Teacher Gifts, Part 3
I’ve spent a couple days this week
talking about teacher gifts so feel free to catch up before you
start reading today. But if you’re already caught up,
let’s dive in – to my own ideas for what to give
teachers as a “thank you” for putting up with your kid
–and, let’s face it, you – for a year.
First off, think about who you want to remember with a little
something. For me, it’s the people I see every day, whose
paths I regularly cross as my daughters go about their school
lives. So if you’ve never had a one-on-one meeting with your
school principal and can only vaguely remember what she looks like,
then don’t worry about a personal gift; perhaps something
small for the whole office staff to share would be great.
On the other hand, if your child’s
education needs extra time to coordinate – say, your child is
on the autism spectrum, or you have had discipline issues, or
something along those lines – then by all means remember your
principal. Likewise, consider a small thank-you to any additional
adults your child regularly sees: a school speech therapist, the
counselor, a language tutor, that sort of thing. And I strongly
encourage you to remember the front desk receptionist of your
child’s school: at Maddie’s elementary school the
receptionist is accurately nicknamed “The Gatekeeper”
and you can tell how much a mom volunteers at the school by how
friendly The Gatekeeper is towards her. The receptionist works hard
and usually can match twelve hundred kids’ names with their
faces by October. Show her a little love.
For us, we are doing a small gift – probably a personal note
and small gift card – for the crossing guard on our daily
route. She always chats with Maddie by name and is never anything
but cheerful and kind. And we’ll be seeing her for the next
seven years.
Maddie’s teacher is getting a large gift card from her class,
which we know she will love. She’s gone above and beyond for
Maddie this year so my daughter wanted to do something personal as
well; so we’re also getting a necklace we found on Etsy for
her. Not expensive, but I’ve been around the teacher enough
to know that it’s definitely her style.
For the front office staff Maddie and I are making a batch of hand
sanitizer –something no school can ever have too much of. You
can find a
target="_blank">ridiculously easy recipe for it on
Betty. We’re also putting a bit of hand sanitizer in
a pretty bottle for our Gatekeeper, along with a small gift card
and personal note.
Cora is making
target="_blank">sock buddies for her two teachers; I
know I said such things are a risk but it’s risk-free here; I
know these women quite well, and know they’ll get a lot of
use out of the sock buddies with their own children. And Cora loves
to sew, and really wants to make them.
A friend of mine home schools her children but has almost ten
peripheral teachers who regularly interact with her kids, between
speech therapy and art teacher and soccer coach and so on. Because
the atmosphere is much more casual and she knows all the teachers
quite well, she’s made a huge batch of strawberry jam from
strawberries they picked themselves, and giving a jar to each
teacher. As long as you know your recipient, it’s a great
gift.
Maddie wants to do small gifts for all her “specials”
teachers this year , so we’ve got our work cut out for us.
Her PE teacher is getting a gift card to iTunes since she plays
current music during gym class; her librarian is receiving an
illustration from an old book of a woman reading to children
sitting all around her. We found the picture on Etsy for ten bucks
and again, are friends with the librarian and know she’ll
love it. We’ve got similar small personal items planned for
the art teacher and music teacher: nothing huge, just something
that says they are noticed and appreciated.
So that’s what we’re doing: sock buddies, gift cards,
hand sanitizer, and some personal items from Etsy (which, by the
way, is a treasure trove for one-of-a-kind, inexpensive gifts).
Bottom line: don’t stress, just take the time to thank the
people who are working hard to help your baby out there in the big
bad world.
Go forth and thank.
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