed (and inscribed for the holidays if you wish) for just $19.95 on Amazon. I think that is pretty WONDERFUL!

Parenting is a difficult job…and many parents these days are overwhelmed and tired.

But just 15 minutes a day is enough time to read a picture book story.

And just 15 minutes a day is enough time to do a quick and easy craft project.

In fact, the entire video with both story AND craft is just 12 minutes.

Do you have 12 minutes to give to your child? Do you read to your child every day?

Now THAT would be WONDERFUL!

Want more information about Jake’s Sunday Post?

http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/

By the way, I had to reinstall the flag counter on my right sidebar and start from zero…something strange happened a couple of weeks ago and the flag counter (with over 110 flags and over 14,000 page views) disappeared, along with my blogroll and a bunch of ‘buttons’ I had from blogs I follow. You’ve gotta love computers, right?