How Do I Handle Valentines In My Child's Classroom?

Moms Talk is a new feature on North Reading Patch that is part of a new initiative on our Patch sites to reach out to moms and families.

North Reading Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Reading. 

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of local parents take your questions, give advice and share solutions.

Moms, dads, grandparents and the diverse families who make up our community will have a new resource for questions about local neighborhood schools, the best pediatricians, 24-hour pharmacies and the thousands of other issues that arise while raising children.

Moms Talk will also be the place to drop in for a talk about the latest parenting hot topic. Where can we get information on local flu shot clinics for children? How do we talk to our children about the Tucson shootings? How can we help our children's schools weather their budget cutbacks?

So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start the conversation today with a question from Gillian Casey, a member of our Moms Council. Gillian, who has a child in kindergarten, and she wanted to know how to handle valentines in the classroom? What is appropriate, and what is expected, especially in the North Reading schools? 

Answers:

According to Parenthacks.com, homemade valentines are easy to make, with a few tools required, most of which can be purchased at a local store such as :

• Card stock (old manila file folders work well) or construction paper
• Red, pink and black markers and/or crayons
• Stickers, stamps, doilies, and bits of glitter
• Glue, glue sticks, tape
• If you like, small candies
• The classroom roster, including the names of your kids' teachers 

Gillian noted that her child received a list of all students in the class, as well as teachers, aides and office workers. This list will be helpful, to ensure you do not leave anyone out.

Maryann Murray, another member of our council, has a son in first grade, a kindergarten student and a preschooler. Maryann said that last year in kindergarten, students were not able to distribute candy with their valentines, so some parents attached erasers, stickers or pencils to the cards. 

Her first-grader will hand out stickers with valentines at school this year, Maryann said.

"The schools are really good about making sure you hand them out for all the classmates," Maryann said. "My son got a kick out of reading them at home after school last year."

Meet our Moms Council:

• Lindsay Barnes-Felix
• Maryann Murray, who has children in first grade, kindergarten and preschool.
• Christine Emma Hatch, who grew up in Medford and bought a house and moved to North Reading with her husband, Brian, five years ago. Christine and her husband have been married for six years and are parents to a beautiful 2-year-old girl, Emma. Christine is the unit nurse leader of the Phototherapy Unit in Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She began her nursing career at the hospital almost nine years ago. Christine has spoken nationally at the Dermatology Nursing Association Meetings and won the Joan Clark Nursing Award last year. 

• Gillian Casey, a 1993 North Reading High School graduate who is a mother of 3- and 5-year-old boys who still manages to hold down a full-time job in Boston in the marketing business. Gillian telecommutes whenever she can and thinks that work-life balance is an unattainable dream that she will keep aspiring toward anyway.
• Tracy Evans was born in Los Angeles. Her parents, both teachers, adopted four children into a loving family that valued education, equality and a spirit of adventure. At age 2, the family moved to the Philippines, and Tracy became one of the youngest Peace Corps members at that time. She grew up in California, graduated from Our Lady of Corvallis High School in Studio City, and went on to study English literature at California State University Northridge. During college she worked as a medical secretary for the Perinatal Unit at Saint Joseph Medical Center. She moved to Boston in 1997, and by 2003 she completed her master's degree in public health from Boston University School of Public Health. While in Massachusetts, she has worked as a patient advocate at a private psychiatric hospital, as a research coordinator for the Women's Health Research Unit at Boston University Medical Center, and as a health educator to numerous patients.  Tracy has been with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and Control Program for six years as its program coordinator. She is the loving wife to Eric Evans, a financial adviser with Edward Jones, and is a busy parent to Blaine Evans, an extremely active and curious 2-year-old little boy.

Interested in joining our Moms Council? E-mail editor Matt Bashalany at matthew.bashalany@patch.com? Have a question you would like to see addressed in a future column? Tell us in the comments or e-mail the editor.