Shocked at how little the parents are donating to the holiday bonus for the teachers

[Anonymous]

I will start this off by saying that we go to a daycare associated with a university and that most of the parents in the class are either two professor families or are one prof and one working professional families so people are making at least 100K a year.

I am the room parent for my daughter's daycare classroom. All the kids are 2. There are two teachers - one is technically assistant and one is lead but they share the duties pretty equally. I sent an email last night asking for donations for the teacher's holiday gift and a note about the classroom holiday party. The donations I am getting are a joke! Mostly $40 TOTAL. That's $20 per teacher. What??

Last year, in the infant room, we gave each teacher (of which there were 3) $150 each! I had been planning on giving $100 per teacher this year. $20 per teacher just seems insultingly low to me. I am hoping some parents that haven't donated yet are more generous.

Am I way off base in expecting people to be generous to the two people that watch their kid every single day?!

[Anonymous]

Oh sweet summer child.

[Anonymous]

Your expectations are ludicrous.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you should've framed your request with a suggested donation amount.

[Anonymous]

Each family is giving $20/teacher? Or they're all giving like $5/teacher?

[Anonymous]

I think that you are way off base. I collect for a preschool where 90% of the people live in $1m + homes. The lowest of the low I got one year was $10 for 3 teachers. It was embarrassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your expectations are ludicrous.

+1

I'll add that you're asking for donations to a pooled gift, and you have no idea if the parents are giving $20 to that in addition to a more personal gift from the kid. And even if they aren't, the amounts you're scoffing at are perfectly reasonable.

[Anonymous]

$20.00 per kid per teacher is an awesome gift.

I do not like classroom group gifts and would much rather give individually.

When did daycare become so complicated? I thought room moms did not start until elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that you are way off base. I collect for a preschool where 90% of the people live in $1m + homes. The lowest of the low I got one year was $10 for 3 teachers. It was embarrassing.

That is disgusting and depressing!

[Anonymous]

Daycare is a major budget line item. People aren't going to go into debt to give gifts to providers whom they pay to watch their kids. You might want to consider something besides a cash gift if the amount is so low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh sweet summer child.

[Anonymous]

If you expected more per family you should have specified. $20 per teacher sounds pretty damn reasonable to lots of people, obviously.

[Anonymous]

OMG relax. Maybe they are giving individually as well. Maybe $20 is a lot for them. Maybe it's not your business! Donations are optional.

You sound generous, and that's nice, but not all can afford hundreds per kid's class! We couldn't when we had two in daycare, and we're over your magical "100k" per family...

Our elementary schools limit giving, and I think it cuts down on the crazy of some parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daycare is a major budget line item. People aren't going to go into debt to give gifts to providers whom they pay to watch their kids. You might want to consider something besides a cash gift if the amount is so low.

OP here. I should add that the daycare is actually really reasonable because it is subsidized by the university. It's $1050 a month, so we aren't talking about a $2500 a month per kid place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daycare is a major budget line item. People aren't going to go into debt to give gifts to providers whom they pay to watch their kids. You might want to consider something besides a cash gift if the amount is so low.

For the years when we had a nanny, her gift was by far the most expensive out of anyone we bought gifts for. She's taking care of your most treasured child!