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Valentine’s Day.
I would probably disregard Valentine’s Day altogether except for two very important things: it’s the day my husband and I started dating and it’s my mom’s birthday. So instead of getting ignored, Valentine’s Day is actually kind of a big deal around here.
But why do our kids need to celebrate Valentine’s Day at school?! I love love. But think about it, and read through some cheesy kids’ Valentines and you’ll start to wonder what this celebration is really doing for kids.
I remember my oldest being sensitive to this already in kindergarten. She had worked so hard making sweet Valentine cards for all her classmates. But as I walked her into school, she started to freak out. She pulled the Valentines from her bag and started ripping hearts off the ones for some of the boys in her class. It was like she suddenly realized she was about to give an ooey gooey love note to some boys she really didn’t care for. It was too much.
This year, she’s in 4th grade. She was told, as always, that she needs to bring Valentines for everyone in the class or no one. And I get that! Of course they don’t want anyone left out. My daughter was looking forward to busting out the glitter and stickers and making cards for her friends. I told her, as usual, we could just get the store-bought Valentines for the boys in her class.
But this year, she resisted. She decided she just wouldn’t do Valentines at all. As I dove into it with her, I realized that even the store-bought Valentines she looked at were all sending a message she simply doesn’t want to send to the boys in her class. Phrases like “Be mine” “You’re sweet” etc. are all over those things. I get that too, and I’m certainly not going to force her to show affection to anyone against her will or expect her to hand out Valentines she feels embarrassed about at her age. This kid is my reader, and she wasn’t just looking at the pictures on the Valentines. She cared about the message she was sending. Everything we looked at was too gooey, too babyish, too something for her.
Here’s a great example of what not to do.
So, we quickly threw together a printable Valentine she could confidently give to everyone in her class along with a piece of candy. I thought it was funny that she still chose to print these on pink paper, but she says the boys in her class like pink. 🙂
If you’ve got a similar situation going on in your home, you can download these printable Valentines – use the black ink sheet to print on colored cardstock or the red ink on white cardstock, tape on a piece of candy, and you’re good to go.