Selling for Scholars
Posted
May 16, 2008 at
1:45 pm by
Kymberly
Now is the time of year when all the bold, bright colors seem to spring up – overnight. No, not spring flowers, I’m talking fundraising forms. “Please give” they all say - give time to sell; give money outright; give us your grandmother’s bank account and we’ll just empty that for you. It’s all “for the kids” after all.
Yesterday alone my children trucked off to school with no less than $40 in “mad money” (as in my money and I’m still a little bit mad about having to part with it) to attend a charitable fundraiser at school. Sure, I’m all for saving the whales who suffer from diabetes or what have you, but at some point something’s got to give.
I am not a hard-hearted soul. I’m as for (or against) whatever cause is up for discussion as the next person. I’m for new playground equipment, basketballs, and paving stones and against cancer, diabetes, natural disasters, and gift wrap.
What I don’t get is how our nation’s children have been drafted as the next major workforce of volunteer salespeople and nobody but curmudgeons like me seems to care.
They keep telling me that schoolchildren have barely enough time in the academic day to have one recess, let alone the three I routinely had when attending grade school. Today children wolf down lunch in twenty minutes or less (with 19 of them spent standing in line waiting to buy). Our school has even cut out keyboarding because time is so tight (computers? Who needs ‘em? I’m sure that’s just a passing fad).
Ironically, they have no END of time to take my children out of class, herd them into the auditorium, and fill their impressionable heads with visions of the riches ranging from personal mp3 players to scooters to be had if only they can convince mom and dad to sell 10,000 units to coworkers, family, and friends.
I have taken a firm “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to fundraising among family members. You don’t scratch at my door with your scented candles and discount cards and I won’t scratch on yours. Still the fundraisers keep on coming.
Who knows, maybe it’s just sour grapes? Unless all you blog readers are interested in buying oranges, candy bars, and “World’s Best Grandma” plaques from me online, I don’t see this mommy making much headway in selling at work.
Utimately, I’m all about helping America’s youth. I’m just not convinced they should all be pushed toward a third grade future in sales.
Tags: candles, charity, children, Family, fundraising, gift-wrap, school |
9 Responses to “Selling for Scholars”
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1. Rita said:
May 16, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
Our PTA has done away with all that crap, thankfully. At the beginning of the year they “ask” for a donation and tell you how much, and remind you that if everyone contributes what’s “asked” or above, then we don’t have to send our children out into the streets to sell stuff. As far as I know, everyone’s eager and waiting in that line at the Open House with their checkbooks open and their pens poised.
After sending my kids to Catholic school for a couple of years and having them sell everything from greeting cards to t-shirts to help keep child molesting priests out of prison, or…erm…feed the homeless, I was thrilled with this godless, secular way of doing things at our local public school.
2. Allison G. said:
May 16, 2008 @ 11:11 pm
My father would never, NEVER, let us sell the school fundraising stuff. (He didn’t even like us selling Girl Scout cookies, but my mom squashed that.) “I don’t send my kids to school to learn how to be SALESMEN!!!” I was always so emabarassed when the teacher would announce who sold the most stuff (apple shiners!) and who needed to try harder (me).
What I’ve noticed though, is how everything is put into perspective once you’re a mother. I used to think all of the “prizes” in the catalog were so cool. I imagined parading them around school so proudly, like Ralpie in A Christmas Story dreamed of the Red Ryder BB Gun.
Now I look at my son’s catalog and think “What!? You have to sell $50 worth of stuff to get a GLOW STICK!?!?!?”
3. Grandma frm Ks. said:
May 17, 2008 @ 1:43 am
You girls are so right, I have 14 grand children,12 of them still in school, plus all the kids in our church, plus all the neighbors kids, and we had to say no, no, never. I really hate looking at that little face and saying no, but our school taxes in Kansas is for what?, It was getting to the point where ever I looked there was a child holding their little catalog and pencil, The schools know exactly what they are doing, and I think it’s wrong,
4. Philly said:
May 17, 2008 @ 8:38 am
I hate fundraisers !! I only did it for my son 2years in a row because it supported his Band competition next weekend in Virginia Beach.
Other than that when kids come knocking on my door I tell them no.
5. Prescott said:
May 18, 2008 @ 9:59 am
I had to sell candy bars and stuff when I was a kid to earn my way to go to band trips because my parents couldn’t afford it. And I HATED IT. Standing in front of the grocery store begging people to buy my overpriced M&Ms was the most miserable thing ever. You know the myth that kids will appreciate things more if they have to earn it? It’s bullshit. I don’t make my kids participate in the fundraisers, but to alleviate my guilt we *do* go to any and all fundraising events like the fun fair, pancake breakfasts, ice cream socials, etc.
I love the idea of writing a check at the beginning of the year, I’m totally going to push for that.
6. Rita said:
May 18, 2008 @ 10:42 am
[quote comment="164297"] You know the myth that kids will appreciate things more if they have to earn it? It’s bullshit. [/quote]
I totally agree.
I had to sell M&Ms and candy bars for band camp, too, and it SUCKED. I was unpopular as it was, so I just felt like a total leper going around trying to sell my stuff to people who wouldn’t even give me the time of day. So, I’d end up “losing” the candy so my parents would have to pay for the boxes. I think once I told them someone must’ve stolen the lot out of my locker (shit like that was happening anyway, so why not have it work for ME for once???). And, I gotta say, band camp wasn’t worth it.
7. Kadi said:
May 18, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
I currently have 4 children who all have to participate in the same fundraisers. Yet, they all come home, pumped full of ideas that they have to sell 100 items to get that highly coveted trip to Chuck E Cheese’s in a limo.
I’d rather rent the damn limo and take them to Chuck E. Cheese’s, than push my family to buy 4,000 dollars worth of wrapping paper.
8. Jessica said:
May 18, 2008 @ 8:17 pm
This year, we’ve finally said no to Scholastic books. After buying them for 5 years straight, 9x a year, the novelty’s worn off.
As for the fund raisers, I normally buy the crap myself. I say, oh, you need to sell 10 wrapping papers, where’ my checkbook and where’s a garbage bag to freecycle the old paper I don’t use anymore?
This year, we’re not even doing that. We’re just plain over it!
9. Allison G. said:
May 18, 2008 @ 8:51 pm
Glad I’m not the only one who’s tired of being financially raped……….