How Do You Handle Valentine's Day as Kids Get Older

Welcome to the first edition of Moms Talk, a new Patch feature meant to get moms around the community exchanging ideas about raising kids in town.  Each Wednesday, we're inviting the towns experts—moms, of course, though dads are invited to participate too—to give their input on a variety of parenting concerns.

Not sure how to get your child through a difficult subject at school?  Unsure of the best way to handle cyber or regular bullying?  What about curfews and boundaries for teenagers and preteens?  Those are just a few of the topics Moms Talk will handle.

But, noting the holiday coming up (which I'm not shy about saying I despise), we wanted to ask—How much easier or harder is Valentine's Day once the kids are out of elementary school?  How do you handle going from a holiday where, when younger, kids would always give the paper cards to everyone in the class, but, as they get older, that may not necessarily happen?