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13 Preschoolers Share Their Favorite Thing About Their Teacher

If any group of people deserve an entire week of appreciation, it's teachers. And preschool teachers in particular deserve a unique tip of the hat. I have one preschooler, so I can't imagine being responsible for the education and wellbeing of a dozen! A lot of parents stress about what gift to give their child's teacher during teacher appreciation week, but most teachers will tell you they'd be happy with a simply thank you. So I thought I would help preschoolers share their favorite thing about their teacher. Not only is it nice, but some of the answers are pretty funny in the way only a preschooler trying to be complimentary and earnest can be.

I'll be honest with you: the most common answer among all the children was "I don't know," which, if you've ever talked to a preschooler, makes sense. I feel like, at the notorious preschool age, it's hard for kids to adequately articulate their thoughts about other people, because they're only just starting to think of the rest of the world existing outside of themselves. It's not their fault, of course. That's just where their brains are, developmentally.

But, when pressed to think a little bit deeper, the kids I talked to (through their parents) had lovely things to say about their educators. Yes, the following lovely things still revolved around the stuff said educators did for the kids in question, but like I said: letting go of egocentrism is a process and takes some time.

Addy, 4

"What I like about her is she gives me different snacks."

Nathan, 5

"She gets us new tubs and activity things."

Astrid, 5

“I like that she’s nice to me, and she helps me, and she lets us have new pets like caterpillars!”

Dalia, 5

"She always gives us lots of special treats and let’s us do awesome projects. Some of them are cute."

Aaron, 4

"She lets us play with worms at show and tell!"

William, 5

"I like about her that sometimes she leaves quickly before we wake up from nap and I like that she doesn't do that sometimes, too. I love sometimes how she sometimes comes and stays and then Ms. E comes and sometimes ... Ms. Kelly comes."

Writer's Note: If you're not exactly clear on what this all means, don't worry: neither was William's mom. To be honest, he sounds a little like when you just keep hitting the middle autofill word on your phone, only absolutely adorable.

Gioia, 4

"I like that she loves me so much."

Ella, 5

"She shares snack when you forget yours. She has Goldfish in a very big box and when I'm snack helper I can pour it out for my friends."

Wyatt, 5

"She gives me a high five when I do a good job."

Liam, 4

"She was an M&M!"

Writer's Note: Liam's mother clarified, saying, "She and the other teachers at the school dressed up as different color M&Ms for the school Halloween parade last year. I have never heard him mention it before but I suppose it left some kind of big impression."

Ava, 5

"When the class gets loud she lets us shake our sillies out and she does, too and it's funny."

Olivia, 3

"I like when she takes out the rice table because it's fun to play in the rice table, but we can't throw the rice. The rice stays in the rice table. It's fun."

Mason, 5

"Miss M is the nicest teacher. I will miss her when I go to kindergarten next year, but I'm going to visit her when [my brother] goes in her class next year when I'm in kindergarten. and help him learn the class rules."