I HATE school fundraisers with a passion! Basically what they do is bring all the kids into a room, show them all the cool prises they can get, and send them home with stuff to sell. In all reality, it is the parents that have to sell the stuff. It is the parents that have to feel like crap when the kid comes home upset that they didn't get the prizes that they expected.
Offering kids a pig race is a cool idea, if they were the ones that actually earned it. I forked out a lot of money this year so that Sean could get the opportunity to be in the pig race since Eric was able to do it when he was in Kindergarten. I couldn't bring the fundraiser to work like a "good" parent because there are rules about such things. John only works with a few people, so bringing fundraisers stuff for two kids and expecting people to buy isn't all that fair either. My parents live in Indiana and John's parents were in Oklahoma for a funeral when the fundraiser was going on. My sister bought some stuff from Sean feeling the same as I did, Eric already got his chance for very similar prizes. I had to buy the rest of the crap to qualify Sean to get a pig for the race (a pig they got to bring home after the race was done).
Again, Eric got his chance two years ago when he was in kindergarten. Now, Sean has a better pig than the one that Eric got, and Eric's doesn't work due to a bath it was given before Eric had had it for even a year. Now I get to feel like the worthless parent that doesn't care about her kids because of one stupid little pig that wouldn't even be an issue in the first place if our schools were funded properly (don't even get me started on my feelings about the fact that the state keeps cutting the K-12 budget while it seems that their salaries aren't even changing).
I always feel like the mean mom because I don't allow my kids to participate in fundraisers. I hate selling the crap, and the stuff people buy really is crap. I don't want to buy stuff from their kids so I feel bad asking them to buy stuff from mine. So we have a no fundraiser rule. I'd rather donate $20 to the school. They get more money that way than the little bit they actually get of what the kids earn selling stuff.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. I stopped doing the fundraisers a couple of years ago. Now I just donate cash to the school if I can. If they want cheesey, cheap toys, they can save their allowance and go to the dollar store. It's not worth the competition.
ReplyDeleteAmen! That's funny. And what kind of pigs are these? Wind up pigs or what? We just got done selling cookie dough for Brendan, ugh. I'm sure glad that's over. And yes, he did earn the trip in the limo to lunch. Yay for Brendan, I mean, Mom and Dad! Thank goodness it's only once a year and yes, don't get me started on the budget cuts either. It's not fair!
ReplyDeleteI am right there with you on this one!! I hate it that the schools expect our little ones to be salespeople!
ReplyDeleteOh, I hate them, too! When my kids bring them home, I just throw them away the first day. We don't sell crap to earn crap at our house. LOL I hate bugging people to buy stuff from my kids, anyway. And there are so many kids in our neighborhood doing the same thing, it's just a pain to find out who hasn't bought anything yet. And, having family out of state doesn't help. So, we don't even give it a second thought around here. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm on the other side! I'm the one without any kids yet, and I feel obligated to buy the stuff because I know that the schools are severely underfunded and I feel like a jerk saying no to kids. Or to my co-workers. Or girl scouts. Or boy scouts....Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI have hated them since I was a child, when I was the kid that didn't have parents who could take things to work either. The first year my kids came home with the wrapping paper and crap fundraiser, I threw it away. This year, they were selling holiday pies, which is something worthwhile, so we bought some.
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