In my latest CHEX Daily segment, I sit down with hosts Teresa Kaszuba and Mike Judson to chat about Christmas gifts for teachers:
Are they necessary?
What do teachers really appreciate? (It might not be what you think!)
What if you’re on a budget?
How can you acknowledge support staff?
And (since Mike asks!) what my least favourite gift is…though please be assured I really do appreciate the thought, no matter what! (Mike, husband of a teacher, also shares a great gift his wife received!)
Usually after my segments I come home and type out any of the points from my notes that I missed, but we managed to pack a lot of ideas into four minutes!
One popular suggestion we didn’t discuss was ornaments. Anything with the year and/or the child’s name makes it a real keepsake (sometimes there are kiosks at the mall for personalization), and it can also be neat to select one that is meaningful to the teacher in some way: a guitar for the music teacher, a Montreal Canadiens ornament for the (discerning) hockey fan, etc.
My personal favourites: I start my segment by sharing my very favourite gift – which doesn’t cost a penny! However, if you’re going to spend money, charitable donations are fabulous (anything that provides food, books or healthcare to kids tops my list), I love gift cards (I don’t find them impersonal; I promise – Chapters, Tim’s, restaurants, spa, they’re all good!) and chocolate never goes to waste at my house. Who am I kidding, it doesn’t get past my desk! Quite honestly, I am honoured when families take the time to acknowledge me in any way at Christmas. You can’t go wrong!
