Okay, it's been week one of school here. A week and one day actually. Monday she brought home the extra book order. Her mom never lets her have them, but, I always do. We bought $27 dollars worth. The money was well spent. Books are good and this isn't a monthly thing. More like every three months. Tuesday I got a note asking me if I could provide holiday treats. Of course I can. No problem. I picked Halloween, Cinco De Mayo and Valentines. I figured all the gung-ho moms would jump on Christmas and we do Yule anyway. But, all the note said was they had to be individually wrapped. Does that mean no homemade? What do you do? Store bought is cheaper anyhow, so I don't care, but, making stuff with Lis is fun. Are rice crispie treats good or lame? Wednesday I got a note for Highlights magazine. I checked it out and decided she didn't need it for $25 dollars. Geez. It's just a little newsprint booklet with puzzles and stuff in it. (Dollar store, anyone?) Thursday I got a note telling me about Girl Scout sign up. I was trying to find out online how much uniforms and stuff cost and now I know they are religion based. They are supposed to be non-demoninational, but, their first promise is to god. I had to say no. If I'm wrong, you can tell me so. Also on Thursday was two sale catalogs for specialty items. The kids are supposed to sell these to earn points for their school. The points get you things like a limo ride to.. where, I have no idea. Lis mentioned this Tuesday and she called it a 'yard sale.' I was puzzled, but, they do things like that, so I said, sure you can do it. Now, I have the catalogs and it is special gormet foods and kitchen gadgets. They are so overpriced it's ridiculous and I am not going around selling these to friends. See those plastic strainers? You get ONE for $18 dollars. One. I can get one exactly like it at Dollar General for 50 cents. Small fancy candle? $27 bucks. Are you kidding me? I have to support her cause, I told her I would, but, the only food item I want is beer cheese soup and it's $18 bucks for 6 servings. I can get it for $10 bucks for 12 servings at the grocery store. I just looked again and you have to shop online. You basically set up a shop in your email. This is nuts. I don't want any part of it and we aren't trucking all over town peddling overpriced nonsense. Do you guys get suckered for this stuff? What do you do? I don't want her left out of anything, but, geez louise, this stuff gets old and every day it's a new project and more money.
37 comments:
i'd definitely ask re: the individually wrapped and if that excludes homemade or not....
it's frustrating schools rely on raising money via sales of high priced items....studies have shown the school makes very little profit from these sales and the true 'winners' are the companies themselves....the schools would be better off organizing their own bake sales and/or sale of items themselves---such as having businesses/people donate items for them to raffle off, etc.....
I agree. I so wish it was a yard sale. I'd help out with that. But, this stuff just irks me. I can't justify spending our meager budget for this.
yeah, the budget thing too, hello????? people in the midwest aren't particular wealthy! iowa has many hard working struggling to get by families....where are they suppose to pay for this stuff???
Yeah! I have no idea what other people think, but, I can't imagine every parent participating in this. Not only cost, but, time. What are parents who work full time supposed to do? It seems like too much.
I think the book orders are a must! No homeade treats are allowed, ever. So you will have to think granola bars, Little Debbie, etc...Girl Scouts? You said we could tell you that you were wrong...you are wrong. This would be a great organization for Lis. So what if they say God first. It isn't Sunday School. My concern is her getting to stick with it. But this little girl needs all the good female support she can get. The catalogue crap...forget it.
BTW, Lis's new teacher is new. This is her first year. So, I'm not sure what she thinks about all this. I'll bet she'll find out not all parents will buy all this stuff. Lissa loves her though, she says, "she's new, she's not all worn out yet!" LOL! I said she will be when you get through with her.
12:19:00 PM, thank you on the treat info. Still no to the scouts. No 'so what?" on religion. I think it's harmful even when it's subtle. Just my opinion.
Skip the Girl Scouts, NO homemade treats and you don't have to accept every fundraising opportunity. There will be plenty during the school year, trust me.
We get bombarded all the time and pick a few that are fun for Benj and Zoe to participate in. You can always offer to help out in the classroom if you feel like you can't do more money-wise. I volunteer in the classroom but it's not for everyone...
Is Lis happy with her teacher? Will you be in on the parent-teacher conferences? They usually do those fairly early in the school year so you can ask all your questions, understand what is expected, etc...
Agree with you completely on buying the books. Not sure how much the school actually makes on the sales but when our grade school had book fairs & those flyers that came out ... we were on book overload here.
I was the treasurer for the middle school PTO for four years. Every year I would fight with the committee that picked those damn 'sell junk' fund raisers. Super expensive wrapping paper. Overpriced candles. The school made very little on those sales. (Ikept the books, I know what the school's profit was) When we sold $1 candy bars from a local company ... we made .50 on each sale. Everyone will buy a couple chocolate bars. The kids were always asking if there were more for them to sell cuz they had sold the whole box. We made a fortune on candy. Then the last year my son was at that school some 'smart' mother thought it wasn't a good idea to sell candy.
Yeah, the kids are always told they will earn points for prizes it they are the top sellers. BUT the purpose of those sales is to make money for extra things for the schools. SO, I would just donate $5-10 to the school fund. My kids didn't care about those prizes & knew unless your parents or relatives were rich ... you weren't going to sell enough for the prize.
I'll give you my .02 on girl scouts later & how I handled it with my kid.
Melissa thanks for that info. I need all the help I can get. I am such a loner, but, I don't want to isolate the kid. Yes, she LOVES her young fun teacher.
CJ, Thank you! I will wait for something I acutally believe in then. Candy sounds like a good deal. I remember them doing that last year.
My kids school is private, so on top of tuition they are always doing something, and we have to volunteer 25 hours a year or we get charged 10 bucks for every hour we are missing....it is a great idea, but rough for us who work full time..luckily the big fundraiser there is a cash raffle and I always unload the tickets they want her to sell really quickly. A quick treat we do sometimes is root beer floats.... Cheap too
Snowbunnie
OMG at 25 hours or a fine. Geez louize. As for volunteering? I will, but, last year those super soccer moms were hard to take.
When the kids were in grade school, I didn't join the PTA. It was run by a very tight group of the rich mommies. They 'knew' everything & wouldn't take any suggestions. THEY wanted all the glory for doing all the projects. We had a cool young art teacher (might have told you about him). He started an Art Show for the grade school. It was not run by the PTA. He ran it. Every single kid in the school had at least one picture in it. (there were a couple kids that had upwards of 10! Won't mention any names). Point was tho, all of these pictures were double or triple matted & card stock framed. Every kid's picture looked professional. Think about doing this with 1200-1500 pictures! Took hours of work in the school basement boiler room. The kids all thought they were special when they pointed out their drawing on the flats.
There are always projects or story reading that the soccer moms don't want to do. You'll find your niche. (BTW ... I was also a soccer mom ... rain, shine, snow, cold, I stood on the side of that field while one of my kids was playing. Those "soccer moms" sat in thier cars)
Individually wrapped treats mean no law suit against you. That's why they can never sell left over food from restaurants. No law suits. As for Girl Scouts, do you stop spending hard cash because the bills say "In God We Trust?" Girl Scouts will teach her valuable things they dont learn in the classroom. Open your mind. Girl Scouts isn't a church group. They do good things for lots of people.
Past soccer mom here, too. Rain, sun, freezing, thunderstorms, whatever, I was out there for almost every game. I only missed when I absolutely could not get off of work on time to make a trip elsewhere in the state when he was in high school.
I understand prioritizing for the book sale. That is important.
As far as the multiple sale campaigns, it gets old, fast.
When our son was in boy scouts, we drew the line at the Christmas wreath sales, pointsettia sales, and popcorn sales. They were all overpriced, and we were school poor. We spent a mint on parochial school, and didn't have a lot to spend elsewhere. I think that some of the parents in scouting resented this a little, but they can go suck eggs.
I put in the hours (called time, treasure, talent) at his school every year. I think it was around 25, but I always put in more. If you didn't do the time, there was the threat of being charged so much per missing hour. I think some of the rich folks just quietly paid, while the rest of us had to make sure that the right number of hours were spent doing lunch room duty or on the playground. On top of that we were supposed to donate, or arrange for donations from businesses in a certain dollar amount. I think it might have been $500 per year for the annual auction.
I think that Girl Scouts is a good organization, but I think you would be called on for more sales or fundraisers, and most likely to help with taking kids places for activities, etc. My son was always going places with scouts, but maybe not as much when he was really young. I don't really remember.
Would Lissa's dad have wanted her to join GS? I was in it, it was ok. You have to buy their stuff, I think JCP carries it. Ours was ran thru the school, not the church. It was never about church. But its fun, she'd like it. But it is an investment, but maybe you can find a uniform online, used? Cuz she will outgrow it anyways. She can join sports teams, but rembr they usually have prayers too. It appeases the ones that care. I personally had my fill of religion and I just think yea-yea...w/e. I went to church my entire life, enough is enough. Have not been in over 10 yrs. The freedom is awesome. But see what she thinks? She can attend a few meetings before commtting, then if she likes it, get her a nice clean used uniform. Maybe a friend has one she can't wear anymore? My mom never turned us down for book orders either. But more and more schools have fundraisers, weekly. You start to wonder what taxes are paying for? If she gets an allowance, from her dad, maybe that could offset some of the GS expense? My comments have not posted for 2 weeks. Here I go, once more. Try this thing.
rox
I like reading your comments on this. I wonder what GS can do that I haven't done? She can ask her cousins over and do any project, so..she's not missing crafts and company. I dunno. I am really on a budget. It's not even funny.
Rox, I found yours and released them. Is it doing it again?? This pisses me off. Damn blog.
I just got this weird feeling that somone famous has passed. I checked and found nothing. Hmm.
Would never participate in those fund raisers pushing expensive junk on friends. Never wanted friends to feel obligated to spend $$$ they didn't have. Of course I expected the same from them
The Kid was a Brownie/ Girl Scout for several years. When it came to saying the pledge, she either skipped those words or mumbled through the whole thing. She knew it was all a bunch of hooey, anyway. A good friend of mine was the troop leader, so I knew there wasn't going to be anything religious going on at meetings. They tried to talk me into be the asst. leader ... I declined. (I don't like having to follow certain rules & regs). As a volunteer, I could walk when I wanted & I was there at almost every meeting. Did the art projects, the weekend cabin camping in the middle of winter, was the Cookie Mommy for several years. After either two or three years The Kid announced that she was done with scouting. Fine by me, she moved on to other things. The Son never had any problems with the Boy Scout oath, either. He'd been mumbling for years.
Being a born & bred Unitarian, I had no time for someone's gawd. I lived dangerously when The Kid was 5.5 years old. A neighbor asked me if she'd like to go to summer bible school with her kids. I pondered, wasn't sure. I asked her & she wasn't sure (she had no clue). Finally decided it might be a good life lesson. I knew The Kid was smart & wouldn't get sucked in by hocus pocus & she'd ask me questions. Kid went. On the second day she came home telling me all the other kids there were crazy. The were climbing trees, trying to climb walls ... to get closer to gawd! This was an Assembly of god church! Yep, she learned her lesson that week ... never go around crazy christians. A couple years ago she told me I should have been arrested for child abuse. I think Lissa is as smart & worldly as my kid ... don't think an oath will bother her ... at all.
DD ... OT, today I met a mutual friend of ours from Akron! She & Eddie came to visit me for the day & go out to lunch. As the saying goes ... a good time was had by all! When they left here, there was a planned stop up the road at the mini golf course. They'll probably be battling on the putting greens until the lights are turned off.
School fundraisers = always a pet peeve of mine however they have always been around. Don't feel guilted into it.
Girl Scouts - I say let her join. Its got zero to do with JC. I was a Scout as a kid. You meet and make friends with a group of kids you may not have met otherwise, and actually learn some practical skills.
Always loved working for and receiving a new "badge". And you actually had to WORK for them ... no badges for "participation" if you catch my drift. Was always a big deal to receive and there was a ceremony to hand them out, a real sense of accomplishment.
You can buy used uniforms too to save on costs.
the boy comes home with some junk or another looking for money several times a week, either a bake sale (where parents have to home make all cakes, shop bought not allowed due to nut allergies) sponsored bounces or some such crap, Christmas wrapping paper sales (4 gbp per 2 metres, we can get 10m for 2 gbp at local 1 pound store) so I just ignore them. if it is a sponsorship thing then usually I put myself down for a fiver & my mum does the same, that appeases the boys need to join in without breaking the bank.
The school's pta are always pushing adult events on the parents too, race nights, shopping coach trips at Christmas to outlet malls where you pay 3x the price it would cost you to drive yourself to go on a coach with 30 other parents!! Again, I just ignore it. I know you probably feel the need to over compensate at the moment but cut yourself some slack, lissa has a safe loving home, save your limited budget to do things together rather than spend it on school crap.
and the girls scouts thing I am in agreement with you, I vetoed the idea of the boy joining cubs or beavers for the same reason. He gets enough god stuff at school.
Hah! That was a good golf course, the challenges were subtle slopes at most holes....a nice course!! We were sort of tired and knew we had a 2 hour drive back so we did NOT do as many 'replays' as usual, though we were competitive....uh, but of course we're not! ;)
yes a good time had by all!! And i've finally been to Pennsylvania....it actually reminded me more of Iowa than Ohio landscape wise.....
Pat, the only thing I ever participated in was the Scholastic book sale & pictures. All that other shit is just wasted money. The pizza and cookie dough is nasty, the gift things are way overpriced, and the prizes the give the kids for the sales are shitty little dollar store things. I don't give a shit about sports and neither does my kid. I do like the art show idea though. I definitely would by kids art, what a great idea. Don't feel pressured to buy/participate unless there's something that really means a lot to Liss. You are going to get hit up for $$ frequently, unfortunatly.
My gripe with school/sports/gs fundraisers is that so little money actually goes to the cause. I bet you that you'd raise a lot more money by asking people, would you buy something out of this catalog to help with our school expenses or can you make a small donation. I'd rather give you $20 that I knew was going entirely to the school than to pay $18 for a pasta strainer knowing that the school is probably getting $2. Heck buy some in bulk from a dollar store & sell them for $5 yourself. Many years ago I read that women run bake sales and rummage sales to get money for their cause. Men involved in scouting, boys club etc. get together for drinks and just strong arm each other into handing over a check. How about a 50-50 raffle? It costs peanuts to run, just the tickets and everybody loves to gamble.
I'll say this about Girl Scouts - their beginning and closing songs are about god, but that's where it ends (here anyway). They don't speak of god or preach to the girls during meeting or anything and Ashleigh has never brought home any god related items. She's been in Girl Scouts since she was 5 and has gone to numerous camps and really enjoys it and they haven't put god fearing/loving mumbo jumbo in her head.
-Miranda-
Here, Girl Guides costs $100 to join and then there's monthly dues. I wonder how much of those fees goes to religious charities/organizations? It's probably different for every region though. But that's the part that bothers me.
Oh, I am treasurer at my kids school. Every year starts out with new mommies who are so gung ho to help, and they want to do their stupid Pampered Chef fundraisers. We can't say no to them, because we're so desperate for their help with other things like paperwork and field trips. So we end up sending all this crap home for parents to buy. 3 months into the year these parents just quit council and then the whole cycle starts again the next September.
I went to private schools. We were not always peddling this crap, certainly nothing like Pampered Chef and wrapping paper. I hated it when mothers hit the workplace with all this shit. Wouldn't buy it. It's an insult. I mean it, I'd get angry at being pestered to buy overpriced crap. When my school needed money, we held a carnival or hamburger sale. Those were great hamburgers, btw. We didn't get tax money and didn't bother others.
CJ and Tia, man, you guys had a good time, dint ya? I wish I had been there.
Everyone, these comments meant a lot to me. I try to do the right thing, but, I like being a solitary hermit. I have to open up a little. Lissa's aunt is coming this afternoon with her 3 kids. I'm taking off work early. It should be a good loud time. I like them a lot and she misses them.
Yeah, we did! You being here would have been the trifecta :)
Bottom line is on all this school stuff, you do what you can & want. The fund raisers, ignore most of them. Lissa's new teacher will appreciate classroom help more than anything. Does her school have an art teacher? If not, you could help do in class art projects. Would think a new teacher is overwhelmed & any warm body would be welcome.
another thing to keep in mind re: activities, is Lis needs time to be 'a kid'....i know activities help her be a kid, but i mean, time to herself to go outside and play, ride a bike, draw, quiet time, etc....some kids get so over scheduled they start having anxiety!!
with everything that's been going on in her life, etc, i think maybe right now an activity like girl scouts might too overwhelming....especially since you still don't know what's going on.....
We do cookies & trash bags. They are so expensive. I usually put it out there for my family, but don't push it.
Yeah, I agree with the others. Do what you can. Kids understand a lot more than we give them credit for. I used to buy stuff for those stupid fundraisers so the kids could go to the "party," but finally was like - no more. I told the kids I'd go buy them a book or something like that and they were fine with it.
Anyhow, I'm really commenting because of Girl Scouts. I was a Girl Scout leader and it was the worst experience of my life. I don't think the kids noticed anything, but after getting to know the moms, it was discouraging. My "co-leader" was awful. The pressure to sell those stupid cookies is unreal and the troop only gets like $0.30-.60/box. I won't even buy the cookies anymore LOL. If you get really involved it's like an Amway or pyramid scheme cult.
Also, depending on where you live it *can* be deeply religious. If you live in a religious environment, chances are Girl Scouts will have that bent to it. I'm not saying always, but I've seen it.
Of course, there are plenty of people who have fond memories of Girl Scouts and not the troubles I have had or I have seen, so it depends on your area, troop leader, the girls, etc. But, I wouldn't recommend it - especially since they push cookie sales so hard. :(
I agree with Miss Tia too - just plain free-range imagination play is wonderful.
Does the school have afterschool clubs? My kids school does and it's a nice economical friendly way of giving a child extra-curricular activities.
Anyhow - sorry for the long post. You'll do fine. IMO Kids just need someone that has their best interest at heart. *hugs8
FINALLY!!!! Someone sees the insanity?!?!!?!? I have been saying this for years and stopped selling or buying this shit years ago. ASK me for $2.00 if you need it...don't make us sell $10.00 worth of crap to get it. I don't have much family up here, so it doesn't help. Other families go at that crap hard core, like it is their J.O.B.......ugghghghg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spend the $25 and get her the Highlights magazine subscription. I freakin' LOVED that magazine when I was her age. It's got all sorts of great (and educational) stuff for kids and LOTS of fun puzzles, etc.
And no, the rice krispies treats are not lame. They're delicious and kids love them (and you'll probably be the only one who makes them).
Post a Comment