Holiday Gifts Teachers REALLY Want

Holiday Gifts Teachers REALLY Want

By Kerrie McLoughlin

755 words in full article

Please contact me at mommykerrie@yahoo.com if you'd like to see this piece in full to consider purchasing it for your parenting magazine, either online or in print!

You want to show appreciation for your child’s teacher but are most likely short on time and maybe even on money. I polled teachers across the country to find out what gifts they are loving this year and which ones they would happily take a pass on. The answers might surprise you.

Must-Have Gifts (the full article shares 7):

·        Gift cards for local and chain restaurants because a teacher’s gotta eat!

·         Gift cards for teacher supply stores so the teacher can restock the supply for the classroom with items such as tacks, books, markers, pens, calendars and other fun items that might not be provided by the school.

·        Chocolate and coffee products! Consider putting together a basket of special chocolate bars, hot chocolates, fancy coffees and creamers and other treats.

Get to know them and find out what they like (4 quotes from parents and teachers across the country)

Melinda Cerra, mom of four, says, “Our school's room parent coordinator (which was me for a while) has teachers fill out a questionnaire telling us their favorite food, restaurants, stores, colors, drinks, scents, classroom needs, etc. every year. Very helpful. Also has the teacher's birthday. My daughter Lily's 4th grade teacher was a total health nut and didn't like most of the stuff that lots of the other teachers liked. I liked buying for her.”

Gifts to skip (the full article shares 5):

·         Anything homemade. It may be easy for you to whip up a batch of cookies or give your famous banana bread, but the teacher may be watching his or her sugar, gluten, calories or worse … might be allergic!

·         Candles and mugs. Same as with lotions and scents. And a teacher can only burn and store so many candles every year.  Where to store so many mugs? And how to rotate and use them all so every kid gift-giver feels special? Erin Hammons, preschool teacher, says, “No more candles or mugs. Yes, they are quick and easy to buy but everyone's tastes are very different. Get to know each teacher personally if possible. Gift cards aren't as personable but they are easier and still just as much appreciated. Maybe a little candy too!”

The bottom line seems to be that it’s entirely worth it to take some time to get to know your child’s teacher’s likes and dislikes. Then pick a gift with your child accordingly, and you’re sure to give the teacher a happy holiday break and a wonderful school year!

Kerrie McLoughlin (TheKerrieShow.com) is the homeschool mom of 5 who has many teacher gifts to buy for her kids’ religious ed and co-op teachers this year and will take these suggestions to heart!

I'm not a Grammar Nazi; I'm a Document Control Freak (Editor Versus Proofreader)

Should have snapped a pic of this but I didn't want to look like a psycho (for a change) ... for the record, I NEVER go to Whole Foods but was close and needed cookies for kids and up on their wall is writing and it was HUGE. Something about "great tasting food" and I was physically uncomfortable at the NON-USE of a hyphen in great-tasting as a modifier.

Doesn't all food TASTE like something? But not all food is great-tasting food. I envisioned myself getting a ladder and a paint brush or massive Sharpie and putting in that hyphen. I'm not a Grammar Nazi, because I'm not an editor. I'm a Document and Word Control Freak because I'm a proofreader. The proofreader catches all the tiny junk the editor doesn't catch.

I know if a sentence sounds wonky but I don't get caught up in the anal retentiveness of fixing a sentence that sounds GREAT but which doesn't follow every grammar rule taught by all the English teachers in the world. Instead, I want writing to have energy, voice, personality. And then I fix the stuff like hyphens and semi-colons and extra spaces between words, and even sometimes other formatting issues to make it pretty.

What's my point? Maybe that we all have different strengths ... and that it's okay to hire a proofreader to catch your mistakes. Everybody needs help sometime!

You can find my Fiverr proofreading reviews and a link to my gig here!

9 Ways to Go Green and Save Money

Nobody ever said going green would be easy. In fact, some of my ideas might have you saying “ick!” But if you pick even just one of my ideas in my article (below as text), your readers will save money while also saving the planet. You don’t have to go all-out when you’re just starting. For instance, I used cloth diapers exclusively for five years before I switched to using disposables at night, and I’ve always used disposables when on vacation. Do I feel guilty about using disposables? Heck no! Every little bit helps when you’re going green! I realize you may want to edit the piece to take out the parts about menstrual cycle products, and that’s fine by me. You obviously know your readers better than I do, so of course I trust your edits! (882 words)

8 Birthday Traditions You'll Want to Try

Every year when I was a kid my parents would let me choose where I wanted to eat dinner out for my birthday. Another birthday tradition they kept going was to have a small party for me with family and friends, including a cookout since I have a June birthday. Kids love to feel special, and it can be a challenge to find the time to come up with ways to make a birthday a knockout. Never fear! My piece has 8 ideas for birthday traditions to start with your own kids. Pick and choose a few of them each year … and stick with the ones you and your birthday kid love! This piece is just made for you to pop in advertiser information … you have my permission to do so.

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Playdate Success

497 words (can be trimmed to make a nice little sidebar for Forming Friendships)

A playdate can teach important skills like sharing, taking turns and navigating arguments … or it can quickly turn into an episode of “The Bad Girls Club.” So how do you go about finding decent playdate pals for your little one? This piece offers many tips from finding pals to play with to cleaning up after the playdate.

Please contact me at mommykerrie at yahoo dot com if you would be interested in purchasing this piece.

Forming Friendships from Toddler to Teen

1,191 words

As parents, we want our kids to make good friends … friends who they have fun with and can confide in. Of course, not all kids are social butterflies, so how do you encourage friendships at every stage of the game from toddler to teen? This piece is broken up into three parts: Toddlers and Preschoolers; Elementary Age Kids; Tweens and Teens and offers many helpful tips for helping kids make and keep friends.

Playdate Success would make a great sidebar for this piece.

Please contact me at mommykerrie at yahoo dot com if you would be interested in purchasing this piece.

How to Handle Halloween Hecklers

I know it’s not a holiday on par with the religious significance of Christmas or the historical importance of Memorial Day, but Halloween sure is a reason to celebrate in my house. This has a lot to do with the fact that I have a love affair with sugar, chocolate and any type of candy and have passed that on to my skinny kids. The sugar coupled with the opportunities for socialization for the kids and for me make this is the ultimate holiday. So why do Halloween hecklers want to spoil our fun? Over the years I’ve figured out how to handle all sorts of Halloween heckler tricks, and I’ll share these little knowledge treats with you …

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