The origins of St Valentine’s Day and the reasons why this day has been chosen by lovers to send messages of love to each other, remain obscure. However, not only has the practice persisted but it has now even grown into a fully commercialised event.

The original simple card with the message, a Valentine, has been extended to include elaborate commercial cards, red roses, chocolates, jewellery, all kinds of gifts, kinky lingerie and dining out.

Which is why I found the front page of Junior News (February 13), reproducing Valentine cards made by pupils in Year 1 of a State primary school, so very disconcerting.

For heaven’s sake, pupils in Year 1 are six years old. It is fine to get them to make cards for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, for Christmas and Easter but for Valentine’s Day? They cannot possibly begin to understand what St Valentine’s Day is all about. So much so that two of these little children wrote “Mummy is my Valentine”!