My kids should be on commission!
My children are a marketing tool!
At least that’s what the schools must think.
If you’ve got kids in school you know exactly what I'm talking about. The schools use them to sell magazines and candy to help raise "funds" for school programs. It seems that every few months my kids bring home a new fundraiser for us to unleash on suspecting friends and neighbors.
Of course there is always an incentive for the child. If you sell 758 subscriptions you can choose from an assortment of "quality gifts". The glossy booklet shows pages of prizes. When looking through these slick catalogs, just remember sizes vary and quality means nothing. Once the prize comes in, you realize you could have gotten better stuff from a Happy Meal box.
At least then you wouldn’t be stuck with a years subscription of "Extreme Needlepoint".
Now, that’s just the schools. Outside activities are just as bad. In the past year my twins have sold:
*Cookies dough for Flag Football Cheerleading.
*Wrapping paper for Dance school.
*Candy bars for their soccer team.
And now that they are Girl Scout Brownies, I have cases and cases of Girl Scout cookies in my house, just waiting to be delivered. I mean THEY NEED TO BE DELIVERED SOON, or my wife will wake up one morning to find me lying on the floor, covered in empty Thin Mint boxes.
The worse to date came last Monday night. Both kids came home with blank postcard booklets, which the children were to "fill out" with the addresses of friends and family. These booklets were then to be returned to a magazine company where they will be sent out in the "child’s behalf" to these unsuspecting people who will probably buy something they don’t want, or need, out of sympathy for these two waifs and their beleaguered parents.
Don’t get me wrong! I don’t mean to be a grumpy old fart. (Though I often am.)
I always support school bond elections, when they come up. I collect box tops. I pitch in to buy supplies for the teacher. I usually spend more than I need to at the school's book fair. (Cause you can’t spoil a kid by giving them a book!) I‘ve even helped chaperon school field trips.
All I ask is that I get my kids progress report in their backpack, at least as often as I get a new fund raiser promotion.
At least that’s what the schools must think.
If you’ve got kids in school you know exactly what I'm talking about. The schools use them to sell magazines and candy to help raise "funds" for school programs. It seems that every few months my kids bring home a new fundraiser for us to unleash on suspecting friends and neighbors.
Of course there is always an incentive for the child. If you sell 758 subscriptions you can choose from an assortment of "quality gifts". The glossy booklet shows pages of prizes. When looking through these slick catalogs, just remember sizes vary and quality means nothing. Once the prize comes in, you realize you could have gotten better stuff from a Happy Meal box.
At least then you wouldn’t be stuck with a years subscription of "Extreme Needlepoint".
Now, that’s just the schools. Outside activities are just as bad. In the past year my twins have sold:
*Cookies dough for Flag Football Cheerleading.
*Wrapping paper for Dance school.
*Candy bars for their soccer team.
And now that they are Girl Scout Brownies, I have cases and cases of Girl Scout cookies in my house, just waiting to be delivered. I mean THEY NEED TO BE DELIVERED SOON, or my wife will wake up one morning to find me lying on the floor, covered in empty Thin Mint boxes.
The worse to date came last Monday night. Both kids came home with blank postcard booklets, which the children were to "fill out" with the addresses of friends and family. These booklets were then to be returned to a magazine company where they will be sent out in the "child’s behalf" to these unsuspecting people who will probably buy something they don’t want, or need, out of sympathy for these two waifs and their beleaguered parents.
Don’t get me wrong! I don’t mean to be a grumpy old fart. (Though I often am.)
I always support school bond elections, when they come up. I collect box tops. I pitch in to buy supplies for the teacher. I usually spend more than I need to at the school's book fair. (Cause you can’t spoil a kid by giving them a book!) I‘ve even helped chaperon school field trips.
All I ask is that I get my kids progress report in their backpack, at least as often as I get a new fund raiser promotion.
posted by Justa Dad at 11:19 PM
7 comments
