Adopt-a-bear stall at xmas fete

[JustHappy3]

I'm struggling with this.
On one hand it feels that this is a bit insensitive of school but on the other i am probably being a bit too sensitive and i need to not take things so personally.
I should stick with some private muttering about adopting children - not dogs, cats or teddy bears and not make a fuss shouldn't I?

[hidinginthenightgarden]

This wouldn't bother me at all. There are loads of "adopt" an animal campaigns.

[gingergenius]

Why is it insensitive?

[fatberg]

I decided for my own sanity to let it go. It’s everywhere. If it’s not finding forever homes for kitties it’s adopting a snow leopard.

But I hear you.

[Polomintini]

I hadn’t thought about it until I read a thread on here, then wondered whether I should have a quiet word with the PTA, but decided not to. Come the fair and both my adopted daughters happily ‘adopted’ some rather pitiful soft toys and were absolutely thrilled. I’m not going to worry about it again x

[JustHappy3]

Fatberg back. Thank you.

[Kewcumber]

If you had the will you could search back about 5 years and find my rant about the zoo where "Adopt a lemur/snow leopard/gazelle" was EVERY FEckin where.

DS was most confused about how you could adopt a lemur.

I too decided to let it go but it irritated the shit out of me.

[Kewcumber]

Actually I have less problem with people "adopting" a dog when they are genuinely you know adopting a dog. Coming home with them, part of the family, love, live with them always etc.

DS considers our cats to be adopted!

But a cuddly toy and a letter annually - nooooo!

[fatberg]

Kew agrees with me!

[UnderTheNameOfSanders]

Agree with the others.

If the 'adopt a bear' is 'adopt a cuddly toy and take it home' that is fine by me, but if it is 'sponsor a real bear in the wild' then I'd prefer they didn't use the term adopt.

That said DD2 would be quite happy to adopt a snow leopard and keep it in her bedroom given half a chance.

[BarbarianMum]

Is giving a cuddly toy a new and loving home not "adopting" it then?

[JustHappy3]

I guess it's the handing over money aspect and the ease with which it's done that bug me. It's good to hear others' views though and it's stopped me making an arse of myself.

[thomassmuggit]

For us, it's that the children were asked to bring in 'unwanted' bears so they could be 'smartened up and given an adoption certificate'for adoption.

Our LO was not 'unwanted', nor were they particularly 'smart', but we wanted them anyway!

It's using the word to mean anything other than 'take into your home as a member of your family, forever' I don't like. So that includes what should be sponsorship- 'adopt an orangutan', this sort of thing, etc. We did adopt our cat- she didn't have a family to look after her, and keep her safe, and we brought her home to be ours forever. She even has a microchip saying she's ours! That's adoption. Microchip optional for humans.

[BarbarianMum]

Thanks for clarifying Thomas Totally get it now.

[yaboola]

On the other hand, I was adopted and honestly would not have cared at all that the word "adopt" could be used for more than one scenario, payments towards upkeep of a snow leopard, cuddly toy, cat, anything! I just saw it as a different meaning for the word. Wasn't even on the radar, honestly.

[fatberg]

My fear mostly came from worrying that my kids would get upset by this at random and unpredictable times. (School fetes, watching snow leopard ads...) Once I’d established that they didn’t care or didn’t relate it to them, I was able to let it go.

[thomassmuggit]

I think I'm probably more worried because LO doesn't really know what being adopted means, and hearing 'adopted' and 'unwanted' in the same sentence is not what I want the growing understanding to entail.

[JustHappy3]

So i'd calmed down and was very chilled about all this.....
And now a request has come home for donations to the Bear ORPHANAGE!!!