Teachers Are Encouraging New Students to Pour 'Jitter Glitter' on Their Pillows and We're All 'Nooooo'

To ease children’s worries about the beginning of the school year—and get them excited instead—some teachers are sending kids glitter to sprinkle at home.

The “jitter glitter” is meant to be put beside a child’s bed before he or she sleeps, so that the incoming student can rest peacefully and wake up feeling happy.

A reader recently sent us a photo of the poem her child’s teacher gave her kid, along with the glitter. It reads:

Though the confetti in the photo doesn’t look messy at all, and the “glitter” is sometimes just small pieces of paper, some instructors are reportedly giving kids actual glitter—the messy kind.

On Twitter, many shared their thoughts on jitter glitter being given to their kids this school year—and many seemed to love it.

The idea of jitter glitter isn’t new. Back in 2011, a version of the poem appeared on Mrs. Miner’s Monkey Business, but the blogger behind it says she found the poem on the Internet. A quick web search of jitter glitter led us to a few listings on Teachers Pay Teachers, where prints of the poems are being sold to distribute to kids.

Though the idea is undeniably sweet, it’s also messy. Glitter doesn’t just disappear overnight, and you know who will likely end up cleaning it all up? Moms, who have enough to clean up without adding glitter. Plus, why offer glitter when there are so many other fun, non-messy alternatives, like books on calming first-day jitters and Jitter Juice?

We have a feeling working moms will better relate to this Twitter user’s views on “jitter glitter” instead.