But since enrolling my son in his daycare, I've come across a type of competition that had previously been foreign to me. It's the heated, yet unspoken, competition among us parents to see who can give the teachers the best presents. In fact, is it so underground, that I didn't know about this competition until I was sadly embarrassed by other parents during the Christmas of 2009.
While I was recovering from that brutal beating, I was quickly thrown back down because I didn't realize that this gift giving craze applies to EVERY school occasion and holiday: Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Graduation, Teacher Appreciation WEEK, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years....and the list goes on and on. I'm sure that you can imagine my surprise as I was carrying a child, bottles, sheets, and a stuffed backpack into my son's classroom on a windy March day, and came face to face with a very smug Supermom who had just dropped off St. Patrick's Day gifts for the classroom's teachers. The bags alone must have taken her hours to make; hand decorated with cut-out shamrocks, ribbons, and just the right amount of glitter as to not look too tacky. I could hear the oooo's and ahhhh's as the teachers opened the gifts that Martha Stewart herself would have been envious of. I quickly dropped off my son and left with my head hung in defeat, vowing to myself that I would never be caught unarmed again.
I'm proud to say that I'm making a strong comeback and now I'm consistently in the running for the top gift. In fact, I can even claim one victory.
Picture this: Toddler 1 Graduation. April 2011. Some parents gave chocolates, others gave homemade cards complete with personalized toddler coloring, and of course the apple-for-teacher theme was very popular. I took this one to an entirely new level, shocking the parental competition with my creativity and earning the virtual crown from the Best Gift pageant. I traced Kevin's feet with black marker, and then we spent time coloring a set of feet together for each teacher. I cut out the footprints, and sat down to put my poetry skills to work. After three drafts, I was satisfied with my prose:
For the past year, I've kept you on your toes,
but I better teacher, I couldn't have chose.
I've learned my numbers, letters, and lots of new stuff.
Mommy, Daddy, and I can't thank you enough.
Now it's time for you to relax and take a seat,
and pamper your very tired feet.
And do this, I attached a gift certificate for each teacher to get a pedicure at my favorite local spa. Ahhhh.....the taste of Victory!
Christmas 2010 gifts had a very cute theme for the younger teachers we had at the time. I gave Philosophy's peppermint hand lotion, and hot cocoa lip gloss, with a peppermint bark dipped in chocolate. It was a very cute presentation, wrapped in an hand-made, origami coffee mug.
I made a decent showing for Halloween this year, but I know it wasn't my best effort: Personalized orange, white, and black M&Ms wrapped in a Halloween themed embroidered hand towel. Very cute, but no points for originality.
And even as I sit here and type this "confession" I really do wonder if this is just a competition between the parents, or if the teachers really do pick the "winner." I'm 99.8% certain that the teachers don't play favorites with the kids based on the gifts they get....but just to cover the risk around that .2%, I'm starting to plan the Christmas gifts now!
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