Hold that thought.

The first-grade valentine project this year hinged on my ability to design and execute a craft item.

Enter the adhesives.

Anyone with the nerve to delve into the world of children's art knows that eventually you're going to come up against glitter and you're going to need a lot of glue. Glitter is often optional — I know teachers who won't allow it in their rooms and parents who won't allow it in their houses, and justifiably so. But you're kind of stuck with glue, so to speak.

Nowadays, there's the glue stick, which has the benefit of being unspillable. Unfortunately, it also has the drawback of lacking any real staying power.

There's old-fashioned white glue, which is pretty good, but takes ages to dry. Craft projects often take place at the end of the day, going directly in the backpack, on the child, whatever. And as a mother, I can tell you that the very last thing you need at the end of the school day is a gluey child who has his craft project stuck to his jacket, backpack, homework, hair.

This brings us back to hot glue.

Hot glue has the benefit of drying quickly and being extremely effective, to say nothing of its faintly dangerous allure. It's that last bit that makes it unsuitable for use by and/or around small, excitable children. And, clearly, me.

The project I found online was composed of poster board, pipe cleaners and foam cutouts. These are assembled (aided by some form of glue) into a very festive headband apparatus, guaranteed to leave the wearer incandescent with valentiney goodness.

Neither glue sticks nor white glue is up to the task. Staples work, but would wind up embedded into the tender little foreheads of the first-graders. And sending kids home with staples embedded in their faces won't bump me any further up the Mother of the Year nomination list.

But the first grade needed me.

So I dug the glue gun out of its hiding place, plugged it in, lined up the many leftover sticks of raw glue and waited for the equipment to heat up. When the first whiff of heated bonding agent reached my nose, it all came rushing back — the humiliation, the mess, the burns, the sweating ... the swearing.

I looked at the project laid out before me and wondered if it was worth moving forward. My gaze fell upon the white-hot glue gun and I thought ... I have opposable thumbs, free will and determination. That ... is just a cheap piece of plastic, albeit one wired with electricity. But hey — the human body is shot through with electric currents, too. I win.

I closed the door on the past, and with a silent nod to my dear, now-departed cat, I picked up the glue gun.

Because in art, as in life, you can't move forward if you won't entertain a sticky situation now and then.

Author: Jiande Tongyu Electrical Appliance Tool Co.,Ltd.
website: www.tygluegun.com
main product: glue gun