To feel bullied into letting my children swell the coffers of a charity I do not wish to contribute to?

[filthymindedvixen]

some children at my dsesses school have arranged a 'special day of fundraising' for the Madeleine McCann fund.
My boys came out of school demanding money for friday because there is going to be a toy stall, sweets, buns etc. They already have 2 other sponsored events going on at school this week....

When i told them I wasn't planning to give them any money as I have forked out enough cash for sponsorship of other events this week, a knot of mothers swung round and flamed me. In hushed voices, I was asked ''don't you realise this is for maddy's fund? You've got to give something, surely...''

Listen, if i thought that by giving a quid, madeleine would be released tomorrow, of course I'd do it. But I don't think it's going to make a jot of difference.

AIBU?

I'd be cross too
YANBU
They want to do it AT HOME on their OWN time then fine, at school, no.

The school are misguided imo.

The school shouldn't have agreed to it imo.

No Greeny you're alright - it was funny; my mum and I sniggered about that for months!! I couldn't believe a grown woman was crying and wearing black and falling out with family over someone she had never met and had no knowledge about other than what was portrayed in the meeja. And I notice she didn't cry when the Queen Mother died...

YANBU!!!
can't believe this nonsense!

This is partly unreasonable of the school, but partly not. It is a great way of teaching the children about the importance of personal safety, not talking to strangers etc. Your child going missing is every parent's worst nightmare. However, seems like poor planning to browbeat parents under social duress into parting with yet more cash.

However...what is the McCann charity actually going to DO with the money? Do they not already have every police force in every country across the entire continent quite rightly dedicating resources to tracking this little girl down? Maybe I'm being a bit dense, but why do they need a charity? Is it to meet their living costs while they continue to live in Portugal and, presumably, have to pay their mortgage at the same time?

Totally agree that there are many more missing children out there past present and sadly, future, and funds should go to them. I think you should make this point to the school.

yeah but actually Six, as an example of stranger danger, the MM case is not a convincing one...what could MM have done to avoid it?

I mean, I'd rather use poor Sabine Ardenne as an example, and tell my boys to avoid cycling next to vans with sliding doors...That's more likely to be useful than ''don't go to sleep by yourself in an unlocked hotel room on holiday''

Bloody ridiculous.
God the British excel at this wishy washy sentimental guff don't they??

A loud 'Fuck off' and a brisk 180 degree turn on the hell would be my response.

Good luck fmv, I'm with you.

On the hell? Goodness Moondog, you really are militant!

Am also guffawing (in horrified fashion) at fmv's sister and the condolence book.I went to Caernarfon castle and kicked away the tatty bunches of carnations (still with cellophane and flower food in situ..wtf??)littering the steps after said woman expired.

YANBU.

Yes thinking about it you are right FMV. I think that one of the things that certainly horrified me was that we probably would have gone out for that meal too...

So that brings me round to the question, why are the school doing this event? Do you think it's pressure from the same parents that are giving you evils?

Can you tell my sister and I are worlds apart ? Polar opposites in almost everything...

She told everyone at her wedding that I was a social worker. I couldn't work out why all her friends started quizzing me on benefits or grilling me about some recent newspaper case about child abuse etc. Till I worked out she meant socialist! (and I'm not even that any more..)

Interesting you all made the Diana comparison as that was first thought when started reading this thread.

Surely the point is that it's up to you what you do with your money and what your opinions are, and you should not be "flamed" for expressing them.

Don't feel bad for sticking to what you believe. I'm sure secretly lots of the people who criticised you wished they could say what they actually thought.

I agree totally with the sentiment that this might not be the best use of money if you're interested in missing children, child welfare etc - plenty of other charities out there etc. and I wouldn't give money to this fund - but are you being asked to give? or are you just being asked to buy a couple of cakes? if the latter then I'd do it just because me and dds like eating cakes and whilst it's not what I'd call a "good" use of money, neither is it a "bad" one...

after going to an SLD/PMLD special school sports day today and seeing a bid being put forward for funding for playground equipment, I cannot for the life of me understand why your school are doing this YANBU.

Have only read the OP, but it is Dead Diana all over again. Off to skim the thread.

YANBU

lol at socialist/social worker mix up

My sister once mixed up the jobs of dishwasher and diver (same word in French) when first in France with her (French) dh.
She spent the evening gushing to the mystified bottlewasher about how daring and exciting and unpredictable his job must be and had he trained very hard for it???

Snort!!

I'd stand my crowd and not give a bean.

Sorry, but I can think of more worthwhile causes.

ground expat.

Sorry, I've got one eye on 'No Place like Home'.