Today was the day that dads get to go to school with their kids to eat donuts with them before class. It’s not a bad thing, and I think donuts kick the shit out of the muffins moms get to eat in the fall.
Last year what pissed me off about dads donuts day was how the school and PTA did its best to de-emphasize the “dads” part and acted like any ol’ fella with a schlong will do for a kid (or no schlong for Heather and her two mommies). This year they did a pretty good job keeping the dads in dads donuts day, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for me to bitch about.
This year it is the book fair. These PTA people got the kids so fuckin brainwashed to get the dads to buy shit it was ridiculous. There were no fewer than FIVE notices and THREE wish lists sent home with the kids over the last two weeks. In only one of them — the last one — did the PTA bother to put in the disclaimer that there was no obligation to purchase books from the book fair. Of course, that’s bullshit because they made the kids so goddamn rabid to sell their parents on books they can get cheaper anywhere else it was insane.
Case in point: my kid loved a book called Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Its sequel was just published. It was available at the book fair for full retail price of $12.95. It’s on Amazon.com for $7.77. I purchased it for him at Wal-Mart the other day for about $7.00.
I get that the PTA needs money to pay for these donut and muffin days and what not, and I get that participation is severely lacking in my kid’s school, but to be honest I’d be a lot happier to not have a donut day than I was to be made to feel like a jackass for not paying almost double the price for books than I needed to and I’d really be happier if they didn’t brainwash my kid so much to buy an assload of books when he was really only interested in one.
To make matters worse, they set the book fair up so that you had to walk through it to get to the donuts and to leave. WTF. I’m not going to join the PTA now just out of spite for that hateful shit.
Amen on the passive-aggressive fundraisers.
I just want somebody to give me a breakdown on how much per head do they need to bring in per child, and I will write a check or make installments on it. I do not appreciate the game playing.
My peeve is the school participating in some Boxtops for Education program, where they get 10 cents per boxtop emblem you bring in and the classes compete for a pizza party. I just think they probably net very little after the pizza is paid for, so why should parents even think for a moment about buying products off the list of manufacturers who participate in Boxtops, or cut out the stupid things and collect them? It’s like they want you to suspend all disbelief about finance. It seems so contrary to true education.
I just think I would die if I was a teacher and had to act all excited over every 10 cent boxtop somebody brought in or act thrilled to see everyone who attended Spirit Night and gave the school 10% of their dinner tab at the spaghetti place. That works out to $1.80 for my little family.
If I could just have the dollar amount, I might even pay for some less fortunate family’s kid just out of the pure thrill of not having to deal with these petty fundraising attempts.
Passive aggressive fundraisers are exactly what they are! Good way to put it.
Our PTA has a school night at some local restaurant EVERY MONTH. WTF. I’ll only go to one if I like the place and feel like eating out that night, which isn’t often. We might do one or two a year. They also do the box tops thing, but I blow that off.
That’s interesting about your book fair. I find that for our book fair, the books are priced very fair and often times cheaper than what you’d find in the stores. But then… we aren’t made to feel guilty. My daughter does bring home a list, but, I let her know immediately that it doesn’t mean squat.