"Welcome back gift" for teachers?

Mrs.Greg

Dude, is this a thing?? I've been seeing posts on Facebook of silly gifts my "friends" are giving to their kids' teachers on the first day of school. Paper cup with handmade Seattle Seahawks coffee cup cozy filled with pencils (cuz teachers need 24 wooden pencils?)... planner ordered from Etsy (cuz the teacher is most likely ill-prepared for the start of school and is without a planner?)... but the best gift of all is from a friend who sells some special expensive mascara, she's giving her kids' teachers samples of mascara. I have no words. Anyway, are you all getting "welcome back gifts" for your kids' teachers?? Seems a bit brown nosey to me but if everyone's doing it...

notreallyirish

No. No more gifts! It makes me irrationally angry. I think it's ridiculous and just marketing designed to make people think it's something they need to do. Marketing is so insidious in social media--sponsored blog posts, product reviews, Amazon affiliate links for craft supplies, etc. Blarg!

jnksmom

I have seen a few pics on my FB of people doing the same thing. Personally I thnk it's too much but these are the same people who give a small gift like that for every holiday throughout the school year(Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Patricks day, etc).

dizzycooks

I just saw this on Pinterest.  I vote no.  That is just too much pressure and seriously, doesn't the teacher have enough to do the first day without finding a home a gift and remembering to write a thank you?

I am a much bigger fan of a random positive email or a gift card for coffee at some unexpected point if you really feel like the teacher is going above and beyond.  Or email the principal about him/her with great compliments.  No more stuff.

lifeinthedreamhouse

I'm guilty of the the back to school gift. In my defense, DD is 2.5 and this is her first year of preschool. Plus her teacher is an old neighbor of ours and her daughter babysits for date night. It was a planner with a printable classroom rules put in the cover sleeve. Super cute and pretty inexpensive and I can use the printable again. Sooooo, that's cool right?

MesmrEwe

No - just... no...

First I have no idea who this person is nor their personal quirks/allergies/preferences/etc. yet - I have no idea if they're going to be great or suck. Great teachers I'll go to bat for over the course of the year and be super generous, lousy ones - yea no.. And yes, I've dealt with my share of each these past four years. 

If I was going to get them a gift it'd be something as silly as the big bottle of Tylenol...  And one for the Principal too...

raraavis28

I mean if a parent wanted to give me a Starbucks gift card for whatever reason, more power to them....but no, this is not a thing.

Funny story s/o gifts: I would make my own practice worksheets for my Spanish students when teaching direct and indirect objects and would always use the example "The students give chocolates to Señora" to the point where it got to be a joke in the class. Sure enough, at the end of one year I was inundated w/ boxes of chocolates from my Spanish 3 kids. Ironically I was in my first tri w/ the twins and had a terrible aversion to chocolate of all things..... :P

spring_time

This cannot be a thing.

notkateanymore

Only if my child was a terror would I give a welcome back gift...and it would just be money to straight up bribe them.

ConnieRob

My back to school gift for Jacks teacher was what she requested on her classroom wish list...

Baby wipes, Lysol wipes, paper towels, baggies in varying sizes, extra school supplies for kids that didn't have them and play-doh.

I don't think teachers need more random crap. How many apple themed things does one person really need?

Plus I signed up to be her copy-bitch for the year. I think I'm good

jensriot

Nope. I do teacher appreciation week, Christmas and end of year. That's for 5 different teachers/instructors between the three kids, so far. Call me stingy, but that's enough.

raraavis28

notkateanymore said:

Only if my child was a terror would I give a welcome back gift...and it would just be money to straight up bribe them.

Oh oh this reminds me of another teacher gift story! At my first school we had a lot of international students who would board there for the year; most of them were from Mexico. Well at the end of one year, the dad of one of these students gave all the teachers a bottle of tequila. He said "I should have given this to you at the beginning of the year".....considering his son, he was right. :P

orangegoggles

Its crazy. As a teacher I've never seen it happen except for last year I was given a $10 DnD to "welcome me back" to working I guess?!?! LOL 

But to be honest, though I thought it was a brown nosy, I ain't mad atcha 

Andrewsgal

I saw several of them on the first day of school and it was absolutely ridiculous. Justify it all you want I judge hard.

Andrewsgal

lifeinthedreamhouse said:

I'm guilty of the the back to school gift. In my defense, DD is 2.5 and this is her first year of preschool. Plus her teacher is an old neighbor of ours and her daughter babysits for date night. It was a planner with a printable classroom rules put in the cover sleeve. Super cute and pretty inexpensive and I can use the printable again. Sooooo, that's cool right?

No it's ass kissing and ridiculous!

MesmrEwe

notkateanymore said:

Only if my child was a terror would I give a welcome back gift...and it would just be money to straight up bribe them.

LOL - Fill me in - does this work??????  JUST KIDDING!!! 

(I love DD - but she's a handful.. Super smart, but if she's not interested in a subject, Heaven help us all...  She's 2 for 2 - Her Second and Third grade teachers are now doing something else - One went back to the Mother House and is in a non-teaching job, and the other went overseas to teach English/language)..

MrsKM82

I am a teacher and to be honest I would much more appreciate something off my classroom wish list or a gift card to a school supply store in the beginning of the year then some sort of cutesy craft thing.

Don't get me wrong...I totally appreciate the thought and think its sweet but considering I have already shelled out $600 of my own money so far and the year hasn't even started (new job with new classroom and a very small school budget), so anything that helps me in this area is so helpful.

However it makes me a little sad to hear some of the resentment about teacher gifts. I have known only few teachers who were gift grabby and they were not nice people anyway. Gifts are never expected so if you don't want to, don't! I would hate for a family to be giving purely out of feelings of obligation.

For me personally, little gifts throughout the year mean a lot. I put in my heart and soul, time, money and a lot of effort to make sure each of my kids has the best school experience possible. Whether it's something for the classroom, a little gift card to Starbucks or a note with some candy, it is nice to know the family is thinking of me and appreciates what I do for their child.

And yes, even a verbal thank you counts as a gift for me anyway. We always hear when the parents are unhappy about one thing or another. It's refreshing to hear something positive.

Sorry for the novel!

notkateanymore

DD did bring an apple a couple of years in a row, she thought it was cute and the teachers did too. No big expense.

Andrewsgal

notkateanymore said:

DD did bring an apple a couple of years in a row, she thought it was cute and the teachers did too. No big expense.

This is cute because it was her idea not because you wanted to buy something to kids ass.

notkateanymore

Andrewsgal said:

DD did bring an apple a couple of years in a row, she thought it was cute and the teachers did too. No big expense.

This is cute because it was her idea not because you wanted to buy something to kids ass.

Totally. I do my ass kissing by volunteering.

notkateanymore

I don't think most people resent giving a teacher a gift for a job well done, but it's at the beginning of the year for one thing. Also, when you have 5 teachers plus specials teachers x 2 or 3 kids...that's a lot.