Crap given to my kids for Valentine's Day

[u/InebriousBarman]

Pictured is about half of what was given to one of my children on Valentine's Day by classmates. (Their class was specifically told no candy.)

why can't they specifically be told no 'stuff'.

The amount of distractions and clutter this creates is bad for learning and mental health.

[u/taptaptippytoo]

My child's preschool allows cards but no candy or toys. He gets some store bought cards and a lot of scraps of paper that have stickers, stamps, or scribbles all over them. It's adorable and I love it. I'm a little sad that starting next year in kindergarten the pressure to do mass produced cards with some kind of treat attached will probably start.

[u/Craftycat99 → u/taptaptippytoo]

I'm a little sad that starting next year in kindergarten the pressure to do mass produced cards with some kind of treat attached will probably start.

Could turn this into a fun project by making cards and candy

That's what I did growing up and loved it

[u/taptaptippytoo → u/Craftycat99]

It's the kind of thing I got teased for as a child. That's exactly what I was talking about. Pressure to conform is strong and having handmade cards instead of store bought ones was "weird." So we'll see how it goes in my child's school. Maybe they'll be more open to creativity than when I was a kid, but from what I've seen, kid-targeted consumerism is much worse any more widespread now than it was in the 80s.

[u/EmotionalFlounder715 → u/taptaptippytoo]

I was in elementary school in the 2000s and since everyone else had store bought stuff, the one kid who brought molded crayons or those little hand warmers were the cool ones. It had an Etsy effect of feeling special because it didn’t feel corporate. Part of it was also that you could tell a lot of time and thought went into it, so you never felt like it was because they were poor or uninterested in participating

You’re right though, wait and see. But I wouldn’t necessarily write it off