In 1985 Dire Straits came up with a catchy tune intended to be a jab at what the average working man thought about musicians. While the lyrics were at times sexist, racist, and homophobic they had a point: “How can we justify the large salaries that popular musicians earn?”
Here we are, 20 years later and it’s as if Dire Straits was able to see the future. Earnings for jobs that seem easy (compared to daily manual labor) have skyrocketed. Salaries for those 1% (the amount of people who make it in certain fields) of Athletes, Politicians, Musicians, and Actors, are over the freaking moon, and you’ve either become totally pissed off about it, or completely complacent in your own feelings because it’s not like things are going to change anytime soon.
Maybe my complacency isn’t as complacent as I thought. That might be why the little things are starting to really piss me off. Little things like the message we are sending to our kids when we tell them it’s okay to ask for money for nothing.
Money for nothing is the belief that just because there is something we want, that maybe we feel we deserve, but can’t afford or even we can afford, we rationalize that it’s okay to ask for the funds from strangers… for nothing. I’m not talking about GoFundMe, or fundraisers based on natural disasters, or illness, or Walkathons, I’m talking about these groups of kids and parents that it seems you can find on any given weekend, asking for donations for sports teams.
The reason this irks me so, is that we live in a commerce based society: I want money, I create a product, you want my product, I sell it to you, I earn money. I’m not just going to give you money because you asked for it. If you want money then you have to EARN it. You want to solicit donations to play on a specific team, then ask your family and friends for donations. They love you, they love your kid, they have your best interests at heart. If you want money from me, a stranger, then sell me a cookie you baked, or some yummy lemonade, or wash my car… that would be freaking awesome, I hate washing my car, but don’t just ask for donations outside the supermarket and give me a dirty look like I belong in the depths of hell for not sponsoring your kid’s dream. That is your job! My job is to look after the dreams of my children and I will donate when I’m able to a charity. You do remember charity right? Organizations that help people in need? Yeah, I thought so.
After this past weekend where this EXACT thing happened to me and I then watched the “dirty look mom” drive off in her Lexus SUV, I threw my hands in the air. All these parents are doing is raising little beggars, and I, for one, think that’s a not-so-fantastic life lesson. Call me crazy but I’d hate to see the product of that work-ethic.
There are currently so many different charitable organizations that need help, school arts programs are being slashed in half, veterans are being treated like second class citizens, war-torn countries are on the news every night, and you can’t watch the TV for 30 minutes without seeing Sarah McLachlan and those poor animals… if little Johnny wants to go to football camp, if Amber wants to be a cheerleader, if Joe wants to play on a soccer team, then bake some cookies for Christ’s sake.
I could totally use a cookie.
I’m the single mom of 2 kids. My daughters activities drain 99% of my entertainment/extra curricular budget, if it ever existed in the first place. Last week another mom on our AYSO soccer team solicited me for a donation for her daughter to attend a tournament next month. I have an extremely fixed income, and am very recently divorced, AS THIS WOMAN KNOWS, and Princess Peral Clutcher had the nerve to ask me to donate whilst helping her load equipment into her brand new Mercedes. No bitch. Just….no.
Oh Dear Lord… I’m sorry girl. My boys play soccer too and it’s a beast. Some people have a huge set on them. Stand strong and do you.
I just laughed and said “Sorry, can’t! That’s my martini money!” And got in my car….
So now I’m not only the token single mom, but the team drunk. Eh, everybody’s gotta have SOMETHING, amiright??!!
Nice. That might scare her off from asking again… LOL
Gotta love it! I think the same thing when they’re set up at the Walmart entrances sipping their Starbucks with their cashmere throws, Coach bags, & perfectly manicured nails. You’re asking *ME* for donations?!? The woman sporting her fancy purse (the $50 one from J.C. Penny’s) to help balance out the fact that she’s wearing $12 yoga pants with a hole in the thigh and a t-shirt splotted with my 2 year old’s cereal bar from breakfast. Don’t some (read most) people just blow your mind?
#truestory
We just got fundraiser magazines home from my kid’s school and literally 2 hours later one mom had made her 8 year old a huge decorated poster board and posted a pic to fb to encourage everyone to help her daughter to meet her goal is getting 50 items (so she could get tickets to Mt. Olympus water park). #areyouforreal
1) Why am I supposed fund your kid’s vacation by buying overpriced gift wrap, chocolates, and tubs of premade cookie dough? We all have our own kids to buy from. Especially those of us with multiple kids in school.
2) If it’s her goal why are you doing all the work? Hell, if we wanted our grandma/aunt/uncle to buy stuff from us our mom made us call them and ask ourselves!
3) It’s not like you couldn’t afford water park tickets otherwise. You just posted last week that you’re taking all 3 kids to Wisconsin Dells next weekend.
4) I didn’t see you post one thing about your son selling fundraiser items. Is that because you don’t want to split orders between the kids and risk not getting the highest amount of el cheapo discount store “prizes”?
#endrant
Right? The school fundraisers are the worst. All the kids want to be winners, it’s like the school became Chuck-e-Cheese. Hell no.
Seriously! I actually took my kid to Walmart and was like I’ll just buy you the top 4 prizes for doing extra chores or reading. Shit will get done and I’ll save $80 in the process lol
OMG… Parenting for the win. Our school cut those fundraisers this year but are asking us to sell corporate sponsorship… I can see my 9 year old now… NOT!
Oh, I’m sure my parents HATED those gift wrapping fundraisers. I did Girl Scouts for years and my parents refused to bring it to work. At the time I couldn’t understand why, but in retrospect I can totally see why. If I wanted to sell cookies, I had to do the work and call up people. They certainly didn’t offer to help sell wrapping paper when I was in middle school or candy for my high school band trip. Oy, I really hope my daughter doesn’t have these when she’s older (unless she does Girl Scouts, I love the cookies!)