Aibu to not want to fill a smarties tube with £1 coins

[Invisimamma]

This will be outing if any parents from my child's school are on here...

Both children came home from school and nursery today with a tube of smarties each as a gift from the PTA with instructions to eat them and fill the tube with £1 coins or 20p, letter specifically states not coppers or 5/10ps. Apparently the tube will hold £12 of 20pences.

There will be a prize for the class who brings back the most money.

Now I have a few issues with this:

1. my friends child has a diary allergy was really upset he can't eat his treat (she didn't know this was happening so couldn't provide an alternative)
2. we still have lots of Easter chocolate and don't need more
3. dp and I both work but childcare and other costs are crippling us at the moment and we're skint, an extra £24 is really beyond us just now
4. we've just paid £46 snack money to nursery and £12 for a school trip for one and £8 for a trip for another (amongst lots of other recent school costs)
5. does anyone even has coins lying around the house anymore? I use contactless payment for almost everything and don't draw out cash.

The children have been hyped up about it and both have said they need to raise money for the school. I guess I'm feeling guilty that we're not in a position to participate/it's a pain in the arse idea.

We had this twice. The first time DH complained to the school. They originally came back with “It is a PTA thing, we aren’t involved” but as they are handed out in class, returned via the school and the prize openly given during assembly time DH countered and the school very soon send a huge apologetic letter that certainly copper was allowed and no child should be obliged to take part.

There was also quite an uproar in the playground about it.

The next year they did it again but jut asked for the tubes to be return, no big thing made out of it. They never bothered again.

There are so many good ways to fundraise but this is one of the worst we had.

So the kid from the family with the most spare cash gets a prize

Fuck that is awful.

We had this a while back. The letter that came with it said ‘here’s a treat from us... eat the smarties, then if you would like to, fill with 20p’s. If not, just enjoy a treat’. 2 weeks later...’please don’t forget to return your smartie pots filled with 20p’s by Friday at the latest’ hmmm no pressure then ! I kept putting in the coins, but didn’t realise it added up to £12! They can keep their smarties next time. Fill it with 1p’s op.

Please challenge it with the school. I hate this idea so much, children take this all so seriously and its horrible feeling like the bad guy and having to say no. I once challenged my daughters school over an attendance prize which was a £5 cinema voucher. I pointed out that it can end up costing the family quite a lot of money as they cant really go on their own, and then siblings/snacks/transport adds up. It genuinely hadn't occurred to them that it was actually a ball ache for a lot of families and thanked me for the feedback, and changed the type of voucher.

At the school I work in each class at the moment is doing a 5p challenge. One 2 litre coke bottle per class and chn are encouraged to earn 5ps by helping out at home.

I was on PTA over the years. Fell out with the Chair who suggested (insisted) on daft expensive ideas. When I tried to explain how difficult it was for some parents she got very snotty with me. She caused the PTA to fall apart with her grandiose plans. Just ignore it OP. Unless you can get grandparents to help out perhaps.

So the kid from the family with the most spare cash gets a prize

Yes, that’s right. Unless they are expecting less affluent kids to beg for coins with neighbours or extended family.

Blimey...... my school is running a competition to see which class can fill their jar first..... with coppers. Letter was very specific about it having to be coppers!!

Tell your kids you won't be participating but you will buy them a prize. Buy them something each from Poundland. Chances are that is where the prize will come from anyway.

How long do they have before it is due back? I would consider taking it out of pocket money, and letting each child decide how much of their money they want to put in the tube, rather than it just coming straight out of your purse. And, definitely, it's okay if it ends up being coppers or 5p pieces.

Ignore it that's what I do as it isn't a priority for me. Would rather give time than my money which is tight

The other scheme I find totally redundant is asking families for cupcakes... the family spend £5-10 to make them for them to be sold for 20p each...

Then complained because I sent a 6 pack bought in ASDA for £3 (honestly... the kids loved them, still made £1.20 out of them and no FT working single mother and allergic child were harmed in their production).

My son’s school did this on the last day of term last year before summer and asked for it to be filled with 20p’s before September. We did it, but had 6 weeks to do it so £2 per week didn’t seem so bad. To be totally honest I resented the idea. Really made me cross. My friend had 3 children to do it for, so they refused and sent one tube in for all 3.

I am the PTA has specifically said not 5p/10p or copper. What a cheek. I would fill the tubes up with 1ps or 5ps.

What are they going to say? "We're not accepting these?"

I think it's awful that they are sitting on £7000! I was involved in our local nursery fundraising group and insisted on spending the money straight away so the cohort who had contributed could see where there money had gone. What's the point in you and other parents struggling to fill the smarties tubes when the money probs won't be spent until they have long left the achool

I have complained to the PTA in the past about their lack of understanding that some families have not got the spare cash to donate goods/money to the school. I initially got a sniffy email back but then forwarded their response and a further email to the Headteacher and got an apology. The next year they were more understanding in their requests. I do think they sometimes get carried away with their enthusiasm for fundraising and forget that every family is different.

My kids’ after school club did this. Hideous. And also, Nestle.

This is the fault of having a conservative government who has cut funding for schools.
PTAs are getting increasingly desperate to raise funds for schools because of budget cuts.

I write to my MP about this sort of thing continuously to keep up the pressure.

YANBU OP, the whole idea is a bit shit really.

Also I know a fair few parents at my school boycott nestle (myself included) so I don't buy smarties for DS. I wouldn't deny him a pack he was given but I wouldn't be too happy about it.

There is so much wrong with this. I would never even consider complying.

Get £1 worth of Indian rupees and shove the coins in those tubes then hand it in?

If you don't have the money just leave it or put a few twenty pence coins in. If you do have the money and want to support your child's school fill it up. Most people will just ignore it entirely and then complain about the facilities at the school with no sense of self awareness.

I know schools are struggling, hell, I work in one! But this is just not on.

I would complain and demand that they never, ever put my children in that position again.

An absolutely terrible way of fundraising. At the school I'm a governor of we are trying to fund raise but also to poverty proof the school - this is so counterproductive to that aim.

Incidentally, the way we are fundraising is to ask local businesses for sponsorship, not to embarrass the poor families with "initiatives" like this.

Maybe if you flatten it a bit you could squeeze a couple of £1 in there lengthways?

No way would I be doing this, but at age 10 I can easily explain to my DS the reasons, it would be harder with a 4 year old.

And I really don't like the ones which reward for the most money raised.