My 10-year old son found the perfect valentine cards at the store the other day.  Perfect in so many ways.  First, they were Batman cards, from the news series “The Brave and the Bold” so they include all the greats, like Aquaman, Plasticman, Blue Beetle, Green Arrow and so on.  Second, they come with stickers.  Stickers!  Third, they come in a pack of 34, and since there are 30 kids in his class this is perfect – we don’t have to buy more than one box.  And fourth, and most important, they don’t say anything that might be misconstrued as “mushy” by 10-year old girls or boys.

Today my son informed me that his teacher told them, “No store bought cards.”  Fine.  He likes drawing, we can handle this.  However, which “theme” to pick proved a sticking point:

That little robot character you like to draw? nah – not one single girl likes him.

Northwest Coastal Natives?  nah – we’re done studying that. 

Greek Myths? nah – we’re almost done studying that. 

Basketball? nah – I’m the only one who likes basketball.

Dogs and Cats? nah – I want to do something everyone likes.

What does everyone like?  His “pet” venus fly trap and cobra lily that he took to class last week (in lieu of having a pet that would behave well enough to take to class).    Everyone loved them! 

Alrighty then.  I’m not a printmaker for nothing!  Have blocks, will carve.  That and a few supplies from the craft store and we are ready to make valentines, with no hearts, no pink and no mush in sight.  Parker cut all the paper and stamped away.  He’s saving the stickers to put on the other side.  They have to write a compliment to each person in their class on their cards so he is going to work on that at school.

My job here is done.