When we are asked to pander crap for various fundraisers of activities our children belong to why do we agree to sell it?

Your question is definitely opinionated, but I agree with the crappy prizes statement. I remember the free Hummer offer in middle school and how the business representatives exploited the kids’ irrationality. I say they should at least give the students a few years before BSing about finance.

I don’t buy or sell any of that crap anymore. First, I don’t have enough friends or family members to sell them to, and the ones that we can sell to don’t have the money to buy that crap. The school says to not sell door to door, so what is a family to do when their employer only has 6 employees?

I feel bad having to tell my daughter she’s not going to win the big prize because her friends’ parents work at companies that have 200 employees that buy that crap, but what is a parent supposed to do?

They know some kids want to do it, and if you don’t participate, you’ll look like a crappy parent? That’s pretty messed up how they trap you guys like that lol.

We don’t sell the stuff for fundraisers. I recycle the magazines they send home and we give a donation to the school instead. I have went to PTO meetings and we are trying to come up with better ideas for fundraising. We don’t have any family in the area and all of our friends and neighbors have children that have the same fundraisers.

Every time my son brings home one of these fundraisers, we talk about how much money the school actually gets and we discuss donating our money to the school instead of spending it on things we don’t need.

If the PTA were to come to the parents and say, “We need $100 per family to do all of the programs we did last year,” very few people would write a check for $100. On the other hand, selling the items provides a kick-back to the school, and the “donation” is actually made by the friends and family. The people selling enough stuff for their kid to get the limo or Hummer ride are actually making up for the kids that don’t sell any or enough.

The magazine sales program at one school my children attended was brilliant. The kids got these weepuls for every magazine subscription they sold. The kids wore uniforms, and the weepuls had elastic loops so they could be attached to a belt or in girl’s hair. It became quite the status thing in the lower grades to have the most weepuls. So there was the daily pressure. Then there was the limo ride to McDonalds. Kids who sold over x amount got to go to McDonald’s by limo for lunch. And if the whole class sold X number of magazines each, there was a pizza party.

Fortunately, the magazines were reasonably priced, and allowed for renewals, so it was not difficult to renew our subscriptions and give magazines as a christmas gift in order to hit the quotas. But the pressure was unbelievable. Not from the school, but from your own children. And the quotas were per child, so with two kids, it meant selling twice as much.

In all fairness, the PTA did really great things with the money, and provided technology, library books, cultural enrichment, etc. that never would have been possible without the PTA.

@BarnacleBill I’m really familiar with magazine sales for fundraisers….my whole family would hide from my sister-n-law for two months out of every year over magazine sales for school fundraisers. Hahahaha. We wouldn’t so much as return her phone calls.
I’ve done fundraising…don’t get me wrong. But the fundraisers I led were participatory events where people could donate in a way that got them a return for something they wanted or by donating things they have around anyway…recycling events, garage sales, dinners, silent auctions, performances by magicians and clowns. You can raise alot of money without pandering.

@Blackberry -Lol! Agreed! :)

@Lucille What the…..you’re kissing a bear?!

My child plays soccer and every year it is like a requirement to sell so many whatevers to help “defray the cost”. We usually sell a couple to family(making them feel guilty) or just buy them ourselves. For school… no way I pay taxes keep your crap.

Usually because that ‘crap’ is what pays for after school programs, sports, art, etc…It also gives the child sense of accomplishment and allows them to be a ‘bigger’ part of the school.
If you don’t desire so much ‘crap’ then I am sure you could vote yes to raise your property taxes or any of your taxes that would reflect in more money for the schools…Are you willing to do that?

@judochop Actually, yes I am. We don’t need the $12 foil wrapping paper, or the shitty cookie dough. My daughter wouldn’t feel bad because we have no one to sell to. I’d rather give my money directly to the school, or pay a higher sales tax.

@jonsblond as am I. I guess we are some of the few because where I live that shit got shot down at laser speed.

@judochop It’s sad, because it gets shot down here too. I always vote yes, never passes though.

@jonsblond I love how everyone is such a fucking community until it comes time to put a little forward. The first thing to get fucked is the schools. Meanwhile, I pay $20 a day to park downtown.

Yes I have voted for increased budgets every year. In the state oif New Jersey Thats saying something. So on top of the highest property taxes in the country I should let my child go out and knock on strangers doors for a sense of accomplishment? Really? How about their achievement of honor roll as an accomplishment, I didn’t raise my child top be a salesman or a beggar, fundraisers are bullshit.

@judochop The town I just moved from had a wheel tax. You pay $20 every year for each car that you own, yet the streets are still shitty. Meanwhile, the school tells everyone that there will be no field trips this year because they have no funding. wtf!?

Agreed we passed our budget so our children would not lose sevices and guess what? After the budget passed they cut services. WTF!!!

@judochop : You talked about giving a child a sense of accomplishment and allowing them to be a ‘bigger’ part of the school. My daughter goes to private pre-school ($85 per day), she is 3 years old, and she will have no sense of accomplishment or being a bigger part of the school because she is not doing any of the selling, I am. In the case of a preschool or day care, the burden of the selling probably will fall to the parent, not the child. She barely understands the use of money, let alone a fundraiser. You also mention taxes going up, that would be for public schools only. Private schools (such as my daughter’s preschool) are not paid for by taxes at all.