An apple for the teacher?

Am I missing something or did teachers get so many presents when I was little? Did I just not notice my mum buying presents for my teachers? Or did she not buy them but everyone else's mum did?

Now I know teachers do a sterling job (well, some do anyway...) but I don't quite understand the necessity for the competitive nature of present buying for teachers. Some people play it safe and stick to chocolates, flowers and smellies. Some children staggered into school carrying enormously extravagant parcels today, presumably for their teachers. Of course I think they deserve something for looking after our little angels day in day out, but when each child has 2 or 3 teachers it can become quite expensive. Then I suddenly realised yesterday that Jonah is now at playgroup and so I should probably find some token of appreciation for his playgroup teachers, all 6 of them! If I had bought even a box of chocolates for each teacher of my boys it would have cost me about £45! Attempting to be a bit more creative (and cheap, but don't tell the teachers) Toby and Max made a present for their teachers. Toby made bookmarks and Max made certificates and then I wrote a card for each of them with gushing thanks (I didn't write anything I didn't mean, but it was hard to find the words for one particular card).

Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the work they do, but we just can't afford to compete in the 'teacher gift stakes'. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old lady, I really do not remember it being like this when I was at school. Did parents buy expensive gifts for their children? Is this a modern new fangled phenomenon? Come to think of it, I don't remember it being such a requirement in Manchester either so perhaps it is a middle class phenomenon.

The good news is that school has finished for Christmas! The bad news is that I now have 3 tired, grumpy, over sensitive boys who desperately need to sleep and rest in heavenly peace but don't seem to quite understand what those words mean. Happy Christmas everybody (bah humbug)!