I Like Your Quiet Soul

It’s valentines time again.   Or rather it’s getting close to that time.   The children have been working on theirs and it’s been one of those ups and downs kind of things.   The Montessori approach to Valentine’s Day is a little less commercial and a little more about meaning than it was from my memory in school as a child.

I remember getting the pre-made valentines and putting them in the bags for each student in the class.   There were a few outliers in my day that had something added like a piece of candy or a sticker.   There wasn’t a lot of choices at the drug or grocery store to buy but even so, most children didn’t make their own.   My children’s Montessori school is more about handmade and interesting.   Message and meaning, not commercialism and candy.   That includes a request for no candy by the teachers to the parents.

My daughter is in public school now and I have no idea what she’ll get home on the fourteenth, but I suspect she’ll be thrilled with what’s in her bag from the other students.    She and her brother, who is still at Montessori school, have been working on handmade cards.   I put a picture of them with the words “Happy Valentine’s Day 2018” and their name on a page and printed them.    Then I told them to get to work.

My daughter did some drawing of stick figures, hearts (that are hard to tell are hearts) and scribbles.   She added a sticker or two and then signed her name in print at the bottom.   We folded each sheet and then she selected some sealing wax pellets to seal each card.   I’d gotten a heart stamp for the occasion and my children have had a good time making color combinations to see what they can come up with as a final product.   Here are some examples:

My son has been having some challenges getting motivated to write his cards.   It’s mostly a matter of wanting to sit down and do the writing.   If he can get focused, he can work for a period of time.   But he has twenty-seven to write including main and resource teachers and it’s just going to take him some time.  

Today’s writing wasn’t going well from a motivation and attitude perspective.   I’d tried to be nice but I lost my temper and my son was in a dismal mood to match mine afterwards.  To skip to the end of the story, everything turned out find and he and I are the best of friends again, but for a period of time I didn’t think much was going to get done in the way of Valentine’s writing from him today.

But in came my mother to the rescue as we had a birthday party to take my daughter to.    When I got home my mother told me my son had worked diligently on writing four more of his cards.   She said he had the most interesting things to write, including one note to a student which said, “I like your quiet soul.”

The Big Boy Update:  After my son and I had it out today about the Valentine’s writing we took a break from each other.   A bit later he came to find and we sat down and talked.    We hugged and he said, “finally we’re getting along.”  Neither of us likes to be angry at the other.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My son was so angry at me earlier today he decided to leave the house.   I wasn’t particularly worried about him running away at seven, so I waited him out without saying a word.   But his sister noticed he’d left when she heard the front door open and close.   She was talking out loud, to no one in particular and said, “where in the world is he going?  He’s probably running away.   We can’t let him do that…he’s the only Greyson in the house.”