It takes a second grade girl in the house to appreciate the oddness that are valentine’s day cards. Grandma buys a package of cards for you and she doesn’t even read English. Ya know, you have to give one to every other person in your class. You’re off an age where not obeying the teacher and sneakily not giving everyone a card is an option. Sooooooo, you enlist your big sister and spend an inordinate amount of time making sure that all the boy cards do not have the word “love” in them. That pest/non-pests, weirdo’s/non-weirdos and then the plain “pesty idiot” boys get a certain type of card. The girls all get the best cards. Best friends forever girls get specially reserved cards.
Cute on one level, Lord of the Flies on another. Scratching my head over what would be the teaching moment.
I think that’s sweet. Maybe his wife isn’t into cut flowers. They’re not my thing.
I remember going through Valentines just like China Guy describes his daughter doing. You just couldn’t risk some BOY getting a good Valentine.
Me either. Who started that? I liked decorating the shoebox or envelope for the valentines, but I also remember a lot of bellyaching over which cards to give to which kids, and if Mom would shell out for candy hearts to include in the envelopes. In later elementary school, I used Print Shop Pro on our Apple //c to make my own cards, which I would then embellish with red glitter glue :).
A strange custom in my elementary school was that you could bring a “guest” to the class Valentine’s party. This guest was usually a younger sibling who was not in school yet, three or four years old, but not always…I was once the guest of one of the neighbor boys who was a few years older than me, since he was the youngest in his family. My sister has a picture from when she was my guest in first grade (she was three years old). I was my sister’s guest when she was in fifth grade–I was in eighth grade, and happened to have study hall during the party, so our teachers allowed it.
