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Do you make the Valentines or let the kids make them?
I have a preschool DD, she is 4, and her first time doing Valentines. She has been cutting out hearts for a week now, and she loves to stamp. I am thinking of letting her do some, but there are 20 to do, and I know some will look different than others, etc. and (and here is where I feel like I am a bad mother) they won't be as pretty as if I do them! There, I said it!!!! I can just feel it, I am melting, I feel horrible!
What do you think if I did this --- If I had her do a "One Sheet WOnder" by stamping all around a few sheets of cardstock, and then useing them for the background for the Valentines? I was thinking of making them tradiing card size, with red c/s and then mounting her background, and then a small square with an image on it. Do you think that would meet both of our needs? Am I horrible???
Oh and is trading card size too small for that age? Maybe that size but double, like fold-over?
What do you all do?
UPDATE: You have all given great input, I feel shamed -- yes, I guess I was not thinking of her happiness, but rather the pressure from the other moms, since they know I stamp, thanks for reminding me what is important. I will just do the precutting of the cards and cut up the OSW but let her stamp the OneSheetWOnder and the greeting, and if she wants to stamp and color a little guy in a square I will let her do that and color that in too and of course sign her name. She will have to do it all over the next week because she will lose patience with all that work in one sitting! But thank you all again for the input, it really helped me put it into perspective!
Let her do some of it. She will feel proud. That's the important thing, her pride, not yours. I know I have a hard time with hands off but with DD l5 and another who is 10 I have gotten the handle on the pride thing.
First of all you are not a bad mom! I am sure most of us have dealt with this and it is hard. But you do need to let go and let her do it. Your daughter will love the fact that she did her own cards. And will probably tell the whole world, which will be much more satisfying in the long run than if you do the cards. Come up with a few simple ideas and let her choose. A "One Sheet Wonder" is a great idea. Let her creative side come out and she'll want to stamp forever. If you take over too much she may not want to do it again. Enjoy the time together and try not to worry about the details. Makes me miss the days when my kids wanted to stamp with me.
I used the crayon kids set, with the Heart from the Delightful Doodles set, and stamped the images in black on a 2 3/4 x 5 1/2 sheet of confetti white paper. I then gave my four year old the card and he colored the images with his crayons. They actually turned out really cute and he felt proud that he made them himself.
My DD & I did this last year. We used the Happy hearts set, in all different colors of red & pink on white cardstock. She stamped some & I did some. After the whole sheet of 8 1/2 X 11 was finished to her approval. I cut them & mounted it on red cardstock the size of the trading cards. She stamped Happy Valentine's day on the back and signed her name. I cut a slit on the front & we stuck a lollipop in the slit. She was very proud of them, and the kids really liked them.
The kiddos so enjoy arts and crafts and Valentine's Day lets them give their art away! My kids are now in 1st and 3rd grade and can't wait to start valentines! We make them each year. For pre-school valentines I just cut the paper into rectangles and gave the kids small doily hearts (+ glue stick) and a variety of heart stickers and pre-adhesive googly eyes. Each of mine had so much fun. That gave them the whole back of the paper to "write" their name. They had so much fun with this free form version we did it several years before moving into the more structured ones like you find on www.familyfun.com . Last year we did the cute mice. This year we are doing the American Sign Language "I love you" with traced hands.
Oh, and about that "look better" thing...I fight that urge now regularly when Holiday and year-end teacher gifts are created. The teachers all know how I stamp and look forward to receiving their creations. My daughter now really wants to help with them. I want her to, yet that air of perfection creeeeeeeps in! She says I'm too picky.
Hi. I let my little girls stamp theirs and while they are not as "cute" as I would have made them, they enjoyed doing it and and I enjoyed being with them. Of course, I was a little distracted by wanting to keep my stamp supplies safe from what little hands can do. I did add a little to their cards when they were finished. I am glad that we did it together.
I did this one year with my son - he did ALL the stamping - they were "unique" to say the least but her really thought about EACH one and the one for Olivia! too sweet - he used trucks for teh boys and hearst for the girls and really thought about it!
I say - let HIM stamp - if its heart felt - they will be amazing!
I used hang tags - let him stamp the images and then used small celo bags and added goodies and a ribbon.
Worked great and was a "twist" on the plain ol' Valentine. I think we made about 20 as well!
ENjoy and make sure you save one for his scrapbook!!!!
Let her make them, they wont be as cute, but she will be proud, and you may end up finishing them any way!
I had a friends little girl over last weekend, she is in grade K, I had every thing all cut and ready to go, she stamped for about 10 min, said she was done, I asked her if she wanted to do them later, no, Im done, so me and her mom worked on Valentines!! Kind of funny and fun!!
Denise
I agree... let her do them. Think about the first card you made... now look at the work you do now... Practice makes perfect. And she will be very proud of herself.
Pretend your daughter is an adult friend. You'd never tell one of your friends that you could fix her card and make it look better :shock: Let go--it's good practice for later when she's a teenager! :lol:
I used the crayon kids set, with the Heart from the Delightful Doodles set, and stamped the images in black on a 2 3/4 x 5 1/2 sheet of confetti white paper. I then gave my four year old the card and he colored the images with his crayons. They actually turned out really cute and he felt proud that he made them himself.
Just and idea!
Nancy
This is sort of what I am doing with the heart from Little Layers Plus - I am stamping the heart on a sheet of paper and then cutting and attaching to cards made of red cardstock (not SU brand for 4 year olds) and they get to color in the hearts...
I then help them stamp on the back with my little heart "Stamp art from the heart" stamp
I do this alot for them - I did it recently with the package from LL Plus and had them color in the packages for a birthday party they went to...they had so much fun "making" the card for thier little friend.
__________________ Jenni -Happy SU Demo - MY GALLERY & MY CHAOTIC LIFE One kid makes you a Parent - Two makes you a Referee
I try not to do too much for my kids because I am afraid that they might grow up thinking that what they do isn't good enough or could never be as good as mom's is. Fortunately, I had a mother who let me grow and explore as much as I needed to. I was the kind of kid who had to figure it out myself. If someone tried to show me, I bucked it. Huh. That sounds just like my youngest. Can't believe I just realized that . . . we always wondered who she took after!
Anyway, I have a girlfriend whose mother always tried to do everything for her, or made her redo it if she didn't think it was quite right. Sad to say, this gal now has a life-long complex. She thinks that nothing she does is ever good enough or she redoes stuff because she keeps thinking it could be better.
I say let your 4-year old create 4 year-old valentines. It's not a contest and she'll be so proud of herself!
The cards I stamped for my DD who is 4 and my DS who is 7 and then they colored them. They had a ball doing this and I know they will just love telling all their friends that they colored them all by themselves. You're right when you say that it's hard and that they'd look better if you did it yourself, but the look you get when you let them do it themself, that feeling of accomplishment they get, it's the best. I'm going to let them put a sucker inside them too, my DD keeps asking if she can take them to school yet. She's so excited.
Who are we really trying to impress with great looking adult made cards? I really think it's the other parents, not the children. The children are just interested in the candy and that they got the card.
Who are we really trying to impress with great looking adult made cards? I really think it's the other parents, not the children. The children are just interested in the candy and that they got the card.
I think you are on target with that one. My son LOVES hand-made cards I give him for his birthday, that he receives from his grandmother (my Mom, who finally began stamping!), BUT, his classmates?????
YUP! Just give 'em da' candy.
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
My DD (4 year old) and I are in the middle of making her cards. It's so important for her to help make them. Since we have so many to make, I precut most of the paper. She enjoys the assembly more anyway - loves to use glue! She does the stamping too - I just help her decide where to stamp. They each look a bit different, but similar. I write the names, after she decides who gets which card. It's been a learning experience and has really tested my patience, but I'm glad we're doing this together. She's proud of them, it's another activity we enjoy together and it's great to see her creativity expand. I do limit the time we spend doing it each day as she loses interest after about an hour. I want her to enjoy it and not see it as a chore or something she must do. Thankfully, they are almost done!
BTW, I'm making the ones for her teachers. She helps me "design" them, but I do all the actual work. That's just me wanting to do something extra special for these wonderful ladies.
Pretend your daughter is an adult friend. You'd never tell one of your friends that you could fix her card and make it look better
Linda - That is probably the most profound thing I have read all day. Thanks so much for the reality check! I was just getting ready to do my kids' Valentine cards and I think I will be doing things a little bit differently now!
Hi!
I've been helping my grandchildren make valentines for years. They usually make bookmarks for each child in their class. This year, my 12 yr old grandson opted out (not cool). But my 10 yr old grandaughter made darling bookmarks using Toucan of My Love, then stamped the reverse side with the to/from stamp from Sketch It. But she only made them for the girls. She said the boys would not appreciate all the work. I thought that was cute. She was just going to buy some cheap ones for the boys.
I was going to make all my DD's valentines for her Kindergarten class, but after reading all these posts I am going to let her stamp them herself. She is always asking me to let her stamp, now is her chance. Thanks for posting this, my DD is going to love you for this! haha
OK. Shoot me...I went to the Dollar Store and bought a pkg of 30 Valentines for $1. My daughters are in prek and 2nd grade, respectively. My girls loved to sign their names. AND it saved me a lot of time, money and supplies.
Aubrey
__________________ Aubrey
There are 3 types of people in the world. Those that can count and those that can't.
I read your update but just wanted to add my two cents in. I have two dds and one little ds. The girls are in school, kindergarten and 3rd grade. We stamped their Christams goodies and now their Valentines. The kindergartener doesn't always get a compelete image and that drives her nuts so I stamp those that she has to color. She did stamp the background for her cards and it shows but she had fun! lol And the kids won't care as they'll just want the sucker anyways! As for the 3rd grader, she stamped all of hers and I did the cutting and gluing. She is making the slider cards. ( I will post pictures on Valentines day) I'm planning on making the cards for the teachers. If the girls want to make one too, that is find. They all have to stamp when mommy stamps. Even the 2 yr old ds!
We should enjoy our time with them now cause who knows as they get older if they'll still want to do what mommy does!
Do you make the Valentines or let the kids make them?
I don't have any children, but I'm sure I would feel bad too if I didn't share in the fun and the compliments !!! 
