Sunday Mornings with Rania: Valentine’s Day
Feb. 14 means different things to different people. For me, it’s getting 64 class cards and candy ready and scrambling to get pink hearts and glitter to decorate gift bags and boxes. Gone are the days of romantic dinners and gifts (wait, come to think of it, did that ever really happen?). Now, it’s all about a busy checklist. And that’s okay, it’s life.
For others, Valentine’s Day is all about flowers, jewelry, chocolate and romantic dinners. With an approximate 250 million roses produced this weekend alone, it’s no wonder that the National Retail Federation estimates that Americans will spend $19 billion celebrating the commercialization of l’amour.
Regardless of what it means to you, please don’t let the hustle and bustle set you, your spouse or your children up for anything other than fun.
- Advice for Kids and Teens: if your teen’s first date coincides with Valentine’s Day (or any date for that matter), please make sure s/he understand that the hyper-manic way in which Valentine’s Day is celebrated has no correlation to the way and manner in which you are expected to show affection. Over-the-top gifts do not require you to respond in a way you are not comfortable with.
- Advice for Couples: If you’re going out, be sure to keep the exchange of extravagant gifts for when you are back home. Staying in? Believe it or not, candles are the biggest problem on Valentine’s Day, so stay aware.
- Beware of E-cards: It’s wonderful to get e-cards, but if the sender is not listed or if the sender is unfamiliar to you, don’t open the card. Spammers send these e-cards knowing in your busyness, you’ll anxiously click away.
- Confirm Address Request: You get the call or email asking you to confirm your address or any personal information in order to get the flowers that are being sent to you – don’t do it. Good friends know your address. Phishing is a huge criminal enterprise where criminals look for any opportunity to lure you into naively giving out information you wouldn’t normally give. Sadly, this trick is quite effective. According to the Kaspersky Security Network, 37.3 million Internet users faced phishing attacks between 2011-2013.
The idea behind Valentine’s Day is to show loved ones in your life how much they’re loved. But whenever you see “busy people” + “emotion” + “the pressures of a holiday,” bad things can happen. Awareness is always the best weapon.
Posted by on 14 Feb 2016
About the author
Executive Director of Crime Stoppers of Houston