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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to resent forking out £7 for DD's framed artwork...

47 replies

grimblesmother · 02/03/2012 23:29

...at the school "art exhibition"?

Seven bloody quid? We are sooooo broke, but how can I say "sorry DD, we're not going to buy your picture?" A pound or two I'd cough up, but £7?

Bloody pita pta

OP posts:
southeastastra · 02/03/2012 23:32

that's really silly, tell them you'll donate 10p for his pic

they don't have any right to sell his 'artwork' if you need to get into the nitty gritty

workshy · 02/03/2012 23:35

my school is doing this

seem to get a letter most weeks since christmas asking for money for one thing or another, all under £10 but adds up very quickly

Cherriesarelovely · 02/03/2012 23:35

We did something like this at our school and many parents complained to the teacher who organised it, feeling pressurised to buy something lovely of their childs that they could not afford. Some of our parents have 4 children and we are not in an affluent area. We never did it again and I hope that you will talk to your Ds school and tell them how you feel.

Original poster
grimblesmother · 02/03/2012 23:36

ooooooh, good point. DD owns her own artwork, doesn't she? I'll just dismantle the frame, take out the masterpiece and hand back all the gubbins.

OP posts:
Original poster
grimblesmother · 02/03/2012 23:37

I know, I know, I'll get all the parents to do the same.

OP posts:
IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 02/03/2012 23:37

Tell your school you aren't happy about it, you definatly won't be alone in thinking this.

Ask them if you can have the picture without the frame. In fact,tell them you will be taking your child's work without the frame.

VelcroFanjo · 02/03/2012 23:38

Our school did this once..not done it since. I'm sure they had complaints. We have a "wonderful" hastily painted green flower in lovely bloody cheap crap black plastic frame to show for it Hmm

startail · 02/03/2012 23:38

We only did this once and now I'm stuck with a picture that would quite probably have gone in the recycling one my wall in
It's cheap frame.

Original poster
grimblesmother · 02/03/2012 23:41

I bought one by DS1 several years ago and he has always insisted it isn't his work.

So I've got a framed daffodil badly painted by some child or other whom I don't even know.

OP posts:
MotherOfSuburbia · 03/03/2012 00:58

You got off cheap! I had the 'honour' of both my children's art works going into the school auction a couple of years ago (they were in year 1 and year 2) and I paid £65 to get them back. One of the teacher's husbands kept on bidding against me. Grrrr. Don't know why I didn't just get them to paint new ones...

DriverDan · 03/03/2012 01:33

Well, you are obviously a parent at my DD's school, and I was complaining about this to friends just today!

Also, my friends were suprised my DD's school didn't really do anything for world book day (I love making costumes, so was dissapointed!) and my reply was "They are only interested if they can charge me a tenner for it"...

YANBU, and I love the way the school makes a big deal about it to the kids so they would be devastated if you didn't buy their 'art' Hmm

DriverDan · 03/03/2012 01:33

Sorry for typos have been on the Friday night Wine

WannabeEarthMomma · 03/03/2012 01:43

YANBU, that is a very manipulative way to make money out of parents.

What are the funds going to? To the school, or to a charity?

PomBearAtTheGatesOfDawn · 03/03/2012 11:44

"I paid £65 to get them back. One of the teacher's husbands kept on bidding against me"
I'd have dropped out and left him paying about £40 for them - that had to have been a fiddle/plant. If he did it in a real auction it would be illegal iirc, it's bid inflation or whatever the real name for it is.

Mumsyblouse · 03/03/2012 11:54

I don't buy every photo or picture or printed bag with my children's work on it, just explain to them it's a lot of money to spend on a picture and that we could use the £7 for something else e.g. round of ice-creams, paying a bill whatever.

Once I'd broken the I'm going to come to everything and buy everything expectation, school life has been much easier. I do still try, but if I can't afford something, or I don't have time for something, I don't feel pressurised by the children anymore.

marriedinwhite · 03/03/2012 15:24

Our DD's primary school did this. I think we paid about £7 too. It never occurred to me that some parents would find this a lot of money and I don't think there were any complaints but we are in a very leafy suburb. However, even though, at the time, I thought the pictures were dreadful and it was a bit of a con and money for old rope albeit for a very good cause, now that she is almost 14, they hang on an upstairs landing and remind me of when she was 7 or 8 and are a rather lovely token of some very happy years of her childhood. They don't seem as awful now as they did either - more little imprints of what she was like then.

Alliwantisaroomsomewhere · 03/03/2012 15:34

Our school also does it and I have bought DS's pic but very begrudgingly. We are in a very mixed area with wealthy people and those who would really and truly struggle to find £7.

What really fucking annoys me is those writing "competitions" that kids supposedly win - certificate and all - and then their work is "published" in a book that is only sold to parents. I know my son's middle school does this and when we get there I will certainly kick up a fuss about it.

BabyDubsEverywhere · 03/03/2012 15:38

My Ds school did this last year, we are utterly skint but it was his first year at the school and the teachers had spent weeks getting the dc to do a copy of 'field of poppys' in stages, no small task with a class of three year olds!

I was actually hoping they do the same this year so I get one from DD too...

Blush
LadyLazyLongLegs · 03/03/2012 15:39

I would complain to the school about it; it's unfair, and a manipulative way to get money from parents

cybbo · 03/03/2012 15:40

You misery Grin

Buy your kids picture and go without something else

Floggingmolly · 03/03/2012 15:43

It's a fundraiser for the school, if you can't afford it you can't afford it, but it certainly doesn't make it silly or manipulative Hmm

LadyLazyLongLegs · 03/03/2012 15:45

It is manipulative, Floggingmolly; no doubt the kids have been told at school to make sure mummy and daddy buy their picture. Of course it's manipulative.

fuzzpig · 03/03/2012 15:54

We just had this. I didn't have a problem with it, seeing how proud all the DCs were (I volunteer in the school) was really lovely. They set it up like a proper art gallery in the hall and chose decent pieces of work from each child (I was amazed at DD's, she never puts that much effort in at home!). Buying was not compulsory.

Much nicer frame than I could get for £7 in a shop too. I'm happier paying for the picture than buying raffle tickets or one of those whole-school tea towels.

RoverJones · 03/03/2012 15:57

It is very manipulative. If you can't afford it, you lose out on something that your child painted. They are making money by making you pay for something that your child made. That is exploitative and manipulative.

When this was a suggestion by my ds's school, I told him (I know, very deceitful and a bad example) to just "forget" to hand in his work and bring it home. I wasn't going to pay for something that he painted. A friend once unpinned her ds's painting from the wall so she wouldn't have to buy it off them.

If they are painting pictures at school, it is part of their schoolwork. You would never have to buy a page of maths work, would you?

Floggingmolly · 03/03/2012 16:07

It's a fundraiser people! Don't you have cake sales, mufti days, summer fetes? It's quite funny actually, the utter indignation at being 'forced' to pay for your child's schoolwork Grin