In Your Face Fundraiser People
When she was three years old, Garren talked to her about school fund raising, and now that is has reared it's ugly head again, he said I should make shirt like this to send her to school in.
Gracie has been at school for 6 weeks now. Just 6 weeks, and this is the second fundraiser to be sent home, and that isn't counting the school picture forms that they say also help the school (I certainly hope so, in this day and age pictures DO NOT cost that much to print!). In addition to the fundraisers, and the school picture forms, we have also been asked for an "art fee," had to pay $5 to join the PTA (seriously?!), asked for money for school t-shirts and other apparel, book orders (which I can't complain about because I love), and now a field trip.
I know schools need money to run, and I am not quite as "stingy" as Garren when it comes to giving Gracie money for certain things at school--but the fundraisers make my blood boil.
Maybe it is because they gather all the kids in a central location and get them all excited about selling their stuff in exchange for these great prizes (that no kid could earn unless their daddy worked at GE or something).
Maybe it is because of the cheesy prizes that promise "if you just sell 1 or 2 things."
Maybe it is because they are using my daughter to sell their merchandise for free, saving the cost of real employees!!!
Maybe it is because it results in competition among kids and teachers and classrooms.
Maybe because the whole idea of giving out our family and friends personal information is just plain rude, unethical, and wrong!! (this fundraiser wanted addresses to earn the dinky prizes. They would then use our poor unsuspecting relatives & friends to advertise or pander to.)
I guess all in all, I hate the idea of asking our kids to go out and sell products or information.
If your school needs money that badly, come up with some better ideas. Bake sales, kids carnivals, whatever--but stop sending the other crud home!
So, why am I on my bandwagon today?
Gacie walked up the driveway after getting off the bus and she started crying and yelling at me all at the same time.
"I didn't get a duck today, and they were so cute, because you didn't sign my paper!"
I knew immediately what the issue was about.
Gracie brought home her second fundraiser of the year yesterday from school and pulled it out and started getting super excited about it and telling me all the things she could get.
I rolled my eyes (when she wasn't looking), reminded her about how her daddy and I felt about fundraisers (which didn't quash her lust for a ballerina duck), and laid the heavy packet aside.
She begged me to sign something through out the afternoon. And, I will be honest, I didn't even look at the stupid thing. At bedtime she told me "it has to be turned in tomorrow!" I told her I was sure you were given more than one day to sell the stuff.
I didn't think about the packet again.
Gracie was so angry with me, I felt like I really needed daddy to back me up. I was going to have us both sit down and talk to her when he got home, but since the election is around the corner he has been working very late these past few weeks.
So, he had me put her on Skype.
Daddy talked to her about the fundraiser, something we have done multiple times (kindergarten & preschool were not exempt from pushing products through our very young daughter).
Usually mommy handles most of the issues of the house, but I have to say, daddy gets a gold star for this one. He handled it beautifully and in a way I couldn't have. The best I could do was just tell her that the prizes were just silly little ducks.
Daddy had her explain what happened, but he kept asking more and more questions and eventually she started to see the fundraiser and its prizes for what they were.
Gracie: "They had ducks, and they were so cute and you clipped them on, and they had a queen one!"
Daddy: " Oh, so they were really big nice ducks? Were they made out of something special like leather?"
Gracie: "No, they were little, and just regular ducks...and you got candy."
Daddy: "Oh, did they give out a whole candy bar?!"
Gracie: "no, it was a piece of sour grape."
You see where his logic was going, and so did she. He wasn't rough with her, and he talked to her for quite a while about the issue, and did it like she really may have missed out on something big.
Ordinarily we would reward such tantrum-like behavior, but I think it really made a point.
Gracie got an entire package of Starbursts, and later at the Dollar Store I bought her a $1 duck on a key chain that lights up and quacks.
We explained that now she had much more candy, a way cooler duck to put on her back pack (apparently the others were just flat duck-shaped clip ons that went around a lanyard around your neck), and she didn't have to do free work for a company or give away our family and friends addresses.
This is a HUGE and rather complicated concept for kids to learn. I remember sitting in an auditorium and some fund-raising pusher trying to convince us that we could win a brand new bike. Of course they never mentioned how much we had to sell to get the bike. And, I remember wanting to win the prizes and going door to door and maybe selling 1 item for several days worth of work.
I am very involved in Gracie's education, and her school and her teachers and her classroom are all very important to me. I want to see that she gets the best education she can. But, I know that selling anything isn't going to improve her learning. And, I am hoping Gracie can see that as well.
You can thank us for not giving our your personal information later.
Gracie has been at school for 6 weeks now. Just 6 weeks, and this is the second fundraiser to be sent home, and that isn't counting the school picture forms that they say also help the school (I certainly hope so, in this day and age pictures DO NOT cost that much to print!). In addition to the fundraisers, and the school picture forms, we have also been asked for an "art fee," had to pay $5 to join the PTA (seriously?!), asked for money for school t-shirts and other apparel, book orders (which I can't complain about because I love), and now a field trip.
I know schools need money to run, and I am not quite as "stingy" as Garren when it comes to giving Gracie money for certain things at school--but the fundraisers make my blood boil.
Maybe it is because they gather all the kids in a central location and get them all excited about selling their stuff in exchange for these great prizes (that no kid could earn unless their daddy worked at GE or something).
Maybe it is because of the cheesy prizes that promise "if you just sell 1 or 2 things."
Maybe it is because they are using my daughter to sell their merchandise for free, saving the cost of real employees!!!
Maybe it is because it results in competition among kids and teachers and classrooms.
Maybe because the whole idea of giving out our family and friends personal information is just plain rude, unethical, and wrong!! (this fundraiser wanted addresses to earn the dinky prizes. They would then use our poor unsuspecting relatives & friends to advertise or pander to.)
I guess all in all, I hate the idea of asking our kids to go out and sell products or information.
If your school needs money that badly, come up with some better ideas. Bake sales, kids carnivals, whatever--but stop sending the other crud home!
So, why am I on my bandwagon today?
Gacie walked up the driveway after getting off the bus and she started crying and yelling at me all at the same time.
"I didn't get a duck today, and they were so cute, because you didn't sign my paper!"
I knew immediately what the issue was about.
Gracie brought home her second fundraiser of the year yesterday from school and pulled it out and started getting super excited about it and telling me all the things she could get.
I rolled my eyes (when she wasn't looking), reminded her about how her daddy and I felt about fundraisers (which didn't quash her lust for a ballerina duck), and laid the heavy packet aside.
She begged me to sign something through out the afternoon. And, I will be honest, I didn't even look at the stupid thing. At bedtime she told me "it has to be turned in tomorrow!" I told her I was sure you were given more than one day to sell the stuff.
I didn't think about the packet again.
Gracie was so angry with me, I felt like I really needed daddy to back me up. I was going to have us both sit down and talk to her when he got home, but since the election is around the corner he has been working very late these past few weeks.
So, he had me put her on Skype.
Daddy talked to her about the fundraiser, something we have done multiple times (kindergarten & preschool were not exempt from pushing products through our very young daughter).
Usually mommy handles most of the issues of the house, but I have to say, daddy gets a gold star for this one. He handled it beautifully and in a way I couldn't have. The best I could do was just tell her that the prizes were just silly little ducks.
Daddy had her explain what happened, but he kept asking more and more questions and eventually she started to see the fundraiser and its prizes for what they were.
Gracie: "They had ducks, and they were so cute and you clipped them on, and they had a queen one!"
Daddy: " Oh, so they were really big nice ducks? Were they made out of something special like leather?"
Gracie: "No, they were little, and just regular ducks...and you got candy."
Daddy: "Oh, did they give out a whole candy bar?!"
Gracie: "no, it was a piece of sour grape."
You see where his logic was going, and so did she. He wasn't rough with her, and he talked to her for quite a while about the issue, and did it like she really may have missed out on something big.
Ordinarily we would reward such tantrum-like behavior, but I think it really made a point.
Gracie got an entire package of Starbursts, and later at the Dollar Store I bought her a $1 duck on a key chain that lights up and quacks.
We explained that now she had much more candy, a way cooler duck to put on her back pack (apparently the others were just flat duck-shaped clip ons that went around a lanyard around your neck), and she didn't have to do free work for a company or give away our family and friends addresses.
This is a HUGE and rather complicated concept for kids to learn. I remember sitting in an auditorium and some fund-raising pusher trying to convince us that we could win a brand new bike. Of course they never mentioned how much we had to sell to get the bike. And, I remember wanting to win the prizes and going door to door and maybe selling 1 item for several days worth of work.
I am very involved in Gracie's education, and her school and her teachers and her classroom are all very important to me. I want to see that she gets the best education she can. But, I know that selling anything isn't going to improve her learning. And, I am hoping Gracie can see that as well.
You can thank us for not giving our your personal information later.
Thank you for not giving out our info. I told you the $ store could beat the ducks the fundraiser person offered.
ReplyDeleteOh, the calendar cover looks great for our fundraiser. I looked at it online. Oh, and our PTO is doing spirit wear sale. They are selling shirts, jackets, shorts, pants, and etc. with our school logo. At least it's something useful, and the kids seem to enjoy showing their school spirit. Of course all the teachers buy the shirts and stuff too!