Teacher Appreciation Week is upon us, and parents around the country are scrambling to come up with some sort of gift to send their kid with to school, hoping to show a sliver of the thankfulness we feel for our teachers who deal with…a lot.
If you’re like me, you forgot it was Teacher Appreciation Week, missed the email from the class mom who was collecting money, and will now have to run to Starbucks this morning to grab a couple gift cards for my daughter’s two teachers.
I’ll write “Thanks a latte!” on the card because I’m corny like that, and we’ll call it a day.
Now, I know that teachers appreciate any sort of gift or act of gratitude from their students’ parents (even a last-minute gift card), but I wish so badly that I could be that other kind of mom.
And that’s where a TikTok mom comes in. “There are two types of moms on Teacher Appreciation Week,” Molly (@thatsmom4u) said in her viral video.
“There are the moms that go all out. They buy the teacher flowers, and get her a card. They make a mug with the teacher’s name on it with their Cricut machine. They hand stitch their kid’s teacher new underwear.”
“And then there are moms who buy gift cards. So, I’m on my way to Starbucks.”
Molly’s comment section was filled with TikTok users commenting on her opinions, noting which kind of mom they are as well as what they believe teachers actually want for Teacher Appreciation Week.
“THEY WANT THE GIFT CARDS💕,” one user said.
Another wrote, “Former teacher and I will ALWAYS do gift cards. Teachers don’t want mugs or candles or random things”
Another said she’s a mixture of both types of moms and said, “I’m the gift card mom with flowers 🌸 😭💀”
One mom said, “I used to go all out but now Im so overwhelmed I can’t do anything except gift cards 😭”
The OP replied, “You go thru seasons! I have done a lot before, but I have a 3 month old baby, so right now I am the gift card mom. Nothing wrong with either ❤️❤️”
Another user shared, “Last year the kinder parents got together and asked for donations from all 3 classes. They ended up with enough money to give each teacher $500. It was the best.”
Obviously, any act of appreciation and gratitude towards those helping teach our kids is appreciated whether that’s a giant gift bag with monogrammed hand towels or a simple handwritten card and a gift card, as long as we’re thanking our teachers after a long, hard year.
