Valentine’s is such a weird holiday. We still can’t figure it out. N and I thought it was supposed to be a holiday for romantic couples. The roses, the big red heart-shaped candy boxes. But then I’m seeing tons of photos on FB of little girls with huge bouquets and red hearts whose Daddy is their Valentine. N says it looks creepy.
So now we are completely confused. If it’s a day of friendship and non-romantic love and you are supposed to give gifts and cards to friends, then why are all the cards so clearly romantic in nature? I couldn’t find any for Klara’s little friends at school. I’m not getting it. What is it that we are supposed to be celebrating?
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I’m thinking of things like this:
Oriental Trading
or
these
Paper Source
or these:
Pop Sugar
or something like this:
Walmart
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These are amazing. I had no idea they existed. The paper source ones, especially, are so cute.
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Basically we distributed a whole bunch of generic cards with candy. Heart shaped smarties were a favorite.
(Sorry for all the links).
I think the exchange is supposed to socialize kids into the idea that it’s a holiday to celebrate (in an age appropriate way). After all it’s not like Klara is stuffing a turkey for Thanksgiving or buying presents for her cousins for Christmas yet.
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I’m by no means an anti-sugar fanatic. I don’t conceal sweets from Klara because I want her to have a healthy relationship with the concept of dessert. But this holiday is really too much sugar both at school and at the activities. I believe that everything is good in moderation but this is a total pig-out fest for very small kids.
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“What is it that we are supposed to be celebrating?”
Consumption? IIRC it’s always had this schizoid vibe with kids giving semi-romantic cards to each other… it used to be that it topped out at young adulthood but I think maybe it’s more all ages now (the better to sell more crap?)
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It’s mostly a romantic holiday. However it has also morphed into a recognition of love all around. So there is a little annual tradition of schoolchildren giving all their little friends/classmates Valentine’s Day cards (these are usually sold in little boxes of 20-30 or so. Usually with cute little cartoon messages.) And parents will sometimes (though not all the time) give their children a little treat on V day. Another cute tradition is that families sometimes celebrate altogether and get something like a heart shaped pizza or some other themed meal/dessert.
Of course V Day is completely a consumerist melee–almost as bad as black Friday in some ways. But it’s also quite cute. I actually like the children/family stuff more than the romantic love stuff. It’s too cutesy for adults but for kids, it’s quite sweet.
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My husband gave me 8 cans of Baltic sardines as a Valentine’s gift. I’m overcome with tender, romantic feelings because he knows me so well and went out of his way to find these exact sardines that I love. 🙂
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The whole Valentine thing is a ludicrously crass, commercialised and debased commemoration of an otherwise completely unknown Roman martyr. What he did to deserve it, nobody knows!
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At my father’s assisted living, at lunch today, each person got a Valentine handmade by a child at the nearby elementary school. They were randomly distributed. Mine was a drawing by one Matthew. It was actually really fun, you could feel the vibe of this sweet 6-year-old energy coming off of the card, that he had made for a random old person, and it was charming.
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