We have no special traditions or expectations for Valentine's Day here. Some years, we go out to dinner. Sometimes, there are flowers or a card, and sometimes, the day passes without much notice. This will be one of those years. We agreed that we weren't going to do anything to celebrate this year, because we've been too distracted by other things. So today, the plan is a doctor's appointment, laundry, and swing dance practice.
However, this morning, I am remembering Valentine's Days when Wally and Theo were young. Oh, how I hated the valentines that they had to hand out at school. Neither of them had good fine motor skills, and preparing Valentines for their class was torture for both them and me. However, we all survived.
I am also remembering Wally's third-grade Valentine's Day party at school. It was an interesting afternoon as I watched the girls and boys behave very differently. I've shared this story here before, but I'm going to do it again below. In the meantime, I hope you have a good day today, whether it is filled with hearts and chocolates or laundry. 😀
__________________________________
Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual, and I didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that's the kind of games they were taught. Little girls played with dolls because that was the kind of toys they were given. I thought that if all kids, regardless of gender, were exposed to the same things, they would have the same tendencies. Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and figured out that I was wrong. Possibly, there were some differences between boys and girls. From time to time, I'm going to share some of my experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, so as not to bias you, I'm going to let you guess who the boys are in the stories and who the girls are.
The Event: Wally's Third Grade Valentine PartyYou choose: Which group was the boys and which was the girls?
Happy Valentine's Day. Oh! the fun of eating red hots!
ReplyDeleteRed hots are a favorite of mine. However, I don't eat the whole box at once. :)
DeleteMy mom loved Red Hots. She had a jello salad recipe which used them. I just Googled the recipe here to make sure I didn't have a false memory. https://www.thatsnerdalicious.com/red-hot-jello-salad-recipe/
ReplyDeleteWe also keep things low-key for Valentine's Day. My husband brought me tulips earlier this week (they look so cheerful, after all the wintry weather we've had) and I got everyone a card and a little box of Whitman's chocolates. Some years I make a pie, but I don't think that will happen this year.
Some how, I have never heard of red hot Jello salad, but I see there are recipes for it all over the internet. It doesn’t sound like things that should go together, but that many recipes can’t be wrong. Did you like it?
DeleteIt was, by far, my favorite jello salad that my mom made. The applesauce made the texture more appealing and it tasted like spicy cinnamon apples.
DeleteI love this story and because I had only sons there was no pause in knowing which group was which.
ReplyDeleteValentine's Day is not a big deal here, of course we have had a lot of them together, and I guess we have aged out of all the hoopla associated with it. We still go out to eat for "Valentine's Day" but never on the actual day, and most often it is for lunch.
We haven’t been out to eat on Valentine’s Day for a long time. If we go out, it’s usually the day before.
DeleteI hate to stereotype, but sometimes boys will be boys.😀
We are the same. Some years we do it in style, other years, not so much. This year we decided to go out to celebrate, but that will happen tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI remember that story! Let's see, who was counting the candies??? Bet i can guess!
I bet you can guess, too.
DeleteEnjoy your day tomorrow. It sounds like a lot of fun.
I enjoyed reading that post, again. We don't celebrate St. Valentine's Day. It was just another day. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was just another day for us, too.
DeleteThis is very true. Though there are often a couple girls on the red hots side! When I was a children's librarian gender was a big issue. We were guided to ignore gender and a few other things and expose kids to everything. Having said that, I learned pretty quickly that most girls were comfortable reading about either gender and most boys were NOT about doing that at all.
ReplyDeleteYes, one of the truisms of working in a library. You figure out that girls will read about either gender and most boys don't. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think my boys were the same way.
DeleteWe do not do anything for Valentine's Day. It seems to be cursed for us! I don't actually believe in curses, but if anything could change my mind it would be Valentine's Day. After bouts of food poisoning, the flu, snow storms, and things breaking at home, we gave up on even acknowledging Valentine's Day. We spent Saturday working on projects around the house.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is the girls read the Valentines and the boys ate the Red Hots.
I don't think I would celebrate Valentine's Day either if I had all of those things associated with it. My sister and BIL don't celebrate their wedding anniversary for the same reason. Too many negatives have happened on that day. Except, of course, for getting married. :)
DeleteYou are correct with your guess on the Valentine's party.