I completely get that the schools are short on funds. I understand the need to fundraise. But quit telling my little child that she HAS to peddle your crap and that she MUST sell a whole bunch of it, and for the love of GOD don't get her all excited about a prize she has a snowball's chance of winning and then ensuring that she feels bad about for the rest of her life!
We are still shell-shocked from last year's chocolate sale fiasco, when the "winners" were given a limo ride, and she has just come home with the Yankee Candle sales kit. The catalog, which starts out with completely ridiculous $23 candles that smell like shit and have a smarmy Christmas theme - is Scratch 'n Sniff! - and ends with Santa in beach gear candles, that also smell like shit. The "motivational" fold out presentation of the prizes the kids can "win" for relentlessly peddling the stinky shit candles is completely atrocious. For only - ONLY - two hundred and seventy five dollars worth of shamelessly guilting your friends and family, you can get the Science kit that your mother can buy on Amazon for under twelve dollars. (ooo! guess what we're going to do?) The lowest amount of sales that will get a kid a prize nets the poor child a glowing puff ball that retails for five dollars.
We have friends in dire financial straits. We know people that are out of work. I have only been back to work since the first of May. I am not at all happy about trying to foist incredibly superfluous and meaningless garbage on the people in our lives because the people at school are so uncreative and desperate that they are willing to put us all through this. I am not going to ask our friends and neighbors to buy a twenty three dollar candle because my daughter asked them to because she's six and she's been brainwashed. Especially one that makes me recoil from the catalog after my daughter showed me how each picture can be smelled! I wonder how much that catalog cost to produce?
At least you could eat the chocolate.
2014 goals
10 years ago
There ARE other ways that schools/PTAs/PTOs can fund-raise - through the "Box Tops" and Campbell's soup labels programs, with school carnivals/car washes/etc., by linking up with corporate sponsors. As a parent you absolutely have the right to stand up and say NO, your child will not participate in inappropriate fund-raising - then suggest some alternatives. As a teacher, I will not support these kinds of activities, and you will likely find that many teachers in your daughter's school feel the same way. Don't be afraid to speak up and try to change the culture of the school for the better!
ReplyDeleteI'll bet Buster could use some candles. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI still have wrapping paper that I bought from a colleague's son about 15 years ago, but that could just mean that I don't give enough gifts. *shrug*
I agree 100% We don't do those fundraisers simply because of the lame ass rewards that Aiden salivates over. I'd rather make the $50 donation directly to the school (you know that's about all they get anyway!)
ReplyDeleteMamie: Welcome! For the record, I am a PTA member (and my friends know I'm outspoken). I have supported - with my presence and my dollars - many of the efforts of my daughter's school. This one I do not.
ReplyDeleteFrank: If I tell him he's getting candles and then put the money in M's account, do you think he'd ever figure it out? ;)
Kate: I'm SO always ready to just dig in my pocket. Why can't I just hand over the cash? Please don't promise my kid a Super Spy kit. She's already cried over this.
last year I was bombarded with three, THREE different fundraisers on the very first day of school. GAH!
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me, I still haven't used those damn candles.
I could not agree more! I absolutely hate those fund-raiser things. As a kid I had to hock Tom Watt - the big cardboard suitcase filled with junk? I hated it even then. If participation isn't mandatory in any way, I skip them. The daycares were even doing them! Privately-funded daycares that *I* was paying for! Screw 'dat.
ReplyDeleteWhen my older kids were in school, it got to the point that I just refused to participate in the fundraisers. I had two kids in the same school and they were bringing home the exact same things to sell. It's pathetic..the kids don't understand and the schools and fundraising companies don't care as long as they get their cut. Have you ever asked just exactly what that fundraising money is going for?
ReplyDeleteStick to your guns with M and just keep explaining why she can't sell the stuff. She will eventually understand. I'm sure the science kit from Amazon will help smooth things over:)
Oh I hate the fundraisers and my kids had to do them for everything they did--sports, school, church trips, clubs they were in. Every time they turned around someone was telling them to sell popcorn or candles or chocolate or wrapping paper or magazines. The list was endless. It only gets worse as the years go on, so brace yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I totally agree of course.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I hate to admit I felt compelled to participate. My son's class set a goal for each child to sell one piece of crap from their catalog. I bought a magazine subscription and so did my parents. So he did his part and can't feel too bad. But I did spend a lot of time explaining to him that the prizes they "win" are junk and we could buy them for less if they were even worth buying. I hate fundraisers. I have been hit up at work by 3 different people in the last month. All of those were for cookie dough. At least I can eat the expensive ass cookies.
ReplyDelete