Valentines and Worried about Teasing

[revolting]

I had planned a V-Day craft for my almost 6 year old to make and give to her classmates, but she asked me to let her "do it my own way." I did, and she made messy, love-filled Valentines that I fear her classmates will fail to appreciate them and perhaps tease her. Do I say or do something? If so, what?

[dbsam]

I would tell her they are lovely and let her take the Valentines she wants to take. 

When my children first started making Valentines I wanted to step in an assist...but they didn't want me to.  (When they were in Kindy I even considered 'fixing' a few when they were asleep but I was afraid they would notice.)  Since then, they have made Valentines for several years, I stay out of their creative process and it has always been fine.  My children are now 8 and in third grade.  My daughter worked on her cards this weekend...they are a mess of abstract hearts, paint, glitter, flower petals, etc.  She is happy with them and excited to pass them out.  I am not sure anyone will appreciate them, but I doubt (hope) anyone would make fun of them.  My son's are a little more polished looking, partly because he asked for a little help with cutting (they need to make 38).

Edited by dbsam - 2/11/13 at 9:33pm

[mamazee]

I think at that age it should be fine. Kids just like getting valentines. And all of their artwork looks like that at that age, so they won't have any reason to think negatively of her artwork.

I think it's great that she wanted to do things her own way and took initiative!

[4evermom]

Aw, I wish my ds ever wanted to make Valentine's... ITA the kids are just happy to get a Valentine. I don't think 5/6 yos are particularly concerned with the quality of the ones they receive but are more likely just to count how many they got.

[revolting]

Thanks mamas for helping me chillax. She's experienced so much teasing in kindergarten; I worry. I'm guessing most kids will bring in store bought Valentines, but I think 4evermom is right: on Halloween, my daughter cared way more about how much candy she had than if she had anything she actually liked to eat, and I'm guessing the candy and an interest in having lots of Valentines will overshadow anything else. Thanks.

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by revolting 

Thanks mamas for helping me chillax. She's experienced so much teasing in kindergarten; I worry. I'm guessing most kids will bring in store bought Valentines, but I think 4evermom is right: on Halloween, my daughter cared way more about how much candy she had than if she had anything she actually liked to eat, and I'm guessing the candy and an interest in having lots of Valentines will overshadow anything else. Thanks.

I do not want to cause you worry, but I thought I would mention since you said she was teased (which is horrible; I am so sorry)...If they are allowed to pass out candy, that is one thing you might want to think about.  Our school does not allow candy, toys, etc to be passed out with the valentines.  However, in 1st grade we switched to a school that did allow those things (coming from a Kindy that didn't) and my children were upset that they were the only ones in the class that did not pass out something with their valentine.  The fact that their valentines were homemade and most of the others were store bought did not bother them at all and they were not teased about the homemade cards or the lack of treats.  They just felt a little bad - but got over it quickly.

[TinyMama]

My DD's Valentine's are ridiculous looking.    She colored with crayon, which didn't really stick to the shiny paper, cut out weird lopsided hearts, and wrote "Happy Valintine's Day" on each one in pencil, which hardly shows up through the crayon.  Then she taped a pencil (with copious amounts of tape) to each one.  I offered other choices, but she is proud of them and loves them.

So...if your DD's Valentine's look silly, know that she's in good company!

[honeybee80]

Mine made some crazy looking valentines, too ;)  They did marbling on scrapbook paper (one side was white--they marbled on that side, the other random prints/colors that they chose that don't really 'go' with the typical valentines colors) and it looks kinda messy.  They then typed up little messages on their typewriters, which turned out really cute!  But then they decided to add some stickers and draw pictures and that sent them a little overboard ;)  They enjoyed the process, though, and have done handmade valentines for the last few years and I've never heard about them being teased for them.  I like to talk up how special it is that they make theirs instead of buying them, since anyone can go buy some cards and write their names on them, but not everyone spends the time to be creative like they are with theirs.

[JudiAU]

DS (5/K) just finished his and I think they are really sweet. We talked about them for awhile and did do some helping. Folding paper ninjas that end in a heart. Our nanny cut out the ninjas which were actually really complicated. He decorated them and wrote on the outsides of the cards. We stuck highly accessorized legos from ebay in each. And then realized we didn't have envelopes so had to buy them per-piece at the fancy stationary place. Our charter school requested handmade and no candy so we'll see. I never, ever buy anything licensed so DS would probably be pretty excited over store bought. sigh 

And yes, DS got teased today because it was the 100th day of school and I bought a Fancy Nancy early reader about the same. He brought a "girl book" in. How horrible.