Make a Teacher's Holiday
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research that hits home
Research suggests that childcare providers often feel that their work is not respected or valued by society. Despite the exhorbitant cost of childcare, childcare providers are typically not high earners. They work in stressful jobs that are both physically and emotionally demanding.
For all that, they are the people that enable us to provide for our families and contribute in meaningful ways to society, because we can trust them to care for our children while we work. They teach our children their most foundational academic skills and, in the first years of life, even many of their basic movement skills. They nurture, protect, feed and clean our children.
While it's always important to recognize the efforts of teachers, the holiday season provides a special opportunity to show how much we value and appreciate those that support our families in so many ways. But even the best intentions can miss the mark without a little communication. Maybe you'd love a coffee mug, but your child's teacher already has twelve. Or you and your little ones give home-baked cookies to a teacher who's trying to cut down on sugar.
The director of our kids' former childcare center developed a great solution to this. She created a sheet for each teacher which each teacher subsequently filled out. On it, the teacher shared their favorite flowers, colors, scents, stores and snacks. They also listed things they really didn't want or need any more of. I thought this was such a brilliant solution that I passed it on to our current childcare center director and they have adopted the policy there.
Above is a cheat sheet for all the great teachers in your life (this PDF is free to download). Feel free to pass it on to your child's teacher, childcare center director, nanny, babysitter or post it in your classroom (hint, hint).
And for all the stay-at-home parents out there, recent statistics value the work you do each year at over $100,000. Feel free to fill one of these out for yourself and plant it conspicuously around the house. You've earned it.