Category: Uncategorized

Friday afternoon, my son greeted me after school a huge smile and a heavy backpack.

“Is this all of your work from your very first week of Kindergarten?” I asked in delirious excitement.

“No, Mommy. It’s something for you,” he said handing over his load. Inside was The Entertainment Book, two catalogs- one for cookie dough and one for wrapping paper, and a letter to the parents. Gee thanks, school.  

This is my third year as a parent at this school, so I know the drill and I  know that the school really needs the help. Incidentally, this is also the third year that I’ve petitioned for a “Write a Check” campaign and have been refused. Apparently, our school has some very “motivated” parents who like the thrill of the sale and I am definitely NOT one of them.

I went to private school all of my life and I’ve choose to do the same for my own children. I know this part of the deal, but things have changed significantly since my day.

For one, my little sister and I actually used to go door to door unaccompanied throughout the far-reaches of our neighborhood to do our school fundraising– something completely unheard of these days.  I barely let my children play in the front yard without my supervision, so the onus of raising these funds are all on me, which brings me back to my original point…

Let’s just have a ”Write a Check” campaign and call it a day, shall we? No? Huumph. 

In that case, here are three fundraising ideas that have captured my imagination and my heart in the past few days: 

Original Works of Art

Last week, Cool Mom Picks featured an interesting school fundraising idea from Portrait Press Fundraising. Instead of shilling stuffy wrapping paper or cookie dough I wouldn’t trust to spackle a bathtub, why not offer original art from the kids in the class?

Two Brooklyn parents–daunted by the amount of money their schools always needed (but couldn’t seem to raise)–realized that if they sold an item everyone wanted, money could be raised with a lot less fuss. So they developed their Portrait Press fundraising kit, wherein each class creates artwork for a tea towel, pillowcase, or tote bag.  (source: Cool Mom Picks)

It’s a very sweet idea, but…. of course, I can’t seem to leave well enough alone.  I would only be interested if I could purchase just MY kids’ artwork or hand print or whatever on the object.

Frankly, I don’t really want to remember the kid who threw Scout’s shoe in the toilet and thereby forced me to carry him… and his backpack… and his lunchbox… and his sister to the car…

Yes. This is a true story. It happened a few weeks ago during camp, but I’m still bitter about it. Slightly.

Building a Library

Another idea that my co-room parent offered up for the school auction in the Spring is to have the Kindergarten paint a bookcase. Each family contributes a few book to put on it and the entire thing is put on auction. The highest bidder would get to keep the bookcase and all of the books.

It supports reading. It involves the parents and the kids, and it’s something people would actually want. I love, love, love this idea.

Priceless Photos into Holiday Cards

No one can resist adorable photos of their own child, especially when an expert photographer is taking them!

To help raise money for the school, a parent at my Lou’s daycare volunteered to do photo sessions with the kids dressed up as cowboys and girls and riding a pony. I don’t typically go for these sort of staged photos. In fact, I think they are super cheesy, but the look on my daughter’s face riding that pony…. OH MY OVARIES! I bought them. I bought them all!

The best part about it was of the surprise factor. They didn’t announced that they were doing these photos. Well, maybe they did? I don’t know since I’m so rushed trying to get to and from work from the school that I never pay attention to the signs and notices posted.

Of course, this makes me a perfect sucker for these things, because when do busy, over-scheduled, frazzled working parents have time to organize professional photos. Uh, never.

I would have gladly paid triple the amount if they had let me bring my son and given me the digital images for my Christmas cards.

What are your thoughts on school fundraising? What has worked for your school? What has flopped? 

—————————-

Remember: Leave a comment on this post for an additional entry into our Fill the Backpack giveaway. Each member of Splash Creative Media is offering a backpack overstuffed with over $750 worth of  Back to School merchandise.  Enter to win on any or on all of our blogs.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Splash Creative Media as part of the Fill the Backpack Campaign. The thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect those of  Splash Creative Media or any of our Fill the Backpack sponsors. 

Simple things tend to confuse me. For instance, the thought of bringing my newborn son grocery shopping used to be panic-inducing.

What do I do with the carrier? Do I put him in the car first or the groceries? Should I shut the car doors while I return the cart or let my baby get stolen? What do I do if he starts screaming?

My goodness, HOW HAVE MOTHERS BEEN DOING THIS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME?

We’ve eaten several times since then, so I obviously figured it out. It wasn’t long before I was deftly navigating my way through department stores, restaurants, and art museums with my son. Then, we moved abroad and I had to learn how to do it with a Maclaren and a British accent.

Just when I thought I was a pro at this whole “mommy gig”, along came my daughter…  and a new reason to panic.

How do I do this with TWO?

The answer is… with twice as much effort and far fewer hands. It took some doing, time, and experience, but again I figured it out. Then just as I do, I find something new to worry about. Five years ago, it was grocery shopping. Today, it’s kindergarten. I may have some idea of how it’s going to go down, but I won’t really know until we get there.

See, that’s the thing with motherhood. No one gets to go into it being all-knowing. There’s no school or book that can teach you everything. There are no PhDs in parenting. A lot of it you learn with your children. As they grow, so do you.

***********************

This post kicks off the fourth week of “All About the Bump” Month! Eight bloggers and I have teamed up to spend a whole month to talk about all things moms and babies.

My husband and I have the same argument about once a week over what day is it. I remind him it’s Thursday and that he needs to roll the trash and recycle bins to the curb. He looks at me incredulously, “It can’t be Thursday!”

“Aaaaand, yet it is…” 

“No, it can’t be,” he resists.

“Umm… still Thursday.”

“No! I just can’t believe it”

“Believe, damnit!” 

This usually goes on for a while and the next morning, he still leaps out of bed upon hearing the rumble of the garbage trucks… passing our house because there are no garbage bins or recycling to pick up.

They were never rolled to the curb because someone… ahem, ahem… couldn’t deal with the reality of THURSDAY!

Well, except for the the mornings when he just sleeps through it.

So this week, tired of the stink and tower of milk jugs and junk mail, my son and I tackled the job for him. While helping to sort the paper from the plastic, my son asked, “Mommy… Why is the recycle bin so full?”

“Because it’s Daddy’s job to empty the bin and he forgets sometimes.”

To which my bold little boy replied, “Maybe it should be your job then.”

I laughed and reminded him that Mommy already has lots of jobs.

“Like what?” he pressed on.

(Deep sigh) “Well… I take care of you and your sister. I cook your meals and pick up the house. I make sure you have a clean uniform to wear to school and that you have a lunch and snacks to eat. I drop you off. I pick you up. I make sure…”

(This also went on for a while.)

“Wow, Mommy! You do a lot. Daddy only has ONE job. You would think he’d be able to do it.”

LOVE HIM!

In all fairness, Mike actually does do his fair share around the house… overflowing trashcans, notwithstanding… but I was too busy basking in the momentary glory to mention it.

Do you blame me?

They’ll take all you have to give, steal your heart, and hold you captive forever, but you so won’t mind…

… because they’re so stinkin’ adorable!

Then one day, you realize it’s been over a MONTH since you notified anyone of your whereabouts (i.e. last posted on your blog) and you begin to wonder if they’ve even noticed that you’ve been gone.

In my previous post about thinking about… mahhhh-beeee… reluctantly… going back to work, I neglected to address one key issue that makes or breaks this decision. Day care.

Ugh! Day care!

Now I don’t want to get into a whole SAHM-Working Mom, East Coast-West Coast, Coke vs. Pepsi debate over this. Whatever your economic situation or your personal choice, the fact remains someone has to take care of the kids, right?

I don’t have issues with day care, per say… or any child care option with the exception of sweat shops.

We have no family or friends in the area to help out, so nanny, day care, or au pair are pretty much our only options. With the new baby on the way, I couldn’t realistically go back for another full year, but started inquiring about the costs…

I left a really great job to be a SAHM. If I were to go back now, assuming that I would still earn as much as I did when I left, the payoff would still barely cover the cost of two kids in full time care…

Caught between the crippling cost of living in Silicon Valley and the crippling cost of childcare, I’m at a loss for how to make this work. Frankly, I have no idea how anyone does it here.

At least, with me being home, life runs smoothly. There’s a home cooked dinner on the table every night and errands are for weekday mornings, not evenings or weekends.

The floor, as Scout has pointed out, needs some work, but on the whole, our family is much happier than if i went back full-time and out of the house.

Plus, it seems the pay is about the same.

_________________________________________

By the way, I’m totally yanking this from Steph’s blog, The Daily Grind, but at least I’m giving her the credit.

It’s a Washington Post article on child care that she brings to our attention in this post. The article is called,  “Who Should Care for This Child?” Check it out!

Since I’m all about the full disclosure tonight, I’d also like to admit that this post is mostly comprised of the comment that I left on her post. The thoughts have been percolating for some time, the words just didn’t come until I read her post and that article…

(Steph, I think it was written for you and me. I hope you hear back from the author.)