There is nothing you can do to avoid it. It’s as predictable as Christmas. Every year, my little boy gleefully announces that if he sells 475 rolls of wrapping paper, he can win a pair of walkie-talkies! The school fundraiser is a nightmare for parents as they attempt to complete complicated order forms, collect money and distribute the items to irritated family members who were guilted into buying overpriced Holiday crap. I mean, after all, who wraps presents anymore anyway??? Give me a gift bag and some tissue paper and consider it done! Although the school officials encourage the kids to be responsible for the sales, the bottom line is that the parents are the ones who really make the effort.

This year, I had made a decision that I was not going to allow my child to partake in this year’s fund-raiser. This was a racket! Our children were being pressured into this business with tempting incentives like inflatable animals and spider man pencils. I justified our lack of participation by making a donation to the school and taking my son to Wal-Mart to pick a toy that he would otherwise “earn”. I felt confident about my decision until I overheard a group of mothers discussing the fundraiser. The conversation went something like this:

“So how much did you spend this year?”

“$100.00 in wrapping paper and another $50 in candy and candles.”

“My husband said I couldn’t spend more than $200 because we still had wrapping paper that we didn’t use last year.”

“I collected $400 from family members and I threw in another $150. I also agreed to contribute another $25 because two of the children in Johnny’s class haven’t sold anything. Poor things! If there is not 100% participation in the class, then they don’t get the pizza party.”

I caved. They won. I immediately went home, dug the catalog out of the recycle bin, and filled out the order form – buying stuff that I would likely never use. Although I hated giving into this peer pressure, my little boy was proud to show me the 50 cent plastic hand clappers that he earned from my investment.

The items arrived two weeks ago and they are in the box in the bed room that I have to crawl over to get to the bathroom. At least I know where the stuff is – the plastic hand clappers are nowhere to be found.