People say that people out here are charitable. Perhaps generous financially (but if you look at the precentage of giving versus wealth I'd bet it is very sad) but what about time and talent? Where do you volunteer your time? Okay, let's not count pretty much anything that directly benefits your kid. Not the school. You are one of 23 Vice Presidents of the PTO. I don't count that. Not the soccer team unless you are on a board that raises money for kids to play soccer in the inner city. Not your church either, unless they are seriously mission driven and are making a difference in the community......you know serving people's immediate needs. People don't care about Jesus if they are hungry, sick, addicted. So, don't count it if you work on the chili supper that only the members of the church attend.
I ask people all the time where they volunteer their time and most people are too busy and some say they should find something. What do you care about? What are you going to do about it? You want to do something for your kids besides run them to soccer games every weekend? Model behavior of givening back through volunteering.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Get to the Grocery Store Idiots
Oh, my the storms are coming you all better get to the grocery store and buy tons of stuff like you won't get out of your house for a month! Grandma gets her purse and a flashlight everytime there is a storm and keeps it right by her. Freak out everyone!!!!!!!
What do you do when a storm is coming?
What do you do when a storm is coming?
I hate stupid fundraisers for rich schools
Do you need that wrapping paper? Are we all sick of this but too scared to take on the PTO and the school? You don't want your kid to be labeled as having the parents who don't care about the kids. Does the extra money really make their education better? How much is enough?
Does it make sense to have school fundraisers for schools that have every possible luxury? Last year at Lakewood (I'm going to hell for speaking out against the beloved Lakewood neighborhood school........if I hear one more time how special a place it is I'll puke.....the self promotion of the school by the principal has made me puke) they raised lots of money and at the end of the year they put out something saying there were going to let the kids decide how to spend it!
Okay, as you can see I have a problem. Well, really four problems with all this fundraising.
First, they don't need the money and they don't know it. They don't know how good they have it. Have you seen these classrooms? these facilities? Second, there are soooo many schools that really could use the money. I would bust my butt on these fundraisers if we used the opportunity to teach our kids how fortunate they are and send ALL the money to inner city schools who don't have basic needs. Third, I'd like to know about the relationship between the fundraising sales rep and the people who pick the fundraisers. They boast about making 50% on selling wrapping paper. SOJOCO is making these sales reps tons of money and probably sales rep of the year. People are getting rich off this little effort wrapped up in a school fundraiser. Fourth, they use school time for sales meetings to tell the kids all the cool crap they can win if they sell tons of stuff. The stuff is pure crap but they know the kids love it. They have no reward accepting a cash donation which they get to keep 100% of instead of 50%.
A little story for you. My nephew called me about his fundraiser and I told him I'd didn't need any frozen pizzas (low carbs you know) but I'd like to make a larger cash donation directly to the school in his name. Tears started to form in his eyes as he told me he wouldn't earn the whatever piece of crap trinket he had his eye on if I didn't buy the pizza. I had to buy the pizza!
That brings me to another problem. Where do the kids go to sell this crap? Mom and Dad, Aunts and Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa.......get the picture? This is really an additional user tax for the school. When we were kids they would unleash us on the neighborhood and we'd hit up everyone up and down the street and try to get there before Billy next door got there. It was basically safe and lots of empty nesters got the see cute little kids a couple times a year. It wasn't great but it was better than what we have now. Obviously we can't do that anymore in this day.
The helicopter parents take their kids fundraiser stuff to work and hit up everyone at the old office. By the way, if you are that person and you supervise others who feel obligated to buy your kids stuff, you are a complete ass! Don't do that anymore. The only people who get a pass on this in my mind is girl scout cookies. I don't know why. It doesn't make sense but they have been at it a long time and we all love those cookies (even though the price has gone up and the cookie count down over the years) Anyway, that isn't a school fundraiser...but I digress.
Now another example of a peeve......another buddy calls me and says, "hey, my kid's school is having a golf tourney to raise money and I want you to buy a team for $600" At first I'm thinking, okay, this is better than wrapping paper, gets the kids out of it, and I get to play golf. Then I remember that his kid goes to a private Catholic school. He lives in SOJOCO. We have great public schools. His choice to send his kid there is his choice. I'm not catholic. Why should I help him send his kid to private school? Of course I thought all of this between the second green and the third tee box. I decided that would never happen again. He called the next year and I politely told him I didn't think I could participate this year.
What to do? Here are some thoughts.........I'd like to see the school board prohibit fundraisers unless they specifically say what THE MONEY is buying. I'd like to see fundraisers so rare that they approve each one in advance. I always ask the kids when the come over what the money they are raising goes for and they never know. That is silly. I'd like to see them give families the right to op out and just give directly instead of buying crap we don't need. I'd like to know how much more per house our taxes would need to be to fully fund the schools without fundraisers. Wow, let's get it done and banish fundraisers altogether. Last, they chould just adopt a less fortunate school and give the money to them instead. Oh, oh, oh....I know, let's use the money to give all the teachers a raise. I think we'd all agree that they are underpaid. I want the best qualified, best paid teachers with my kid and expect big things!
Am I alone or do all you PTO types out there love the fundraiser? I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one. I wonder what the schools who don't have enough text books for every kid thinks of our fundraising programs......I bet it makes them sick.
Does it make sense to have school fundraisers for schools that have every possible luxury? Last year at Lakewood (I'm going to hell for speaking out against the beloved Lakewood neighborhood school........if I hear one more time how special a place it is I'll puke.....the self promotion of the school by the principal has made me puke) they raised lots of money and at the end of the year they put out something saying there were going to let the kids decide how to spend it!
Okay, as you can see I have a problem. Well, really four problems with all this fundraising.
First, they don't need the money and they don't know it. They don't know how good they have it. Have you seen these classrooms? these facilities? Second, there are soooo many schools that really could use the money. I would bust my butt on these fundraisers if we used the opportunity to teach our kids how fortunate they are and send ALL the money to inner city schools who don't have basic needs. Third, I'd like to know about the relationship between the fundraising sales rep and the people who pick the fundraisers. They boast about making 50% on selling wrapping paper. SOJOCO is making these sales reps tons of money and probably sales rep of the year. People are getting rich off this little effort wrapped up in a school fundraiser. Fourth, they use school time for sales meetings to tell the kids all the cool crap they can win if they sell tons of stuff. The stuff is pure crap but they know the kids love it. They have no reward accepting a cash donation which they get to keep 100% of instead of 50%.
A little story for you. My nephew called me about his fundraiser and I told him I'd didn't need any frozen pizzas (low carbs you know) but I'd like to make a larger cash donation directly to the school in his name. Tears started to form in his eyes as he told me he wouldn't earn the whatever piece of crap trinket he had his eye on if I didn't buy the pizza. I had to buy the pizza!
That brings me to another problem. Where do the kids go to sell this crap? Mom and Dad, Aunts and Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa.......get the picture? This is really an additional user tax for the school. When we were kids they would unleash us on the neighborhood and we'd hit up everyone up and down the street and try to get there before Billy next door got there. It was basically safe and lots of empty nesters got the see cute little kids a couple times a year. It wasn't great but it was better than what we have now. Obviously we can't do that anymore in this day.
The helicopter parents take their kids fundraiser stuff to work and hit up everyone at the old office. By the way, if you are that person and you supervise others who feel obligated to buy your kids stuff, you are a complete ass! Don't do that anymore. The only people who get a pass on this in my mind is girl scout cookies. I don't know why. It doesn't make sense but they have been at it a long time and we all love those cookies (even though the price has gone up and the cookie count down over the years) Anyway, that isn't a school fundraiser...but I digress.
Now another example of a peeve......another buddy calls me and says, "hey, my kid's school is having a golf tourney to raise money and I want you to buy a team for $600" At first I'm thinking, okay, this is better than wrapping paper, gets the kids out of it, and I get to play golf. Then I remember that his kid goes to a private Catholic school. He lives in SOJOCO. We have great public schools. His choice to send his kid there is his choice. I'm not catholic. Why should I help him send his kid to private school? Of course I thought all of this between the second green and the third tee box. I decided that would never happen again. He called the next year and I politely told him I didn't think I could participate this year.
What to do? Here are some thoughts.........I'd like to see the school board prohibit fundraisers unless they specifically say what THE MONEY is buying. I'd like to see fundraisers so rare that they approve each one in advance. I always ask the kids when the come over what the money they are raising goes for and they never know. That is silly. I'd like to see them give families the right to op out and just give directly instead of buying crap we don't need. I'd like to know how much more per house our taxes would need to be to fully fund the schools without fundraisers. Wow, let's get it done and banish fundraisers altogether. Last, they chould just adopt a less fortunate school and give the money to them instead. Oh, oh, oh....I know, let's use the money to give all the teachers a raise. I think we'd all agree that they are underpaid. I want the best qualified, best paid teachers with my kid and expect big things!
Am I alone or do all you PTO types out there love the fundraiser? I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one. I wonder what the schools who don't have enough text books for every kid thinks of our fundraising programs......I bet it makes them sick.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
The Kids really run SOJOCO
Most of us move out here to raise kids and put them in good schools, blah, blah, blah but you know what enough is enough. One of the things that drives me crazy about this lifestyle is the stuff that goes along with it. We are losing friends to the child beasts. Look, I have a couple myself and love them very much but in my opinion it is not "all about the kids". My friends and neighbors seem to have all joined this church.
This is the church of helicopter parents (see Love and Logic for a definition www.loveandlogic.com ), and 9 soccer games on a Saturday, 6 more on Sunday, the call the teacher or principal whenever little Billy gets his feelings hurt at recess. That church. It is the group of people that go to restaurant and order everything on the side, or ask for a jillion substitutions, give crappy tips, list chain restaurants like Cheesecake Factory as their favorite place to eat. All the while, all I read and see is that organic foods are hot and getting hotter. do people buy this stuff and then take their kids to McDonald's? They must. Ever drive by a McDonald's on a Sunday morning? There are usually 15-20 cars in line and filled with kids in soccer uniforms. Listen, I'm a real church guy. You know a place to go worship God and feel connected to Him. I think we'd all be better off if we kept that day a little more for a little church in the morning and some relaxation in the afternoon. Don't get me started on a rant about how church is not God. Worship God, not church........the church industry likes to confuse the two but I digress.....
Sorry, the point here I guess is it can't be all about the kids if you make it all about the kids all the time. Are they really better off playing 10 games a weekend, going out of town for tournaments, getting on the "elite" competitive team when they are 7-8 years old? Some of my friends will say, oh they love it, they want to play that much. I say they want to do lots of things that aren't good for them and we say no. One of my kids will watch TV all day if I allow it. She doesn't because we know it isn't a good habit and isn't incredibly productive.
I'm an athlete, I love playing and watching sports. I want my kids to play but I'm scared to death about how we keep it in perspective for them? Don't get me started on what happens at these games, the parents, the coaches, etc.
By the way, what's the deal with every kid having their own TV/DVD/Video game in their room? My kid has a friend who has a cell phone. The kid is 7.
This is the church of helicopter parents (see Love and Logic for a definition www.loveandlogic.com ), and 9 soccer games on a Saturday, 6 more on Sunday, the call the teacher or principal whenever little Billy gets his feelings hurt at recess. That church. It is the group of people that go to restaurant and order everything on the side, or ask for a jillion substitutions, give crappy tips, list chain restaurants like Cheesecake Factory as their favorite place to eat. All the while, all I read and see is that organic foods are hot and getting hotter. do people buy this stuff and then take their kids to McDonald's? They must. Ever drive by a McDonald's on a Sunday morning? There are usually 15-20 cars in line and filled with kids in soccer uniforms. Listen, I'm a real church guy. You know a place to go worship God and feel connected to Him. I think we'd all be better off if we kept that day a little more for a little church in the morning and some relaxation in the afternoon. Don't get me started on a rant about how church is not God. Worship God, not church........the church industry likes to confuse the two but I digress.....
Sorry, the point here I guess is it can't be all about the kids if you make it all about the kids all the time. Are they really better off playing 10 games a weekend, going out of town for tournaments, getting on the "elite" competitive team when they are 7-8 years old? Some of my friends will say, oh they love it, they want to play that much. I say they want to do lots of things that aren't good for them and we say no. One of my kids will watch TV all day if I allow it. She doesn't because we know it isn't a good habit and isn't incredibly productive.
I'm an athlete, I love playing and watching sports. I want my kids to play but I'm scared to death about how we keep it in perspective for them? Don't get me started on what happens at these games, the parents, the coaches, etc.
By the way, what's the deal with every kid having their own TV/DVD/Video game in their room? My kid has a friend who has a cell phone. The kid is 7.
Life in Southern Johnson County Kansas
I realize all of us living out here in Southern Johnson County, Kansas have a certain reputation. I've decided to start a little blog to chronicle, describe, or illuminate the pleasures and pains of living south of I435 on the Kansas side. For now, I'm choosing to protect my identity because I'm not sure how nasty this is going to get. I might want to get served in a local non-chain eatry without getting spit deposited on my burger.
Let me start with my own experience and what I'll call my credentials. I was born and raised out here in southern Johnson County. I moved away in my early adulthood to a big city and actually lived in the city there to get some perspective on urban living. I loved it by the way. After more than 5 years I moved back. I considered living in our city's urban core but lack of accrediation of the schools and lack of basic services at the time found me sucked back to SOJOCO. Sure, family being close by and other benefits like that made it easier to rationalize but the bottom line is I moved back to where I felt comfortable. I guess the point is that I have spent many years living in different parts of SOJOCO but I also have some credible experience about the contrast to city living. I also spend a significant amount of time working and playing in the city now due to my work so I'm not insulated to the SOJOCO life.
I hope I'll highlight the good and the crap with living out here in my various posts over time. I'll try to stay mostly on the subject but I hope you'll forgive me when I get off the subject from time to time. People tell me I'm kinda funny so hopefully I can bring a little humor to my rants.
Let me start with my own experience and what I'll call my credentials. I was born and raised out here in southern Johnson County. I moved away in my early adulthood to a big city and actually lived in the city there to get some perspective on urban living. I loved it by the way. After more than 5 years I moved back. I considered living in our city's urban core but lack of accrediation of the schools and lack of basic services at the time found me sucked back to SOJOCO. Sure, family being close by and other benefits like that made it easier to rationalize but the bottom line is I moved back to where I felt comfortable. I guess the point is that I have spent many years living in different parts of SOJOCO but I also have some credible experience about the contrast to city living. I also spend a significant amount of time working and playing in the city now due to my work so I'm not insulated to the SOJOCO life.
I hope I'll highlight the good and the crap with living out here in my various posts over time. I'll try to stay mostly on the subject but I hope you'll forgive me when I get off the subject from time to time. People tell me I'm kinda funny so hopefully I can bring a little humor to my rants.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
