Valentine’s Day blues- anyone else?

[Anonymous]

Filing in the To and From fields for 20 kids is an agonizing task for my 9 yo. He had occupational therapy today, and I brought the Valentines to occupational therapy and asked that this be the activity. They had an hour to work on it and they got through seven. And the seven look like $hit. Several of the names are spelled wrong and the writing is so terrible that I’m afraid to have him even hand them out because someone might make fun of why he writes like that.

He said several of the boys in his class are not doing Valentines this year. Should I just scrap it?

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Just print out some labels for him.

[Anonymous]

NP. Labels or just write them for him so he can hand out cards and candy like everyone else. It’s not cheating, he made a good effort but it will be easier for him to read who each card is going to if it’s legible. Soon he will be like everyone else—using a screen or keyboard to type everything.

[Anonymous]

I was just rejoicing with my spouse that we no longer need to do Valentines now that our is in Middle School. It was torture for all the years I made him fill them out and I regret doing it.

Just write them yourself or have him sign the cards and leave the “to” field blank. It’s not worth the pain, but will still allow your kid to participate in the party.

[Anonymous]

OP, the kids only care about what tchotchkes come with the valentines. I promise no one will make fun of anyone's handwriting.

And based on what has come home in prior years (not to mention my own kid's bad penmanship), he is far from alone in misspellings.

[Anonymous]

Just do it for him. My son is 15 and his handwriting is illegible and writing takes him forever. It doesn't matter, he has a typing accommodation for all school assignments.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is 8 (3rd grade) and she said she didn't want to bring them. I hate them and hate spending money on them so I said, "whatever you want to do, my love."

[Anonymous]

It isn't actual homework, OP. Just write them out for him.

[Anonymous]

We are specifically told not to fill out the to line. For the from line, do what is easiest: you doing it, using stickers, taping something he/you types and prints.

Or if he doesn't want to do it at all, it's ok to skip.

[Anonymous]

I will just print label or write it on label for all cards. Kids never read names, and they only care about toys or candies.

[Anonymous]

This was misery for us for years. Eventually I got a system down where every night for a week DD would have to label five of them.

So glad she is in middle school and doesn’t have to do this anymore. Although now it’s hard for her when she doesn’t receive candy grams like most of the other kids do. She says she doesn’t care but I can tell it bugs her.

[Anonymous]

Just congratulate him for the ones he did and then write the others yourself. Use your left hand or a different hand grip if you want to make it look like his.

I did this and my kid thought they did them all and was proud. Whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was misery for us for years. Eventually I got a system down where every night for a week DD would have to label five of them.

So glad she is in middle school and doesn’t have to do this anymore. Although now it’s hard for her when she doesn’t receive candy grams like most of the other kids do. She says she doesn’t care but I can tell it bugs her.

I absolutely hate those candy grams. It makes me sick.

You can always give $5 to the front desk and they will give some to your kid anonymously.

[Anonymous]

We used to write out four a night and it would take a whole week. Then in recent years the teacher only wanted them to sign their name which goes so much faster!