I’m a teacher – these are the Christmas gifts we hate getting from parents
IT can feel like REALLY hard work trying to find the perfect gift for friends and family – but it’s even harder to buy something thoughtful for someone you barely know.
This applies particularly when you want to show your gratitude to your kid’s teacher – but are lacking inspiration and don’t have a clue where to start.
And when you consider a teacher looks after dozens of children every year, you probably can’t even begin to imagine how many duplicate gifts they receive each Christmas.
So while a token is always appreciated, gifts aren’t always necessary.
Teacher Joanne Taylor, from Essex, says: “The best gift would be a happy face on the first day back – but we know that might be asking a bit too much!
“Nothing is expected… Teachers do not do their jobs for presents – or money at all for that matter or we would be putting our degree to more profitable use in finance!
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“We spend pretty much the same amount of time with your children as you do, know them inside out and wish for nothing more for them than to go off for the Christmas break in the knowledge they will have a special time with parents and families.”
However if you do want to show your appreciation, here Joanne shares the gifts to avoid…
Don’t be a mug
On the face of it, a mug is a great gift – but you won’t have been the first – or last – to have had that idea.
Joanne says: “There are more mugs in a school than space to store them.
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“Plenty of Sports Direct ones at that!
“It just reminds teachers that everyone still believes we are all coffee guzzling, brown teeth and bad breath baddies who spend more time in the staff room topping up our mugs than planning, marking, teaching and actually looking after the children.”
Bog off
It’s often tempting to pick up a bath gift set, but with everyone having such different taste, it can be hard to get it right.
Joanne says: “Buying toiletries is a bit like buying knickers for the teacher – how do you know what they need, want or like?
“The last thing we want is a skin analysis while conducting
parents evening.
“And anything ‘fruity’ is almost certain to result in an itchy rash that will only make us more irritable in the classroom.
“We do of course occasionally receive the fancy stuff, which brings me on to another no-no…”
Knock-off nightmare
It sounds obvious, but if the gift in question has fallen off the back of a lorry it’s unlikely to go down well.
Joanne says: “A teacher at a previous school once received a very
expensive bottle of perfume.
“When she couldn’t hide her absolute surprise and explained how overly generous it was, the child who had brought the gift in reassured her, saying ‘don’t worry Miss, my dad has a whole suitcase full of them under the bed’.”
Boozy behaviour
When you’re teaching a class full of kids, a nice glass or two of wine at the end of a hard week could be appealing – but not everyone necessarily wants 15 bottles of the cheapest supermarket wine.
Joanne says: “People who don’t drink wine should avoid buying it.
“As a teacher we have very little downtime so when we do relax with a glass of vino it really does have to be worth it.
“When city types refuse a drink at the end of the day joking ‘it’s a School night’ for us it really is so booze is always off the menu.
“In all honesty an energy drink might actually go down better.
“At least it will get used and judging by the amount of parents clutching theirs in the school run, it’s the one drink most parents are connoisseurs of.”
Chocolate overload
Everyone loves chocolate, but as the saying goes, “everything is best enjoyed in moderation”.
Joanne says: “20 boxes of chocolate is more than enough for a teacher who is always on a diet.
“And it’s the one gift that will probably never make it out of the school.
“By home time boxes will be strewn around the staff room – coffee creams hogged by the strange ones in IT, the English department in all out war over the last caramel barrel and the P.E. teachers waxing lyrical about how many star jumps it would take to burn off a toffee penny.
“It’s just not a healthy environment for anyone and no one needs the extra pounds over the festive period!”