Birthday Compliments: The Gift that Keeps Giving

Balloons, wrapping paper, streamers, and cupcakes: although these are all great symbols of a good birthday, they are all temporary. What happens after the balloons deflate, the streamers are taken down, and all the cake is eaten?

In an effort to celebrate their special days with more than just singing “Happy Birthday” and sugary snacks, Peck second-grade teachers have found a way to leave their students with lasting birthday memories: birthday compliments–a keepsake that they can keep forever.

A tradition born in Second Grade Homeroom Teacher’s Jane Attah’s class, students stand in front of the class while their classmates take turns dishing out compliments, choosing adjectives to describe the birthday child on their special day. As classmates come up with descriptors, teachers jot them down on the board, creating a collage of feel-good words that best reflect their student honoree.

“A compliment is a gift that you can treasure forever. No one can take it from you. Words are powerful, and leave lasting impressions on those around us,” says Attah. 

To help these compliments stand the test of time, teachers don’t just erase these nice words from the board once the day is over. Instead, they include birthday compliments in students’ bound books– portfolios of students’ work given to each student at the end of every school year.

“In years to come,” Attah continued, “students can look back at the compliments that will live indefinitely in their bound books and reminisce on the way these kind words made them feel.”