These three moms spend ages talking to the teacher at pick-up time. They're obviously a clique and they consider her their friend.  They're always raving about her.  Don't get me wrong, I also think she's a very good teacher but does she deserve a bonus of $400 in these hard times to Nordstroms for merely doing her job?  I don't think so. 

I also get the feeling that she's just being polite when these clique moms descend upon her every day after school.  She's very professional.  I highly doubt she's their friend....but I also doubt their ability to really see that. Perhaps they don't really care?  They appear to have an agenda regardless of what the reality of the situation is.  One of the clique moms is a hideous creature weighing in at about 300 pounds.  Maybe she just wants to eat her?  She's also the self appointed head of the PTA.....another reason for me to miss those meetings.  Excuse me, I'm wrong, she did run in an election.....with no opponent....even Ahmadinejad had one.

Let me describe the daily scenario to you....The teacher is the tiniest little thing I've ever seen.  She's not much bigger than her students.  So when these moms surround her you can barely see her, preventing other parents from getting close to her, and asking important questions about their children's progress, etc....  It's beyond uncomfortable and inconsiderate.  These clique moms are the talk of the kindergarten playground, everyone is on to them.  We live in Brooklyn, we've seen it all so nothing gets by us.

Many of the other non-clique moms have expressed their dismay to me over the $20 collection.  I have advised them to speak with the clique moms....who were less than thrilled when I spoke to them about the bribe.  You see, the gift will be presented on Friday a week before report cards go out.  Wink, wink.  Our children are only in Kindergarten but I put nothing past these parents.  I've seen the level of educational competition in their eyes and it's not pretty.

Now what do you do if you have a child in my daughter's class and two others in expensive gift giving classes and your husband is unemployed and you're delinquent on your mortgage?  Get my point?  These are not the times to be so over the top with gift giving.  $10 from each parent would have been more than enough.  Are you facing this issue right now??

We're moving out of this school district next Wednesday and I can't wait.  These kind of grandiose, expensive teacher gifts are common in our school.  There are many cliques of unfriendly, snooty, boot-licking, a** kissing moms, who bully other parents into large gift giving.  It's completely inappropriate and just feels icky to me.  There are many teachers in our school who are very dedicated and really go out of their way for the students.  Those teachers don't socialize with parents and generally abstain from too much fraternization.  I wonder if they receive large gift certificates to Nordstroms as well?  I doubt it.