Former teacher Maggie Perking says parent miss these 4 important things.
Though many teachers are leaving the profession, not all of them are making national news. Maggie Perkins, 32, made headlines in 2022 when she quit the teaching profession to work at Costco, and showed no interest in looking back.
"The conditions were worsening rapidly, and I realized they weren't getting better, and nobody seemed alarmed enough to do anything. I was 29 when I decided to leave," she told People, noting she was making $47,000 at the time.
"The more I learned about Costco and the different roles at the company, the happier I was at the idea of working there, whether at the warehouse or corporate, for the rest of my career," she added. "I feel like there was a great potential reward for pursuing it."
Three years later, she trains fellow employees and has no regrets about leaving her former career.
Now that Perkins has been out of the classroom for a few years, she can say the things she couldn't when she was working as an educator. So, she created a TikTok video where she revealed four big things that she had to keep to herself—and all of them are centered around kids’ hygiene.
"I used to be a teacher, and I couldn't have said any of these things to your kid or to you while I was a teacher,” she opens her video.
What do teachers want to tell their students and parents but can’t?
1. Cut your child’s nails
“If your kid's nails are long and dirty, other kids are noticing, and also it is gross. Kids literally get impetigo from their own fingernails,” she said.
2. Start using deodorant before they smell
“Please start putting deodorant on your kids before you notice that they need it,” she said. “Fifth grade, guys, fifth grade, deodorant.”
3. Your child needs to start wearing a bra sooner than you think
“It doesn’t have to be like a real bra. This is just like a soft, athleisure-type situation,” she said. “No one wants to be made fun of because it looks like they should be wearing a bra and they're not.”
4. Wash that sweatshirt and hoodie often
“Once those cuffs start to be like literally brown and ratty, wash the jacket. I am watching them wipe their snot on the jacket sleeve day after day after day,” she said. “They're walking around in a dirty snot rag.”
Perkins’ advice is for the child’s health, but also to save them from embarrassment.
Child in checkered shirt covering face with hands.Photo credit: Canva
“There's no worse feeling than being a sixth grader who has this like acute sense of being different than others and criticized,” she said. “Your child is probably more aware of it than you are, and they're just not talking to you about it, because kids don't talk to their parents that much.”
The TikTok post, which garnered over 2.4 million views, resonated with Perkins’ followers, who shared how hygiene issues had caused them a lot of embarrassment when they were young.
"Parents, please also teach your kids to be compassionate because not all kids come from a loving home," one viewer wrote. "Be the love they don’t receive and don’t make fun of the kids who may smell or are not wearing a bra." Another added, "I would have loved for a teacher to tell this to my mom. I went to middle school without a bra, and I was so embarrassed to change in the locker rooms.
Since then, Perkins has released more videos in this vein. Here's one below, where she warns parents that if they smoke cigarettes, their kids will also smell like cigarettes. Even if no smoking takes place in the house.
She also reiterated the importance of cleaning behind a child's ears, wearing clean socks, clean water bottles, and keeping the skin hydrated with products like vaseline. Again, mostly basic (but important) hygiene stuff.
Ultimately, Perkins’ tips are all about helping parents anticipate and address any potential hygiene or attire issues their child may encounter before they become a problem, whether that’s causing illness or embarrassment. The former teacher’s tips are a great reminder that a little extra care at home can make things a lot easier for kids on the playground and in the classroom.
This article originally appeared in May. It has been updated.