Hi, my name is Brooke and I hate school fundraisers.
Problem is, we are living in the land of apparent school money shortages. It's apparent because so far this school year (8 weeks) we've had approximately 48 flyers per child come home begging for money in some creative way or another. If they would actually just beg for money I'd be happy to participate, but they don't. They ploy the kids with grandiose ideas of treats, parties, prizes and fun, all for making their parents feel guilt about giving money for stuff.
I'm trying to de-stuff-ify my house. I don't want more crap.
But, so far we've had a fundraiser for household decor, jewelry and cookie dough, constant PTA membership drives, box top drives, ads to buy a t-shirt (the kids all get one free shirt at the beginning of the year, this is for the special ones), ads to buy a special red ribbon week t-shirt, and this week it was the stuff-an-animal fun party (like build-a-bear), yearbook pre-order drive, oh, and school pictures.
I'm a scrooge. I told my kids no to almost every single thing. (except for the box tops, I already spend that money)
The issue I have with this is simply, how much of that fundraiser money is seriously going to the school. Yes, the PTA money does, and I've joined. But the actual household decor, jewelry, cookie dough and stuff-an-animal fundraisers give almost nothing to the school. They just tell the kids to sell to their family and friends so they can win prizes and attend exclusive "high-seller" parties.
What happened to fundraisers that encouraged physical activity like "jump rope for heart" or earned money for other causes like "MDA drive" or "Pennies by the inch"? They probably had the same reimbursement rate for the school, but they encouraged good things in the kids. I really, really wish they still did this. I can make my own cookie dough, I don't need more home decor, I've got plenty of jewelry and wrapping paper, and I for sure don't want any magazines coming in...
Do you ever get tired of telling your kids no? (or am I the only one who does?)
Friday, October 14, 2011
Alms For The Poor...I Mean School
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4 comments:
So true! They totally brain wash the kids for this huge prize blah blah!
Holy cow that is a ton of fundraising!! Why are Midland school cutting back? There isn't an economic crisis there like elsewhere. That is unless things have changed a ton. Our last year at Scharbauer they weren't doing much fundraising since the parents voiced such a dislike of them. I wonder what they are doing now. They did do things like the fall festival and a couple other things that didn't involve the kids selling things. I am the mean mom that doesn't even allow the kids to sell. My mom never let us growing up either.
Our school here doesn't do much. They have a fall festival, a magazine drive that is done all online, and a Spring Gala with auctions for things that have been donated or made by the kids at the school. Each class had a project they worked on. They sold for some decent money! Some of the silent auctions didn't go for a whole lot but since everything was donated, the money went straight to the school. That is what I would rather support. Scarbaeur did do an auction of baskets that each class put together. That seemed to make some good money too.
All that to say I completely agree with you!! :)
Yeah, I totally forgot about the Fall festival this weekend. One more way to spend money. They are actually doing it on a Saturday this year instead of a Sunday so we can go. But, they won't even let the kids dunk the one teacher they all hate...
Oh, and I forgot to mention, that the stuff-an-animal was done during PE so if the kids didn't get to do one, because of their scrooge parents, then they looked stupid. (hopefully not, I'm praying their teachers handled it better than I am imagining).
That is bad to do it during school hours! Way to try and force parents to buy. I wouldn't have done it either!!
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