Valentine's

I thought I'd share these valentine's that Curtis and I made together for his class the other day.



I was gifted a set of scrap booking scissor, but I don't scrapbook. I tried to give them away but nobody wanted them and now I'm glad. They came in handy for these hearts, cut out from construction paper.

Curtis picked out some glitter glue at Joanne's for them and had a good time decorating the hearts.



So I was pressured into adding candy. I get kind of irked by the amount of candy they give at schools these days. I remember as a kid that we exchanged little cartoon cards and that was it. You might end up with a box of conversation hearts by the end of the day, but I swear now-a-days we are pressured into handing out all kinds of junk food for every holiday on the calendar. It isn't the teachers pressuring me either, it's my own husband and the other parents. I would rather give just cards but I figured since everyone else is adding to the cards maybe I'd add a colored pencil or box of raisins. Apparently my dear husband thinks this is crazy and yes...I caved and added lolly pops. Luckily I spent no money since we had these pops left over from Halloween, but don't tell the kids at preschool this.

This kind of plays in with the idea of every kid getting a trophy in sports and parents buying gifts for the sibling of the birthday child so they don't feel left out. Trust me, I am a very caring and loving parent, but doesn't there come a time when a child needs to learn that there isn't always going to be a prize. I wonder how my boys will learn to keep trying if I reward and prize them for every little thing.

On top of that, why does it seem to always be junk food that is the reward? I try to come up with new ideas for these things (hence the colored pencil idea) but most times I feel stumped. My kids, like most others I believe, just want candy. But does that me they should have it so often? Shouldn't it be a special treat? I think if Curtis only got candy on holidays I'd probably be ok with it (maybe not the shear volume, but a few would be ok), but unfortunatley it seems there is always something he wants to be rewarded for with candy. I try very hard to hold off, I promise, but it is hard.

I wonder if other parents struggle like I do getting their brains around all of this?