Texas Teacher Throws Shade at Student's Teacher Appreciation Gift

During holiday’s or teacher appreciation week, teachers get bombarded with gifts from students and their parents. Some parents go all out with expensive purchased gifts, others will get creative and hand make their gifts, and sometimes the students themselves will give a gift from their personal collection of random items in their room.

That was the case when it came to one El Paso teacher who decided to complain about a gift she got from a student that she was pretty sure was re-gifted, A hot chocolate bomb with marshmallows. The post, which was shared on El Paso’s FitFam Instagram page, read:

“Well, I got this from a student for teacher appreciation week. Before you say I should be grateful, I want you to know how it feels to receive a re-gifted hot chocolate bomb from Christmas as a show of appreciation.”

The post continued to explain how this teacher hates marshmallows, and that the student doesn’t come from a poor family and that they would have preferred a homemade card more than someone’s leftovers.

*GASPS IN SPANISH*

The post immediately sparked outrage amongst parents and teachers with many on the side of the student.

“Kids don’t speak the same language as adults, they show kindness and generosity in a different way.”

However, the post led to something pretty amazing. Teacher’s began sharing stories of the most precious gifts they ever received from students and brb, crying:

“One time a got a smushed kiwi a kid kept in his pocket. Sometimes kids find an old thing they think you would like. They are doing their best!”

“One year I had a student gift me a quinceañera centerpiece for my birthday. She saw some students giving me gifts and I could see it in her eyes that she felt bad for not having a gift for me. I don’t need a gift to feel appreciated but this student wanted to make me feel special.”

“I had a student give me 2 warm Starburst pieces from their pocket and a hug. I had another student give me a high five. Another student gave me back a pencil they borrowed and said “Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!” 😂 All of these made my day just as much as the cards and drawings I got.”

“I had a student give me only yellow gummy bears from a multipack... Because they are her favorite and she thought I would enjoy them too. I loved it. She could have saved them for herself and given me the other colors. It was her way of being thoughtful.”

“My kids sneak back the oatmeal cookies from lunch time and give them to me because they know I love them, and I am the happiest person alive!”

“My kid gifted her teacher a rock but the look on the teacher's face was like “this is the best freaking rock ever” some ppl don’t understand gifts come from the heart not from someone’s wallet.”

Agreed. At a young age I was taught to appreciate any gift I was given because someone took time and energy to get that for me. Whether they spent money or not, it’s the thought that counts.

But many people were really bugged at the teacher’s comment that mentioned that this student did not come from a poor family:

“Mentioning the family has a good enough income to not be considered poor is odd behavior. Are you saying if the family was poor you wouldn't have gone to Facebook to rant over a child's gift? You're a teacher you should know children find their own ways of showing their appreciation or love for you.”

And again, I agree. Look, just because I drive a fancy looking car doesn’t mean I have all the money in the world. And the same can be said for others.

The moral of this whole situation is that you never know a person's situation. Maybe the family is having financial struggles and the student didnt want to ask them for money for a gift so he gave his own, or maybe that was the students most prized possession and he wanted to give it to his favorite teacher in hopes of them loving it as much as they did.

Although I don’t agree with this teacher’s complaint, I also don’t know what this teacher is going through. I don’t know the relationship between them and the student.

All we know is what we read so I’m not here to bash the teacher, but I hope this makes others realize that sometimes the best gifts are the ones that don’t cost millions of dollars. The best gifts come from the heart.