Click here to print out your Valentine's Day Cards! What a great opportunity to not only print out and share these cards with friends and family, but, you have the chance to open up a discussion on each character and the trait that they represent! I'm not sure if your child(ren) are home learning or are able to attend their school, but, these Valentine's Cards are fun!
When our children were young, I was a Room mom for the class parties and one of my favorite things to do! I wish I had a picture of the fun Valentine Bag we would make and hang on the front or side of the child's desk. I don't! It was simple and we made it like this:
1. Use a lunch bag or empty cereal box
2. Cut out a large heart, red, pink, white and design your own
3. Using construction paper or print paper and cut out 1" strips to use for arms and legs. You'll fold them individually accordion style.
4. Cut out white or color of your choice in the shape of a heart or if you're able to cut out cartoon hands and cartoon feet to attach to the bottom of the arms and legs. Glue is best, tape works.
5. Now, glue the arms, one on each side of the top of the heart and do the same for the feet attaching at the bottom of the heart.
6. Glue your heart to the front of the folded lunch bag or empty cereal box.
7. Let your child(ren) get creative and decorate their valentine bags! Many times we added a baseball hat or a princess crown to the top of the heart!

In my world, everyday is Valentine's Day, trying to fill each one with love. It's a beautiful feeling to share your heart! For our Valentine's Day lunch/dinner I always made something red, like pizza, red sauce over pasta, tomato soup, etc. For desert we always had red jello with whip cream and sometimes a plain sugar cookie with red frosting or pink frosting, red and pink are traditional colors of love. You do you! Some of you may be way creative and it's a fun opportunity for your kids to make heart shaped cookies, heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or pancakes with a heart cookie cutter. Involve your child(ren) in the kitchen!

Some fun ideas to gift your own child(ren) on Valentine's Day! And, let's not forget the old fashioned note giving! Who doesn't love a love note, a post it with a positive word put on a dresser drawer, a bathroom mirror, a bedroom door, etc. Waking up to a heartfelt word or message is a great way to start your day!

These are some fun and simple ways to tell your family and friends that you love them, that you care about them, that they matter and to simply wish them ...

What are some acts of kindness that you alone can do to make the world a better place? Ask yourself this often and actually do random acts of kindness. Not only will this help make the world a better place, your heart will thank you! This book is available on Amazon. Did you know you can choose a charity on Amazon who will donate a percentage of your order to that organization? Consider choosing Characters of Character, Thank you. The print outs are on Character Corner.
March is my Birthday, I don't do Birthday month, I don't do Birthday week, I actually honestly don't even enjoy the day......This year, however, I am very excited because my organization is holding a Birthday Fundraiser to raise funds so that we can donate our Superhero Activity Boxes to Children's Hospitals in Tennessee and Texas. Your DONATION would be kind! You can donate here, or you can find us on Facebook. Find us on Instagram. Find us on LinkedIn. Find us on Twitter. Find us!

Click here for Kindness Coloring Book. Click here to support Characters of Character

Click on the picture below to print out your own page to discuss and color with your children. Plus, we have a lot more activities for you to do on Character Corner!

Just as Miss Joni talks about in the video above, it's so important to be kind and to teach our children to be kind. Remember to make eye contact when someone is speaking, be sure you're listening and be sure to keep your hands to yourself. Come back again soon as we are always adding new lessons, activities and videos to help teach and reinforce good character in our children. Together we can make the world better! Feel free to contact me. Feel free to check out Warm-Hearted Walrus's page on our website. Feel free to learn more about the Characters of Character and feel free to donate to our organization. It's with people like who who help us continue to make a difference in the life of a child. Please share us with others to help bring awareness of our organization and if you're interested in becoming a Sponsor for our Children's Hospitals in Tennessee, click here. If you're interested in becoming a Sponsor for our Children's Hospitals in Texas, click here. If you're interested in becoming a Sponsor for our Hendersonville Has Confidence Project, please click here. Thank you for your interest and support with all the Characters of Character! If you would like to donate from our Amazon Wish List, please click here. Thank you!!

Once upon a time I taught preschool in an actual classroom! One morning one of my students came into the classroom in a disruptive mood, put himself under a table in the back of the classroom. I went back to him and said, "Giovanni, how can Ms. Joni help you to behave better in our classroom?" His response was the simplest explanation and took me back. He said, "teach me"

I had a conference with his parents and we came up with a behavior chart, a reward chart and discussed what it means to have good behavior. So many times we become engrossed in something and take for granted that a child knows how to behave, what it means or what is expected of them.

As parents, it's vital to be on the same page. Discuss with your partner your expectations for your children, try not to play 'Good Cop v s. Bad Cop' because this divides the child. A child looks up to you, trusts you and most likely wants to be like you. When you show your children team work and have open communications in your family unit, this builds respect and trust which builds a strong foundation. For an example, when our boys were little, my husband thought it would be fine for the boys to use the outdoors as a bathroom. I disagreed! Call me a prude, not that they didn't get to experience that freedom as a little boy, but, I didn't think it was a healthy habit for all times. So, we discussed when they could, like when we were camping, but, once we were back into 'civilization' they were to use the indoor facilities!!

Once you've agreed on what it looks like to have good behavior, go ahead and discuss it with your children. Perhaps make a visual chart of what good behavior looks like using old magazines or newspapers let your children tear out pictures of children with good behavior. Find pictures of children having good behavior at a restaurant, at school, playing a team sport, talking with siblings, etc. This will help your children understand the words you use. This worked well in our classroom, too!

Below are some simple activities you can do with your children to help reinforce good behaviors with Behavior Bear. I always learned better through an activity, I'm not much of a reader, I'd rather do an activity, get my hands dirty and wrap them around the physical word in order for me to internalize the meaning. Your children may be the same or different. Read to them, allow them to read books on a topic, make it a habit to discuss the topic with your children, let them write about it or draw about it or talk about it and this will build their knowledge of the topic, trust in your co-operation and help form better communication skills, too. Now, I'm not pretending to be an expert on any topic, but, I do know that these characters make a difference, they are relatable and they even earned an award! Go ahead and make a puppet, a headband, a poster and more, let Behavior Bear come through your door!

Another tip I'd like to share is to print out Behavior Bear, write your child's name on the pencil. I like to print it out on card stock. There is a black and white one on Behavior Bear's page online for your child to color, personalize it! I actually have a small laminator and have laminated the characters, not necessary. Now, put this character on a key chain, a zipper, a Popsicle stick, etc. Take Behavior Bear with you wherever you may roam to reinforce this good behavior in and out of your home!

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Feel free to donate as Characters of Character is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization whose mission is to provide a firm foundation for children to establish strong civic values. and to share who we are with others!
Sincerely,
Joni Downey