Mum reveals she was ‘humiliated’ by parent after she couldn’t afford £40 for teacher’s gift
THE END of the school year sees pressure mount for parents to provide their kids' teachers with a thoughtful present.
But one mum has told how she was "humiliated" when she revealed she couldn't afford to contribute £40 to a gift collection.
In a post on , the woman explained that she heard some parents at her son's nursery school were encouraging people to chip in so they could get the teacher something special.
However, she was shocked to discover that the mum organising the collection was asking for £40 each - and was mocked when she tried to hand over £25 instead.
"Some other mums agreed (3 of them wrote they agree over the whatsapp) and I guess some in a similar situation like me (who find spending so much money over the top and irrational considering raising more than one and paying bills for a larger family) were surprised," the 40-year-old wrote.
"I decided I’d like to chip in but have to think about other expenses, so I contacted the mum telling her I sent her £25."
However, instead of accepting the amount, her fellow mum came back and insisted she give the £40.
"I explained we have to budget and that’s how much I can spend," she continued.
"I was shocked to receive a text couple of hours later saying it is not fair towards the other mums to pay so much less then them and I am putting her in an awkward position and she will give me my £25 back!"
The next day she to spoke to the woman in person outside the nursery.
"I tried to explain that I am happy to have my money back and even though we have a difference of opinions I wanted to agree on closing this issue with getting my money back and asked her not to discuss this with other mums since I wouldn’t like to polarise our group and keep on friendly terms with all parents," she explained.
"She seemed to be offended when she saw she will not make me share her opinion.
"She tried very emotionally to explain how unfair it would be to accept my £25 towards the others to which I told her I cannot understand that, if it’s unfair that perhaps the teachers will think we all gave the same amount."
The poster admitted that after their exchange she felt "shocked and humiliated" and asked what other Netmums users thought.
They mostly agreed that the woman had been asking for too much money.
One wrote: "£40 per person for a teacher seems astronomical but with any collection of this kind, I have never heard of anyone asking for set amounts and particularly that high.
"I would always be saying 'give what you can give' – I mean even a much smaller amount of £5 is still contributing to the gift…it really comes across as a vanity project to do it this way.
"I applaud all teachers – they are fantastic people – but I honestly think that a gift from the heart matters more than an item of huge expense.
"So buy something your kid chooses for this teacher – even if it’s something they make for themselves."
Another commented: "As a nursery teacher I would be absolutely mortified by this!
"Yeah it’s nice for parents to show their appreciation, but not by collecting/ spending this much money! Crazy."
Yesterday, we told you how a horrified husband revealed his wife plans to name their newborn son LANNISTER as a tribute to Game of Thrones.
We also revealed how Mothercare has been slammed for promoting £90 "sexy" corsets to women who’ve just given birth without warning they "could cause damage".