In elementary school I had zero friends. Like actually no friends, not even one. & I remember this still even in my 20s, the SPED teacher that was in my classroom for two other students brought me a cupcake for my birthday & let me sit with her & talk during lunch bc she noticed I had no friends. That meant so much to me, it made my day.
Have you ever thought about bringing in a Librarian on the podcast? I’m not a librarian (yet!) but I do work in the public library and I feel like we are sometimes the unseen educators 😂 so many of these episodes I can relate too, especially working with kids and teens during programming, outreach, or events.
I’m 32 this year and I got a cupcake at work for my 29th birthday. I specifically ask that my birthday not be recognized, but that came out of nowhere (started working there 4 days after my birthday, so expected nothing) and it made my day. No matter how old you get, unexpected recognition is wonderful.
My son goes to a school for autism and kids with other neurodevelopmental disorders. His teacher is amazing, his birthday was Friday, 2/17, I was sick all week, and his teacher made sure he had snacks since I was too sick to bake. They made the day all about him with signs, cards, treats, and movies. I was so grateful that his teachers are so great they can step up if I get sick, and can’t go all out like I usually do. My birthday is December 20, so if we had school that day it was usually a Christmas party in elementary school and semester finals in high school. When your birthday is five days before Christmas you tend to get a lot of “Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday” cards. I think kids should feel special on their birthday, for some of those kids that could be the best gift in the world to them.
We live in a small town and kids can get a school permit at 14 if they live a mile or more from school . No adult needed . They can only go to and from school and no passengers allowed .
In my class, even in elementary school, bringing invitations was never a problem because everyone had their own little friend groups. No one got jealous when someone was only inviting their friends. I feel like if, in any circumstance, if it’s a gathering at your home or you birthday, you get to choose who will be there
I was a senior in high school when you were born! Speaking of goody bags, those are great incentive awareness mood boosters for students who are struggling with subjects. Kids love goody bags filled with school supplies, little toys and stickers.
Go extra for your April fools babies, because their friends will not. They will every year bring you an empty bag, say they will decorate your locker, or whatever just to say "April fools". I cried my senior year because a freshman gave me cookies, she was confused and I said "You don't understand there is something in the bag, " that senior year all my teachers wrote happy birthday on the board for me, the lunch cook made me a special birthday Cuban sandwich, because it had gotten around that I had so many crappy school birthdays. Idk how it got organized to this day but it was really special I thought I was going to graduate without ever getting the positive birthday attention not just the lets laugh at you because the day says too.
I have never felt so seen then when Tell said that his day is RUINED when you get a wet sock. I think it is the nastiest feeling and I do rage whenever my sock gets wet in a situation like that LOL. I used to joke with my students to stay on the carpet runners with their boots bc I was NOT going to get wet socks bc they left puddles everywhere. Ick ick ick!!
My birthday is February 23 too. As a kid we were poor, so I got shampoo, conditioner, and bath soap for my birthday that was only for me to use. I thought it was great. It makes me appreciate so much more now. When you have everything handed to you as a kid you don't appreciate the little things.
The first story Tell told reminded me of something my brother did. In pre-K, he stuffed all his Halloween candy in his backpack without our mom noticing. His teachers didn't realize u til after he gave the candy to his friends.
I teach choir and when a student tells me it’s theirs or someone else’s birthday, then when we’re done with warm-ups we will sing happy birthday to them. I am not a piano player, but I can play a cute little flourish thing that leads into happy birthday and it’s pretty fun for the class usually.
I had a huge class party for my 40th birthday last year! 🎉 That was a milestone birthday thought, so my class this year will no get a party for my birthday…I’m not sure I’ll even tell them🤐
For my students birthdays, I would give them something small, a hat, and a printed flyer with everyone's names that is given to the parents in ClassDojo and printed for their backpack.and we will sing happy birthday during circle time. For summer birthdays I have it sent to them over the summer or printed before the break. And sing the birthday song right before break.
I grew up in Western South Dakota. The reason 14 yo can drive is because there are a lot of rural areas and farm kids. Also it's a 90 day probation on the driving permit then 6months of restricted or till you turn 18 (whichever comes first).
Once they banned birthdays at my mom's work because someone was jealous of what someone else got for their birthday, grown adults had to be petty about what someone else got.
My kindergarten teacher, for the kids birthdays,in a week advance would get them a petty hat and cape (if they wanted it) of their favorite color I love and still remember that teacher.
15:48 hahaha Gabe talking about his salsa dancing and then like 10 seconds later when he says “seriously! It was so awesome!” - dude sounds exactly like Dustin on stranger things 🤣 how did I not notice this until now?!?!
they enjoy the recognition, that '' hey, im a person, and i matter. that is why something as simple as saying, ''hey dude, happy b-day; here's a pencil and a sticker'' , it makes people feel good.
I FREAKING love you guys!!! Keep up the great content ❤️❤️❤️as a parent I must ask. How are we supposed to contact parents on our free time when we can’t even meet the parents of the kids in the class?
I pass notes through my kid- I put “hey I’m Atlas’ mom my number is *** he wants to encore Kaeden to his birthday party, can you text me so I can sent you an invite” Atlas passes the note to his kid and most of the time the parent texts me back
2 things… When I was in kindergarten (my mom was a stay-at-home mom), school was closed on my birthday because of a major snowstorm. 2) have you seen SpongeBob? When my kids each turned 25, the other ordered them a cake that had SpongeBob and Patrick Star that said, “What’s funnier than 24? 25!”
Cool episode! I had my first boy girl party in second grade. My mom and the girl’s mom coordinated everything it’s was pretty fun looking back. PS lol tell is really wanting attention this episode😂
16:05 did Tell Williams just say '' ooh that was even funner'' dude, i love this guy, hes worked with preschool students long enough to where its rubbed off and he talks like em every now and then LOL XD .
At my school it was a tradition to bring in ice blocks on peoples birthdays…. BAD IDEA on the teachers part the amount of of times that the birthday person didn’t even get a treat from people bribing the birthday person with money just to get an ice block
My middle school would read out all the birthdays happening every day we had class. In 6th and 7th grade, my birthday was on the weekend, but in 8th grade, it was on a weekday, and usually, I was late and missed the homeroom announcements and got there for 1st period, but I was there early for my birthday announcement. They forgot my birthday, and I was crying in homeroom, and my teacher thought I was sick, and at the time, I was the only person with a birthday on this day. She called the front office and told them and the 'oops we forgot the birthday announcement' was almost worth me crying in front my peers at 14.
In Fourth Grade for my 10th birthday I made Key Lime Pie for my class (it was an easy recipe, but in hindsight that's a big accomplishment for a 4th grader to do) and I brought a fruit platter to school- those literally were my two favorite foods at the time and my parents didn't argue. Classes at my Elementary School would often celebrate all the summer birthdays on the same day and even though mine (in late May) technically was still during the school year I'd often be included depending on how many June/July birthdays there were in the class. That year my class had about 6 summer birthdays so we had an outright potluck of desserts- which was cool but everyone ignored my homemade stuff because it was "weird". My class bully even took the time to look me dead in the eye and say "Ouch. Rejected". I was so heartbroken that when my parents picked me up from school I told them I didn't even want to open any presents.
Back when I was in fifth grade, I had a teacher who decided that we celebrate everybody’s birthday for that month all at one time. She had a birthday poster in it for the class with all the names of the students that were celebrating birthdays that month and then Herve with sign the poster. And then we would have dessert and whatever treats on whatever day she picked to celebrate birthdays usually like in the middle of the month. It worked out really well and prevented fighting and people being left out. And we always look forward to celebrating birthdays each month.
In fifth, we write an acrostic poem together using the birthday person’s name. I do all of the summer 1/2 birthdays in January and February. We learn so much about each other!
23:00 I appreciate the little things so much cause nobody not even my family cared about me growing up so big things never existed. The tiny little things always made me over the moon happy.
My kids Elementary have a form at the beginning of the year for our lunch staff to make treats (from a list) for 20.00 and the lunch staff play a song picked by the kiddo on top of the birthday
Birthday story, My birthday is the day before Halloween and I always had great parties as a kid, and now as a teacher it's always a great time dressing up and having pumpkin math day. The kids love celebrating my birthday with me.
The invite the whole class or figure it out on your own thing- I get it, but my kiddo has an early birthday in school year terms and we're doing kindergarten right now. We always had problems with people showing up to parties at our house when she was younger due to pet allergies, so we did a bowling alley party (which has proved to be popular, half the parties she's attended now this year are also at the bowling alley) and we didn't have the budget to upgrade the party packaged for the WHOLE class plus her cousins and outside friends. So I had to poke around on Facebook trying to figure out who's who's parent. We didn't find the parents for one of her two best friends in time. So yeah, sure, let the parents do it outside of school, but help us contact each other! It's kindergarten, we haven't met yet! Edit- If anyone's doubting "best friend" status, my kiddo cries about leaving these two other girls at the end of the school day. When the kids are together at parties, this trio breaks off from the group and does their own thing. They bring gifts to school for each other (usually on the sly without us parents realizing it) and only make art for these particular other girls. I know she gets along with the other kids fine because we're normally among the first at these parties and she'll play with whoever's there no problem. As soon as either of these two particular girls show up, game over, she's with them.
I fully agree I find the whole you have to invite everybody BS to because not everybody gets along with everybody and having to invite your class bully to your birthday party just simply because you can't leave him out Is frustrating It's not like we can hang around the front waiting for pickup lines also because you can't hold up the pick up line waiting for the parents as well and kid don't know number of there friends let alone parents names
@@2d3c And for bussed kids like mine, there is no pickup line. My fellow kindergarten parent group is the one other kindergarten mom with a kid at our bus stop, our kids already know each other because we're neighbours, and they're not in the same class.
As a parent and a teacher, I feel bad for the teachers who have the pressure about the drama that is blown out in social media. As a parent, the whole class thing sucks. If you can't afford to pay for a full class party and you can't get the contact for the few people outside of school parameters, your kid is now the one who is sad and it is THEIR special day. As a kid, I certainly was not invited to everyone's parties and would overhear the giddiness about it. You learn to grow beyond that. It's a part of life and developing. Can't control everything.
I teach 2’s in a half day program. About 10 years ago, when we allowed food for birthdays, a mom brought in a 2-layer full sheet cake for 12 toddlers. She showed up at snack time with candles and expecting us to light them. 🙄 Add on…DCFS showed up that day for an evaluation. It was crazy and there was so much leftover cake.
I loved getting stuff for my kids to take into class for birthday! They walked in proud with those cupcakes. I'm from spokane so cool Deonna is from there❤
I remember in kindergarten my teacher had this candy chair it was like candy wrappers and on your birthday you got to sit in it and they would give you a pencil that said “happy birthday!” And a cupcake eraser pencil topper and it was so exciting I loved it 😊 Edit: I also had a birthday book it was different tho they would all make cards and my teacher would put them all together as a book and it was sooo cute ❤🎉
Piggy backing off the mariachi band and salsa dancing, in second grade we had some type of event going on were all of the classrooms had a different culture to learn about, my teacher was Irish and she taught all of an Irish dance and we performed it in front of our grade, I remember that till this day and it was so awesome how happy she was to teach it us ❤
My birthday is in August so when I was in elementary and they started in late August it had already passed and I was always sad that I couldn’t get a birthday pencil because it had to be on your birthday to get one so my birthday had already passed In high school I was so thankful for my job coach teacher because she used her own money and helped us celebrate our birthdays with our friends after we got back from our jobs and she even included us summer months babies
38:22 No heat in winter and no A/C in summer - ummm that IS my classroom! I wish I could choose! (I work in Dallas area of Texas - very hot in the summer/spring, can get icy in winter)
Also, my birthday was last week. I had half-off super buck rewards for my students. They could use their earned superbucks to buy anything for half price. Those stinkers pooled their super bucks and bought "paint teacher's face". So at 8:25 a.m. I allowed them to paint my face, and I walked around school that way the rest of the day. It actually ended up being an absolute blast, and what a fun day/way to celebrate my birthday with them.
My 11th grade English teacher and his wife who is a 10th grade math teacher on your birthday they will give you a little note card, and a little pack of sour patch kids. It's small, but it means a lot.
My friend in elementary school use to bring in warm cheese curds from her family cheese factory. And her mom would teach use how to fold washcloth in to animals like bunnies.
So my brothers birthdays are a day apart and our cousins birthday is a couple days before so they always had a birthday party in the summer growing up…I was only remembered when their birthdays came around-I was an April baby…so my senior year of high school I was teaching 5th grade art because it was added to state testing that year and we worked it out for my art class credit (art teacher was married to a 5th grade teacher). For my 18th birthday one of the classes threw me a birthday party…it’s the first party I remember just for me.
This is when my oldest was in 2nd grade at a small Christian school. She took cupcakes for lunch time and set them in the kitchen. The school would decorate the students' desks for their birthday, and she was so excited, but when she walked in, her desk wasn't decorated, she was sad but didn't say anything, then at opening assembly they didn't mention her birthday or tell her that she has birthday privileges, so she politely let the principle know that it was her birthday that day and they told her she was lying. She said no, I'm not and stated her full birth date and year, and they looked at a "birthday chart" on the wall and said no, your birthday is not in December its in March. Her younger brother vouched for her and said no, it really is her birthday, and they still didn't believe her. At lunch, they didn't hand out the cupcakes we bought( which was allowed). When I got there to pick her up, she was really upset, and brought out the full tray of cupcakes. I, of course, ask her why didn't the cupcakes get eaten at lunchtime. She started crying and told me the teachers called her a liar and said it's not her birthday.I addressed the issue with the principle and they had the audacity to tell me that I was wrong about my child's birthday. Because the school secretary had written all the birthdays on the birthday chart on the wall and they had put her birthday as march. I really assured them Her birthday was that day and if they would just look at her school records they would see that, they did look and said, oh I guess it is her birthday we must have written it wrong. This was a Friday, so I kind of expected them to make it up to her on Monday, but we never got so much as a sorry. In the Grand scheme of life, it's not a big deal, but she is 14 and still brings up the time that school didn't believe it was her birthday.
My daughters bday is Aug 5 so just days before school starts. Her teacher this year celebrated her bday since she was the only kid in class with a summer bday.
My school was so includive for ppl with summer birthdays because they did by everymonth so if you have a birthday in july for example they would give everyone with a july birthday would get a pencil or rubber (eraser but im british )
My daughter was allergic to egg whites when she was little, I had to make everything from scratch for a year until she outgrew it! Thankfully she did outgrow it!
My son is allergic to eggs, milk, and nuts! So I’m planning to make cupcakes for international womens day (our school makes a big deal of it) so he can have the same as everyone else.
Oh, Lauren. My school (in Cincinnati) JUST got A/C this year (school Speech Path), and it’s MISERABLE in August/September! A couple of years ago, we had a heat day in early October.
In my district which is located in a small town students who are 14 who live more than a mile from school you can drive alone to and from school only .
Oh yeah no In middle school since we live out in the middle of nowhere we all drive dirt bikes, fourwheelers, tractors, stuff like that bc we can't drive yet
School birthdays! Ugh! Mine was always the last day/week of school and ALWAYS forgotten. UNTIL I became a teacher. At a title one school, I had one student that really challenged me all year, parents in and out of law trouble and money trouble. Gave me a lot of really difficult learning opportunities. The last day of school, my birthday, he didn’t show. I was heartbroken I couldn’t get a final goodbye for our tough but successful first grade year. He showed up late but finally arrived! His mom explained to me, through happy heart tears, he made her turn around to go to the gas station (walking nonetheless) to get my favorite soda and candy bar for my birthday. Such an unnecessary gesture that meant the world to him, his mom and to me. 🥹 I will never forget that birthday!
I'm assuming SD is just as cold if not colder than Iowa in the winter so Imma take the coat in Florida thank you very much! I trained for that. I was a very self-conscious teenager and even though we had no AC in our school you would never catch me without a jack on even in the middle of summer in 80°+ weather.
I love you all and this podcast so much, but please reconsider working with Better Help. Some therapists on RU-vid have discussed their problematic nature and it’s worth a listen before deciding if it’s a company you truly support.
It is a lot less devastating to a child to be told that not all parties are going to be for them then for them to show up to a party they were clearly only invited to Because the school required everybody to be invited . Also forcing a child to invite the whole class including their bully isn't farewell
One time it was my friends birthday and he didn’t want to tell our math teacher because sh e would embarrass him so me and my friend told her and she found a video and it was happy birthday joe and we had so much fun just making fun of the video P.s. we are in 7th grade
To add to the point about children coming from families that didn’t celebrate birthdays because they were Jehovah’s Witnesses (21:42), some children were taught to feel guilty if they even accepted a cupcake.
My state is if you live less 3 miles from the school you can get a school permit to drive to school but no1 can ride with you(so they can’t pick up all their friends and after school they have to be home within 30 mins after school is out just incase they have questions for teachers after school so they give them a lil led way when it comes to that so school start at 7:45 to 3:00 so if they are caught before 7:30am
When I was in 6th grade my teacher and I didn't have a great relationship. I struggled terribly that year (turns out I'm dyslexic, was diagnosed in college...) She would call me stupid and make fun of my failing grade openly to the class. My birthday is the end of April so I had the opportunity to see what she did for the birthdays before mine. She put up a birthday sign, had a birthday certificate with a special pencil on their desk and that student was the special helper for the day, along with the obvious song and distribution of treats after recess. So, for my birthday (it was actually over the weekend that year so this was a Friday) imagine the pain when I walked in and there was NO sign! There was NO certificate and pencil! I was NOT the special helper for the day! I was so hurt and embarrassed that I hid the boxes of donuts in my backpack, but they fell out, of course, so I had to explain what they were for. The entire class was shocked to hear that my birthday was the next day and there was NO acknowledgement from our teacher. After the obligatory singing of Happy Birthday and distribution of the donuts I pushed my desk to the back of the room and refused to speak and participate in anything for the rest of the year. I'm going to be 45 years old this year and I still feel that pain. It still feels like it happened yesterday.
sadly i'll never get to have a school birthday bc i have a winter break birthday (literally the day after christmas lol) and my half birthday is mid summer.. so i can't do that either 😭👎👎
