Hellobee

Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s because it never really occurred to me, or it just isn’t something common here, but I’ve never heard of tipping. Gifting I did, but I didn’t know there we rules to the “amount’

I’m with @blushink – maybe it’s a regional difference, but I’ve only ever heard of giving teachers gifts, not tips. and edible gifts at that – I have a lot of friend who are teachers & they’d rather get a handmade card or something edible than anything else as it adds up over time

Yes, I gave them gift cards. I’ve never heard of an amount though.

As a teacher, some of the best gifts I’ve received are gift certificates to bookstores or teacher supply stores. What most people don’t realize is that many of our classroom supplies are paid for out of pocket. I hate to sound like a scrooge, but none of the teachers I’ve worked with cared for the baked treats. We have enough of that during the holidays with all the school parties, etc! If money is tight, the absolute best thank you is always a handwritten note. Those are the “gifts” that I save for years and years:)

Our daycare has a gift fund during the holidays and each family is allowed to contribute to it. It then gets divided up equally among all the teachers and they get giftcards. I’m also going to write a heartfelt thank you note to my son’s teachers and hope that is enough.

As a preschool teacher, I do not expect gifts, but it is certainly nice to receive them! I have gotten cash a few times (usually $50, one time $500!) but I regularly get gift cards and things like fancy soaps, candles, and wine. I think it depends on the relationship between the parent and the teachers. Some parents simply come in, drop their kids, and go. Others take the time to get to know you, and I am still friends with many parents whose children I have taught.

When I was a nanny, a typical holiday bonus would be a weeks pay, or just a very nice gift.

DH is a teacher inthe NYC public school system. He mostly gets gift cards to Barnes & Noble, Staples or Starbucks. Cash is rare and it makes him feel weird.

I just purchased $25 Macy’s giftcards for RJ’s two daycare teachers and the daycare director. I”m thinking of making a basket full of little gifts (soaps, chopsticks, fancy chocolates, candles) that the other teachers can grab if they want them– all the teachers help out with pickup and dropoff so almost every teacher helps with RJ every week.

I’m now thinking, after reading this, that the $25 giftcards are not enough…???

I understand that tipping is done in a way in NYC that it isn’t in other places, but tipping public school teachers just seems weird to me. It seems inappropriate somehow. I’d rather give a gift (even if it’s a gift card) than cash.

I honestly have never heard of tipping a daycare, though I am admittedly pretty new to all this. I guess it makes sense for a nanny or babysitter, and I remember bringing little gifts for our elementary school teachers as a kid. Our daughter’s daycare is pretty large and is structured more like preschool. She has a lot of different caregivers there… $50 dollars to each one would be more than what we pay for two weeks… I’ll have to ask around to see what is the norm for our region, but to be honest, with Christmas, daughter’s B-day in Jan., and then relocating in another state the week after that, it’s really not in the budget. I think the small ‘thank you’ gift may have to suffice

Oh man, wouldn’t that be awesome if, as a public school teacher, I actually got $20 per student each year as a bonus??? I did get many more presents this year than in years past (I recently moved to a new school in a wealthier neighborhood), but no cash or gift cards. I got lots of chocolate, a candle, some baby stuff, and a watch (that I’m sure wasn’t more than $20). I’m just grateful to have such great kids!

@tina: I think $25 gift cards are fine — it’s what my friend gives the 4 teachers at her daycare here in NY. It also seems to depend on the size of the daycare (smaller tips at bigger daycares), and of course gifts are optional in the first place.

@MegWag: i thought gifting public school teachers cash was weird too! but with budget cuts, many teachers buy school supplies with their own money, so if that’s what’s the norm around here, i’m ok with it!

@OlivePink: for larger daycares it seems parents chip in a designated amount, or you can gift the couple of teachers you know a small thank you. gifts are also not mandatory of course, and you can always write a nice thank you!

The nanny/babysitter holiday bonuses in my neighborhood are pretty similar in range. We are giving our nanny a paid week off, one week’s salary as bonus and a small gift.

I’m surprised by the tipping of public school teachers as well, but the reason for it, I cerntainly understand! My 9 month old is in daycare and I’m on a group email list with all the other moms in the room. With all the emails that have been flying back and forth over the past few weeks, you could tell we were all TOTALLY confused on what to do tip wise. Based on the child/teacher ratio at his particular school, we tipped his main teacher $200 – but she only cares for 3 kids. His afternoon teacher who works fewer hours recieved $50 and the room teacher (who oversees all the kids) recieved $40 since she’ll be tipped by all 12 kids parents in the class. Who knew that this would be the most confusing part of growing up and being a parent.

When DS is in school, I’ll definitely ask about supplies they might need or where they typically get supplies to get a gift card. I work with kids (a social worker) and buy many of my therapy supplies out of pocket, and have several family members who are teachers who buy supplies out of pocket as well.

I’m guessing that tipping/gifts and the amounts very significantly by region. Some of the amounts listed are more than what I pay per week for an in-home daycare. I live in a more rural area of upstate NY and DH and I couldn’t afford to give gifts like that. Right now we are debating what to do for our day care provider. I really like her and think she does a great job with DS, but we live in a rural area (not a lot of stores around) and her husband is a farmer. Most of the typical gifts people mentioned just wouldn’t be appropriate. Plus, I’m not sure what other parents would/are doing.

Are teachers even allowed to receive $$$ as gifts? This seems a little suspicious to me (reminds me of the scene in ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ when Francie’s aunt promises her teacher a gift for Christmas, and so Francie gets treated nicely until the teacher realizes that no gift will be coming).

I’m in New England– a rural part– and there are no real rules that I am aware of. Some parents give gifts, some don’t. Some make homemade items, some buy little things (under $20). Some do gift cards to places like Staples, etc. Nothing is expected though; just appreciated.

@jill – it is not illegal as long as the amount is small, participation is optional, and the gift is presented from the entire class. i think most of the time gift cards are given rather than straight cash. i’m definitely no expert though — this is based on a great discussion i’ve been following on a local parenting site.

teachers work so hard for so little money, i wouldn’t mind chipping in for a group cash/gift card, but i definitely understand why some parents would feel uncomfortable participating in something like that for a public school teacher.

LO goes to a in home day care with 5 children – I tipped $150 which is less than half of a week salary. I really don’t know the protocol but think it is sufficient since she gets the week between Christmas and NYE paid. He was also only there 2 days a week up until September.

I’m a NYC Public School Teacher and no person is allowed to accept any gift in the form of cash. Families do, however, voluntarily contribute towards a class gift and usually takes the form of a gift card.

I gave $50 gift cards to the 6 full time daycare providers and $25 gift cards to the 4 part time daycare providers. I gave gift bags with chocolate, cookies, and coffee to the director, assistant director, and secretary. And then left additional chocolate and cookies in the staff room for anyone to grab. My daughter goes to a daycare center that has about 40 kids attending.

The group gift card makes sense guess I missed that part!

@mamakwon: this is the DOE policy on gifts. cash is not banned, but it shouldn’t be given. Again I have no personal experience with this — I’m just going off what other parents of elementary school aged children in our neighborhood have experienced themselves.

http://docs.nycenet.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-56/C-110.pdf

1. Gifts and Fundraising
No student, parent, guardian, school class, official, or employee is required or expected to contribute toward any gift or testimonial to an official or employee of the Department of Education. No class, student, parent, official, or employee shall be expected or required to participate in any fundraising activity.

a. Gifts from individual students, parents and/or guardians
Individual students, parents and/or guardians may wish to make gifts to officials and employees at the end of the year and at similar occasions, such as holidays, weddings, and the birth of an official’s or employee’s child. However, discretion must be used to ensure that officials and employees do not accept gifts of value from individual children, parents, or guardians. Only those gifts that are principally sentimental in nature and of small financial value may be accepted.

b. Gifts from School Classes
In addition to individual gifts, sometimes an entire school class may wish to make a gift to officials and employees at the end of the year and at similar occasions, such as holidays, weddings, and the birth of an official’s or employee’s child. Officials and employees may accept gifts from whole classes of students, their parents and/or guardians, provided that each student, parent or guardian in the class has the opportunity to sign the card or note that comes with the gift, whether or not the student, parent or guardian contributed to the cost of the gift.

In addition, students, their parents and/or guardians may not be asked to contribute more than a small amount of money toward such class gifts.

At T’s preschool all the parents got together and chipped in for 1 big gift card for each teacher at amazon.com. We figured that would be more useful than getting a bunch of smaller gift cards to various places.

I always have trouble deciding how much to give the babysitter since we use her anywhere from 1-3 days a week and she’s only been with us for several months.

No child in school or in daycare yet but I just think it’s sad that teachers have to spend out of pocket to buy school supplies. I’m also perturbed that the term “tipping” is even applied to childcare providers. “Gifting” seems to be more appropriate as it should be a kind thank you gesture, however, since it seems that cash/gift cards are expected, I guess it is more of a “tip” than a “gift”.

M goes to a large daycare. When she was in the infant and toddler class where the ratio is 1:4, there are two primary teachers and lots of rotating ones who come in to help so there was about 4-5 teachers per room. We gave $10 Target gift cards to each teacher. Ths year, she is in the 2’s room where the ratio is 1:12 and one primary and one secondary teacher so a few of us pooled together money for a $100 gift card for the primary and $50 for the secondary.

I run a family child care center in a rural area, this has been my business for over 12 years. I do not expect ‘tips’ in any form….however, the thought of a personal note with kind words, a small gift or just some simple way to let me know they appreciate and understand all that I do for their family makes my heart warm. Mostly it is just the kind words that give me the most satisfaction (or even a small gift that is personal and reflects me, it tells me they took the time to get to know me).

We don’t consider it a tip, rather a gift…perhaps that’s the difference even though it is just semantics. Last year, took the amount we paid per week for daycare for our son and divided it evenly among the workers. This year, he went five days a week instead of just two, so we took that additional amount and doled it out according to the amount of time someone spends with our son. For instance, there are for workers at the daycare. One is the head, two work with the infants and one is solely with the toddlers and spends the most amount of time with Little G. So we gave 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/8 of the weekly amount to the four women. Once he is in preschool, we will give a gift card. I guess since he’s in daycare I feel that they are caring for my child as a nanny would and thus deserve a gift. Whereas, the school teachers are teaching him, rather than full-on caring for him.

Replying to the comments re: NYC doe policy. It is said cash is not banned, but should not be given. Ms. Bee, Actually, the policy DOES prohibit (ban) teachers from accepting cash. Cash is explicitly a “gift of value” and accepting it would be a compliance violation by all . employees. Mammakwon is correct.

Clarification to above. It was said “cash is not banned but should not be given” by poster. The actual policy states otherwise. Thank you