Sunday, July 13, 2014

A little work never hurt anybody.

So today we are driving around, doing a little shopping and we come up to this intersection, third one  with a ridiculous amount of traffic. We see kids as we're approaching, which we already knew from the previous lights, they were young kids raising money to go compete, cheerleading and football I assume by the clothing they wore and the signs. Now my first response is "What on earth are these parents thinking.." letting their kids ask for donations on a busy street like that? Someone could get hurt, kidnapped, who knows anymore. Well, apparently we weren't the only ones who thought it was poor judgement. As we pulled up two Police officers motioned for a Dad (or the adult, coach, whatever) and we watch him argue with the officers for a bit at first and as the officers don't budge he then collect all the kids as they go elsewhere. Really? Where's the common sense?? Sorry if I sound judgemental, but you had to know that was not a bright idea.

So, after I got over that...my husband and I had the conversation in the truck as we're driving. Surely every kid has done fundraisers at some point in their life if they were involved in any extracurricular activities. Bake sales, car washes, girl scout cookies, I've done several, but I can honestly say I have never stood with a bucket and begged for money. Not the first time I've seen this either. I'm all for helping sure, but why are we teaching are youngsters to be beggers?? What happend to hard work pays off? A strong work ethic? A little elbow grease? Things don't get handed to you on a silver platter, you earn them in life, and the sooner our kids learn this the better. My oldest just returned from church camp, and he worked several fundraisers inside the church to earn his way. Could we have paid his way sure, but if he worked for it doesn't it mean twice as much to him? The One fundraiser I remember the most was a pancake breakfast they did, he (11) worked the griddle all morning flipping pancakes, no parents in the kitchen working other than supervising, I watched him wipe sweat from his brow it was so hot and crowded in there. And ya know what...He survived!!! I bet he made 100 pancakes or more. The biggest reward came when we were in the youth room and the children's pastor tallied up his cost after working thes fundraisers, His original cost was $230. We only ended up paying $49 The look on his face when he saw how much he earned for the hard work was priceless, even more priceless when he looked at me, and I was just as shocked. Lol, I said "Boy, you made your Momma proud." He was all grins to know that he had helped contribute. Is it really so hard you can't bake some cookies with your kids to sell?? If my 11 yr old now knows how to mow a lawn and my 8 yr old can follow instructions and bake some cookies, I assure your kid can earn his way to whatever event he's wanting to go. Just my two cents for what it's  worth.

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