Hmmph! And They Say Teaching Has No Perks!

Actually, that's us that says it. All the time, we complain -- we get no swag, no paid business trips for the whole fam. No business trying to impress us, by paying for dinner & golf. No Christmas bonus. Not even a paid Christmas party (yes, 'til true, in the past if we wanted to attend, we must pay a hefty fee + bring a dish).

But there are perks. Other than the I Believe the Children Are Our Future changing lives, shaping futures, making learning fun....there's other 'stuff'.

Like really cool middle schoolers. Yep, I put cool & middle schooler in the same sentence. I used to DESPISE this age group. They were geeky. They were ackward. I didn't even know how to talk to them. My standard line, when asked what my certification was in, was, "Elementary. Yep, can't stand the kids older than that. Once they get boobs, b.o., & a bad attitude, I can't be around them."

But that's totally changing. Well, for one thing, those little 2nd & 3rd grade sweeties I taught 6 years ago? Guess what, they're still sweeties, but now they're middle schoolers. And those sweet darlings at church who ooh & aww at our kids. Yep. Middle school. And 1/2 my wonderful nieces? Middle School.

And hot hubs teaches my new tolerable age group. And comes home with stories of their hilariousness. And how much he likes them. And how glad he is to have added that certification.

And you'll never guess what those little darlings did...

A handful of them, in one of his classes, pooled the money together, and bought FLYNN a birthday present.
And boy did they ever get it right! They must've known that Snowball's days are numbered. As they gave her a BRAND NEW WEBKINZ!

PERRY the PLATYPUS!

And that's way better than an engraved mug anyday!