Of course she was saying this at the exact moment that I was putting PACKAGED valentines into my cart.
To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty sure she wasn't saying it expressly for my benefit. I caught her eye, and she looked a little embarrassed, like, "Whoops, I shouldn't have said that so loudly." I do believe she'd said it for her kids' benefit. And her own benefit. Anyway, I know I sometimes say things too loudly at the wrong moment. I tell you all this because this post is not about what a jerk the lady at Target was (she probably wasn't), and it's also not some kind of unfair anti-craft tirade.
It's just a confession that I will never be the one to say, "We're going to buy supplies and MAKE valentines for your friends." At least, not unless my kids get some serious tutoring from Martha Stewart and also have class sizes of no more than three. Otherwise, we will be sticking to PACKAGED valentines until high school graduation, thank you very much.
I mean, packaged valentines are painful enough as it is. My oldest kid is only five, and already every time I see the Valentine's Day aisles appear at Target each year, I want to stick a fork in my eye. I guess the problem is that I insist my kids participate in way with their valentines. Even if they can't write, they can stamp, sticker, and scribble. Maybe I'm too principled, but it seems a little lame for my kid to not even set his hands on the valentines until the day he passes them out at school. It's good to have principles, right?
The problem is that my principles lead to long, excruciating afternoons, usually February 13th, full of coaxing and bribing.
At least David's teacher was looking out for me this year. A month ago she sent home a note encouraging us to get started on valentines early. All of the children are expected to clearly address each valentine as well as clearly signing their names. I was feeling validated in my belief that the kids themselves should be involved somehow with the valentining. But I also recognized that a few stamps, stickers, or scribbles wouldn't be enough. This was the real deal: Legibly addressed envelopes and clear signatures. This was going to be a big undertaking for David.
And so it was with kids like David (who'd rather run than write) in mind that Mrs Q. sent home the note encouraging us to start early. And start early we did. We worked on just a few names every other day for a few weeks, and then they were finished. Just like that. And I didn't stick a fork in my eye! And David only cried once, and that was when he fell off his chair and had nothing to do with the valentines. It was wonderful!
The lesson here is that procrastination is bad.
So don't grumble when the Valentine's Day aisle appears on December 26. I will be there buying my PACKAGED valentines.
Sigh. If only I LEARNED my lesson. Of course, I put off Mary's valentines until this afternoon, when she happens to be Grouch-of-the-Universe. Normally, she loves this kind of stuff. But not today, OF COURSE. She traced her name in cursive on one (she can't write her name, but loves to trace her name in cursive), put a sticker on another, and then ran downstairs bawling hysterically for inexplicable reasons. So I signed the rest myself, and she won't even see them until tomorrow when she's passing them out.
Principles are overrated.
