Quote Originally Posted by Monday 2 Friday Mama View Post
...It would be wonderful though if parents would take a minute and just write something sincere in a card - it's always nice to receive praise for the job you do, and it would be fantastic tool to use when interviewing new families - praise from other parents is often what gets you the job !


One of my most touching gifts is a 'poem' written about a child's time here in my program that was decorated with embellishments and framed in a little 5x7 frame that sits on my living room as a treasure and reminder of my time with that little man ... commercial value is likely less than $5 however the TRUE VALUE is priceless ... it is not about the cost of something but the 'sentiment and thought' behind the gift being a reflection of your relationship .... honestly a huge expensive gift that is not something you would enjoy has the opposite effect sometimes of feeling like someone does not know or value you at all and well what a waste of money OR a expensive gift from someone who disrespects you and treats you like crap all year long given like it is some get out the doghouse gesture of I can be an ass all year long but here is this bonus so that gets me off the hook ~ had my share of bosses in the working world like that where I would have rather been treated like a human being the other 364 days a year cause no amount of Christmas bonus made up for their daily treatment and behavior

Like everything in life Christmas should be about 'balance' ... gift giving should not be expected but a gesture from the heart that is representative of your budget ... it amazes me how many people go into DEBT to celebrate the holiday ~ seriously that is so sad to me!

When I worked with clients who were struggling in centre care getting an expensive gift would have made me totally uncomfortable knowing that they likely went without something in order to do that for me and well that is not what Christmas is suppose to be about

The one centre I was at we had an actual policy of 'no commercial gifts' so that no one felt obligated and you did not get issues of clients who liked to try to 'out do the Jones' being ridiculous with their gifts and instead we had a nice potluck Holiday party and just celebrated each others time together some parents would give 'cards of thanks' or homemade baked goods to the 'centre' as a whole or they would donate a new toy or resource to the program... it was nice cause you did not get the staff 'comparing' who got better gifts or any of the negative aspect of gift giving!

I have tried very hard to make this the 'unwritten' policy here with my program through my Angel tree program with the kids since I started and last year stepping it up and adopting a little girl from Africa to send to school with some educational info shared in the newsletter about how we have so much in our culture and this time of year it is nice to think about paying it forward to those less fortunate but at the same time I feel it would be rude to come right out and say 'please do not gift me' cause than it implies I expected a gift in first place and well it should be a personal choice if they want to or not ... so I do the passive aggressive hinting about my values around gifts and hope they get it and if they do gift me I just say thank you and enjoy the pampering and if it is not something I can use or need I quietly pay it forward by donating it to charity in someway!