<p>Mine weren’t in child care either at that age. With my oldest , I was a nanny before I was even pregnant to two children & I cared for them for several years-we still exchange gifts and they rearranged their flights to see their son graduate from college, in order to see my daughter graduate from high school. When my youngest was born, I had been a student but then was a full time mom.</p>
<p>I did use child care pt time after they were 2 & 1/2 yrs-which was co-op preschool & they were NAEYC accredited - which is a must in my book.</p>
<p>I must say I disagree somewhat with you, babyontheway. The early childhood education industry is notorious for extremely high rates of turn over which is not good for children. My for profit center was one of the best in the county, the owner was on the licensing board, the center was used as an example for other centers. It was NAEYC accredited and we were constantly attending conferences, workshops and other types of classes. There were about 25 employees. We had this wall of teacher’s photos in order of seniority. By the end of the 2 years I worked there I was 5th! Most preschools do not provide health/dental or any other kind of benefits. I hadn’t made that little money per hour since my first job when I was 16 and I had never worked that hard. The parents who understood what a hard job it was were the ones we really connected with. I think that personal connection is what leads to excellent child care. </p>
<p>Now there is nothing wrong with for profit preschools but to say that the teachers are fairly compensated is not true. On one hand you can say that they are in that position because of their own choices(not getting an education) but the work is very hard. Working in that industry is what really motivated me to go back to school. I could not face the thought of working myself to death for next to nothing for the rest of my life. Many of the teachers I worked with had children or other commitments that made it hard for them to get out. Many loved the kids and the job so much that they sacrificed their own stability(and IMO their futures) to keep at it when making so little.</p>
<p>We were very fortunate! Our day care owner was VERY hands-on and she was a genius. She gave the “teachers” bonuses of $100 * YearsOfService on their anniversary date. Her employees were wonderful and they stayed around. Many of them had been there 6-10 years - just unheard of in that industry normally. She also had incentives for various child care certifications through the local CC (in the end she closed her center, finished her phD and started teaching but happily my kids were big by then).</p>
<p>I didn’t have much money then, so I baked the teacher’s goodies and occasionally bought them little things. They were SO good to my kids. DS2 had 80% of the same teachers that DS1 had. By then they were like family!!!</p>
<p>OP, I wouldn’t feel obliged, but would try to do a little something for them occasionally. Just to be nice. I would NEVER want to be surrounded by other people’s kids all day - ICK!</p>
<p>I was anticipating that someone who doesn’t take into account tipping the servers when dining out would also view contributions to those raising his children as being superfluous.</p>
<p>However, as I have stated before, allowing $ for a tip IMO, is part of dining out, and contributing to your childs school with both time & money is equally expected- if you can’t afford either then you need to reconsider your budget & your time.</p>
<p>Child care teachers are professionals- & should be treated as such-</p>
<p>I think the opportunity to contribute to a basket is a wonderful idea.
My older daughters 6-12 school did the same thing for the holiday.The parent group had a big party where we would put them together- everyone had brought tea/wine/mugs- boxes from Tiffany …, we roughly sorted everything out & filled them up. They were left in the teachers lounge the next morning & they reportedly had a heyday choosing.</p>
<p>I much preferred the basket idea over giving individual gifts, because I didn’t feel I had given as much as when I distributed gift cards & I didn’t want to give sweets or tchotchkes. ( because who really needs more knick-knacks?)</p>
…, we roughly sorted everything out & filled them up. They were left in the teachers lounge the next morning & they reportedly had a heyday choosing.</p>