Totorus

Photo credit by methyl_lives

As the holidays draw by, many parents are already thinking about the present they want to present to their son or daughter’s teacher. Also people who have a daycare provider for their infants like to give something for Christmas.

What are suitable gifts? I’ve made some inquiries and here’s what I gathered:

1. One of my neighbors, who looks after children while their parents are at work, told me she so enjoyed receiving a Christmas card one of her charges made for her (you could see it was handmade). The parents had added a note, telling her how glad they were to have found Martine, and especially thanked her for taking such good care of their daughter.
2. One of Martine’s colleagues got her monthly paycheck, and saw it raised by 5%. The unexpected bonus was a real treat, as she was saving up for a new car.
3. Another person told me she once got a 50 euro note in her coat pocket. Apparently, the people she worked for had put there when they came home. With it was a note, which told her how hard she worked and that she did such a good job with their kids. For this woman, the 50€ really helped, as she was going through a messy divorce and all bits helped.
4. Tine, another of Martine’s colleagues, got surprised with tickets for a concert of Clouseau (Belgian musicians, who are quite famous and fill a big concert hall for two weeks). The girl she took care of, came calling one Saturday afternoon with two tickets for Tine and her husband. The parents knew that Tine was a great fan of Clouseau and wanted to thank her with tickets for the concert. Tine enjoyed that evening very much!
5. I also heard from a daycare giver who was presented with a cleaning service once a week. The parents of the three kids she keeps decided together to do this for Anna, because she doesn’t have that much time to clean her house, because she’s always busy with the kids.

And why not do one of the following things:

1. Give the teacher of daycare giver an extra, like tickets for the cinema or for a dinner at a certain restaurant.
2. You could also surprise the daycare giver with a free pizza meal, delivered at home.
3. Something that is personalized, like ornaments made by your children especially for their teacher – daycare giver.
4. Something that shows you see the daycare giver as an individual and not just as a worker: a CD of their favorite band or singer, tickets to a show that will be appreciated, a certificate for a gift shop or the beauty parlor.
5. Instead of presenting a gift to the daycare giver who wouldn’t appreciate this, as she thinks she gets already paid to do her job, you could perhaps do something for the kids she takes care of: buy them new toys, or some books, some games.