in not bothering to buy presents for teachers?

[luciemule]

That's it really.
Every year, you see all the mums bringing in beautiful gifts for the teachers and I just think WTF?

They are there to teach my children; that's their job.

My SIL is a primary teacher and you should see all the crap gifts she gets every summer/xmas. She even had 3 of the same teddy bears one year all telling her she's a great teacher. She gave loads of her chocs and gifts away.

I feel like a scrooge but I'm sure I'm not the only one am I? The kids haven't asked me to buy anything anyway.

Sorry, have just actually read the question properly! You are def NOT being unreasonable to not buy one, it's up to you after all

Lucie we had that sit wrt ds2- friends in one class, him and bully in another

I would address it; we didn;t and have regretted it

As a teacher, I'd say YANBU. It's lovely to feel appreciated, but a verbal 'thank you' can do that, as in any job. Presents are fabulous, but in my experience a card is even better - I keep every card I've ever been given and often flick through them when I've had a tough day to remind myself that sometimes I get it right. You can't really do that with a box of chocolates!

I have done it for the one to one teaching assistant who has been with DS for the past two years as she has been brilliant. All the rest (TA's and teacher) have got home made cards from DS.

I am happy to give a gift as a "thank you" to the TA as she has been brilliant.

I wanted to get the teachers something, DS2's nursery has been closed by the local council so he wont be going back and DS1 had his first year at schhol and his teachers are so very lovely and are brilliant with his health needs.

However i dont have the money to shell out for 7 expensive lavish gifts so i went to Hawkins Bizzare and brought 7 little packs of seeds, they are lolly sticks with the seeds implanted so all you do is put the sticks into the ground and they grow. They cost £1 each and i think its a nice touch that is a bit different from chocolates, the kids sat and made cards and we put the seed sticks in the envelopes.

Its personal choice at the end of the day. OP, you'd hate me then as I buy for many of the staff.

DS's teacher is fab and is a major influence in his daily life. I always get end of term presents and also buy for christmas.

Whilst they may only be doing their jobs, they make school as friendly and fun as possible and its a lovely environment.

I'm a teacher. Gifts are embaressing but the occasional card is nice.

I get paid well for a job I enjoy, have a good pension and am just about to have six weeks - paid - off work in the sunshine. I feel pretty well rewarded thanks

Thoroughly agree that TAs deserve gifts though; they get minimum wage for doing a bloody hard job and they don't get paid during the holidays either.

IMO any of you planning to give presents to teachers should give them to TAs instead!

I am just following the herd here as ds1 just finished Reception. The norm there is thay collect money - £20 per family at the beginning of the year and the class parent buys small gifts at Xmas and Easter for the teacher and TA (OTT imo) and spa vouchers for local spa for end of term - more for teacher than TA. This sounds ok to me. If I was a teacher I think vouchers would be my first choice.

We also got the children to do self-portraits and put them all onto a picture and put in an A4 frame (and used to make the home made thank you card too) which I thought was a bit more personal - an A4 frame doesn't take up too much space even if you already have loads of stuff from kids or you could even hang it in the classroom I guess.

I meant I think Easter and Xmas presents may be OTT BTW - totally agree the TAs should get something too if the teachers are given a present.

As a senior teacher in London on over £40k a year, I know that I earn more than many of the parents whose children I teach (shame most of it disappears on my huge mortgage )

My favourite present ever was homemade shortbread, it was delicious. A card with a message from the parent and the child means more to me than anything else. I don't drink, so my mum does quite well for wine at this time of year!

YANBU and I write that as a teacher, I much prefer a nice note or letter if the child wants to give something but at the end of the day I have done the job I am paid to do!

I probably wouldn't have bought a pressie, simply because I wouldn't have thought about it (nobody did teachers presents when I was at school although admittedly that was a gzillion years ago).
Dd however wanted to give something to her teacher and TA as a thank you, and because she likes them, so I took her into town this evening and she bought some little bath bombs and bookmarks with her pocketmoney. (they weren't dear, but it was still 3 weeks worth of her savings!)

we have bought a present for teacher every one of our (three so far) years at school.

thus far, the teachers have been absolutely fantastic.

lets hear it for teachers!

hey, Year 2 teacher here, I agree with mini33 it is lovely to receive hand written letters from the children and parents.

Our job can sometimes be tough and its nice to be appreciated

I am a Newly Qualified Teacher just coming to the end of my first term am am not expecting any gifts as the gift of teaching my fab class is enough

YAB a tiny bit U but I mostly agree with your point. DP is a primary teacher - he specifically asks kids not to bring in presents cos he thinks it's OTT. (And he always ends up with 30 bottles of wine and boxes of chocs twice a year, which we really can't drink/eat.)

Instead, he says if they really want to get him something, to make it themselves - he has had keyrings, tins of brownies, cards, poems and even a fruit basket (kid's parents own a veg shop so sort of home made), all hand made and which all meant far more than a box of Celebrations or a crap teddy. He also encourages them to give to charity instead, especially in a way which ties in with any class projects. One year, when he was reading Philip Pullman's Northern Lights, instead of buying all the kids a little present at Christmas as he usually does, (we're talking a pencil and eraser) he sponsored a polar bear for them instead. They absolutely loved it and then lots of them came up with different ideas - like the Oxfam tokens - as gifts for him. Since then, he's done a similar thing each year.

On the other hand, I know that, when he suggested that this was made a school policy, lots of other teachers objected because they like their annual handout of chocolates and M&S vouchers. So I think it depends on the individual in question.

We started a tradition when ds (10) was in Reception that has continued with DD (7) too. We love the teachers at their small primary scholl who put in lots of effort above & beyond what they are paid for, including running clubs in their own time & looking after my DD who has had health probs. I buy a batch of plain white mugs from 'Yellow Moon' that the children hand decorate with special pens and we bake to make permanent. It doesn't cost much, is useful and is a personal touch. Sometimes we fill the mugs with chocs or bath sachets but not always.

Bach's Rescue Remedy - to help get over the shock of my kids.

Half bottle of M&S wine (plastic bottle so easy for little children to carry) to help them try and forget the shock and ensure they turn up for work in September.

We do a class collection every year,
Most people put in £5, we then give then a sticker for their child to write on and it gets stuck in the card for the teacher.
We spend the money on vouchers, this year the teacher in question is very in to golf so will get golf vouchers, one teacher got spa vouchers and so on.

DH came home thrilled tonight with some cards from the children in his class with personal thankyou's in.

We love the chocs, pop them away, bring 'em out in october as the nights draw in...

Any teacher themed gifts recycled to show our own appreciation for our DC's teacher!(and save us money) there is a certian amount of subterfuge with this.

Daddy has to pretend he stopped at the shop for the teachers otherwise dd would break neck to say it came from little Laura in daddys class who likes pink bears but he thinks they horrid

Personally I think homemade gifts or cards or pictures are nicer.

I can't stand the idea of children showing off about what they're giving their teacher, and other kids feeling crap because their parents haven't got the money.

I have a collection of interesting stones I've been given over the years, mostly by boys. Some have holes, some have crystals and some look like a face if you hold them at a particular angle and squint.
There's even a fossil or two.
They sit on my hearth and I remember every donor.

Headmistress of a school my cousin sends her kids to always call a meeting for new parents at the start of the year and she will tell them not to buy Rolex watches,designer items or holidays etc for the teachers - instead to join the PTA in raising money for the school (they often raise over £20,000 per event)

btw, school not in uk

thanks all to those who give gifts. Just waved my friend off who is downloaded with loads of bags and gifts. Enjoying the box of chocs she left behind, Mmmmmmmmm!