There is no getting around the cliche that it’s the thought that counts – even if that thought is an acknowledgement of the 11 months of thoughtlessness preceding itI’m not sure when teacher gifts became another hot item on the December stress list. I have vague memories from my childhood of carrying to school homemade shortbread on paper plates, wrapped in green or red cellophane. A generic message on a cardboard tag. How quaint those festive footnotes seem now. What cheapskates we were then.There are probably rules about buying presents for teachers. Legally binding rules that prevent government employees from accepting gifts above a certain value. But when it comes to end-of-year gifts for professionals who have probably spent more of the year with our children than we have, those rules – if they do exist – matter less than the more informal and bewildering rules of social niceties, gratitude and, yes, guilt. Continue reading...