Tipping Daycare Teachers

[cloak]

@truthx1111 You’re definitely not alone.

 

[criticalthinker1]

@truthx1111 I know what you’re saying here… but aren’t your kids teachers “in your life” just as much as anyone else?

 

[princev79]

@johnsubira My son is in PreK 3 and has TWELVE teachers. His two primary will get nice gifts/gift cards ($50-$100). All others )floaters, stem, motor lab, etc) get smaller gift cards usually $10 or $15. My reasoning is that his two primary teachers only have 13 kids, but the others teach the whole lower school and will likely get more gifts. Plus they spend far less time with my kiddo.

 

[michael_s]

@princev79 This is what we are doing too, $50 plus a nice box of chocolates for primary teachers. $10 each for floaters and admin. Plus we signed up to treat the teachers to breakfast one day the week before Christmas and everyone loves my homemade cinnamon rolls.

 

[sabresong]

@johnsubira I have such a hard time with the floater thing because I don’t want to complicate it or appear to cheap out, but if everyone gifted the floaters the same, they’d make multiples of the regular teachers, which seems unfair. But on the other hand, maybe a lot of people gift nothing to floaters so it evens out?

I’m doing $50 in target gcs and will likely do the same for everyone. I bought 10 because I have 2 kids and haven’t matched out yet if I need all of them.

Another tricky thing is my toddler changed rooms just a few months ago, so do I include his previous teachers? Idk

 

[katrina2017]

@sabresong I do 50$ for teachers and 25$ for floaters. My daughter's class is 1:3 and she only has 6 kids in her class. The floaters support 3 classes and we are not as close with them. If 50% of the kids give them 25$, they'd get the same gift money as the main teachers.

I wouldn't give your child's old teachers a Christmas gift. Especially if they were in the previous class last Christmas or for teacher appreciation day.

 

[sabresong]

@katrina2017 He just moved to the 18-36m room so we didn't give anything while he was in the 12-18m. One of the teachers he had in that room left so that just leave his other main one. I think I'll probably give her something, I think.

Good to know about the floaters. I should have gotten some smaller gift cards, gah

 

[katrina2017]

@sabresong It's kind of hard to navigate what to do! I was struggling with not giving something to my daughter's infant teacher (their class is

 

[torrance55]

@johnsubira This thread is eye opening! Money is the tightest it's ever been for me and my family, we're gifting teachers (4+1 floater) a candy bar & $10 gift card. $75ish for the total gifts. Of course I wish it could be more, these teachers are an incredible part of my kids life, but its the best I can do right now.

 

[adamfromwaterford]

@torrance55 Teachers appreciate the thought. We know times are tough

 

[petronel49]

@torrance55 Yes 75 total is a good range. They sell gift cards at Costco 100$ worth of crumble cookies for 75$ I handed that out one year

 

[paparazi257]

@katie_indy Would the center not be up front about that to parents? It seems like gifts are the norm now and cash is a popular option, so if there were rules wouldn't they communicate them?

 

[katie_indy]

@paparazi257 They don't say anything because gifts are not a required item to be brought in. It isn't something we ask for. More or less the actual rule is we are not allowed to accept cash gifts, we have to refuse them. It is on us to make that choice and not the generous families.

And I think it varies, at my center gifts are not the norm. I usually only get them on teacher appreciation week.

 

[graceenph]

@katie_indy That’s pretty dang weird. What are you supposed to do, rip open every card in front of the parents to make sure there isn’t cash in it?

 

[biblehistoria]

@katie_indy Or gifts at all. All these posts were making me agonize over whether I needed a gift for our teachers, but then I remembered it’s a company daycare and we’re not allowed to accept gifts so I imagine the same goes for them.

 

[heavenann]

@johnsubira Oh no! Did I do something wrong? Yesterday I sent my toddler to school with 2 of our holiday cards (that were mailed out to everyone last week), along with little hand made cards by my toddler in the same envelope for both of her teachers. There was no gift cards in the envelope because we contributed money to gift cards that a group of parents are getting.

Shoot…this is the first year we have had her in school so I do not know what is correct protocol. Have I just disappointed her two teachers?

 

[youwerenotaware]

@heavenann Don't feel bad! I never expect gifts from any parents, especially first timers. If you want to do a gift for the end of the year or when your child moves up into the next age group, now you know your options! But seriously, I NEVER expect a gift at all, and cards are perfectly appropriate.

 

[heavenann]

@youwerenotaware Thanks for your reply. We did contribute a few hundred dollars to the collective gift card that her teachers should receive next week. I assume our names will be on the cards for that gift.

 

[rprimus]

@heavenann The cards are such a sweet touch! I'm not sure there's any standard protocol to stress over

 

[fidole]

@heavenann If there was a group gift you contributed to, you definitely shouldn’t feel like you should also do an individual gift! Usually you do one or the other (in my experience)