Yesterday was Saint Valentine’s day and Dani brought home a Valentine’s card from school. The card was in English so it would have been the idea of Dani’s English teacher Miss Jenny – who is actually American.

It said quite simply, at the top: “Happy Valentine’s Day!” followed by a big picture of a heart.

The heart had been very badly crayoned in and mostly in brown so I am guessing it must have been coloured by Dani.

At the bottom of the card were the words “From: Claudia”

“To:” then a small photo of Dani.

“Claudia? Who is Claudia?” I asked him. He reached for the class photo we have on the table and pointed her out.

“What happened to Clara?” I asked.

“She was ill” he replied.

Phew! What a relief. I thought for a brief moment that his little heart would need mending. Imagine if Clara had “given” her Valentine’s card to someone else? World ending event.

The classes are evenly balanced. Half boys, half girls. I suppose the teachers just randomly matched boy-girl for the cards.

“Who did you give your card to Dani?” I asked.

“Nobody” he replied instantly. He is still not saying. He probably neither knows nor cares because for sure it is not Clara.

Then a thought occurred to me. Do they celebrate Saint Valentine’s day any more in mainstream schools in the UK? Would matching boys with girls for the cards be frowned upon? The state schools in the UK and (no doubt) here in Spain probably just don’t bother with the day at all and avoid such difficult decisions.

Should I call the gender police? Nah.

I am sure there are some in the UK who might do just that. But definitely not in Dani’s school.