If it had escaped your notice today is Children in Need.
I don’t mind these charity days, in fact I often enjoy the skits and sketches, may have had a leaky eye moment during DIY SOS The Big Build and had a boogie along to last nights charity concert.
I am happy to donate my time and some money, however when you have kids (especially primary school age children) these events seem to cost more and more. It appears to me that the people that can’t afford it are the ones that spend the most too.
So far we have spent over £12 on Children in Need and I know it will be more by the end of the day.
- Pudsey Ears – £2.50
- Pudsey wrist band x 2 – £2
- Pudsey Tattoos – £1
- Mufti Day at School / Playgroup x 3 – £3
- Ingredients for cakes for the cake sale – £5
I feel guilty saying no to the Pudsey onsies / t-shirts etc but we just cannot afford it. It is the same with Comic Relief / Sport Relief, Jeans for Genes etc.
I will be selling cakes at the cake sale at school later and I am sure the small people will make me buy them a cake too (probably be one of the ones we have made), so if you see me out and about today and rattle that charity tin at me please don’t glare as I pass you by…….it has cost me more than we can afford already!!
I’ve paid £3.00 today for the children to all wear onesie’s to school. I don’t really like schools doing these charity days as I feel it forces parents to donate (no parent likes their child to feel left out). I donate to several charities of my choice, I can’t afford to donate for everything, and of course having three children means I donate three times.
I’d rather if schools were doing a onesie day or mufti day for the donations to go towards something for the school, maybe to pay for the kids to have a school Christmas party or something.
I just feel these “big” charity days possibly stop people being able to donate to the smaller charities.
Exactly – I didn’t see one child in uniform today so the school have raised a fair bit of money……lots were in the special pusdey onesies too!
I am on the school PFA and if we could raise the sort of money that a day of CIN does then the kids would have the most amazing equipment and school trips but it just doesn’t happen!
You are right, Karen.
Parents won’t refuse to donate if their child will be left out no matter how skint they are – donation could be optional to avoid this as I suspect only the parents who really can’t afford it would not donate.
Also agree that some fundraising days should be for the school, like I said in my other post, family/our children come first – sorry if that sounds selfish but we seem to look out for everyone else.
The charities who receive the most attention are already the most well-known. It’s the niche, smaller charities that need our support and we can’t support them all.
Kara – I did see a child in uniform today and I felt so bad for them, at that age it feels isolating and like you’re walking round with a big neon sign saying I’m standing out from everyone else today 🙁
I agree with you. All of the above Pudsey items will likely be worn one out of 365 days but if you don’t buy one for each one of your kids, they will be “left out”. We had school & Church cake stalls within two days of each other this month and like you say, you spend a fair bit on ingredients/shop-bought cakes and then pay 30-50p per kid per cake (usually your own!). Then my hubby’s work is supporting a local charity to which we are expected to donate frequently – they have even asked him to opt in to set up a bit of his wage to go out automatically – like he doesn’t work his bum off hard enough for the pittance he receives anyway! I often wonder if at the end of it all the charities use the money wisely as so many big charities seem to spend/waste a significant amount on unnecessary marketing/rewards for signing up which is often unwanted tat. My sons’ birthdays are Oct & Nov then there’s Christmas and several relatives’ birthdays so we are watching our pennies atm and it all adds up. I don’t mean to sound negative and I do support the good causes but at the same time, family comes first and sometimes that can be forgotten by organisations. End of rant!
I completely agree with you – I felt bullied into donating money from my wages once, but won’t do it again. I will happily give what I can afford but would prefer to donate time / money to local causes than a big event like CIN.
Totally agree. I run a monthly Foodbank collection point now and take the food to my local branch which feels like a much bigger contribution but much more manageable as it uses my time and effort rather than money I don’t have. It also feels like practical, real help rather than throwing money at a problem that never seems to go away anyway.
We are fortunate in that Harry just had to take in some coppers, apparently the whole school will then use those coppers to decorate a giant pudsey. They were also encouraged to wear a spotty accessory as a way of actively discouraged from buying a CIN item of clothing. I wonder if it is because we are in an area considered to be disadvantaged.
Your school sounds very sensible and that still raises awareness of the cause so all good 🙂
We have done that in the past and it is a much better idea!
I like the fact it gets children so involved but I often wonder if they’re preaching to the already converted and perhaps rather than concentrating so much on schools, when I’m sure they’d do loads anyway, maybe we need to concentrate on bringing those around who don’t do anything for charity.
That is very true……I think a lot of charities would rather borrow an hour of your time / skills to help!
Drives me potty. We, this week have had a letter asking us to dontate £10 to some scheme they have for “grow your tenner” to make money for the school, a letter home asking for donations to the school fair, (and they were very specific, and it is not cheap stuff) and then a letter saying the children are doing a charity thing, and can we raise money, and also they have to pay £5 to join, and then they will want money for the Christmas play tickets as well, not to mention I had to send money for Children In Need today too. I don’t have a problem donating to charity, but do feel like we are expected to be a fount of endless cash!!
Charity shouldnt make you feel guilty. Donating just £1 makes a difference. It doesnt need to be a huge amount.
Truly.
Having worked with Comic Relief for a year now I have a bit of an insight into what money is spent on and £1 buys vaccine to save a baby’s life.
So don’t ever beat yourself up for feelign you are not doing enough.
These big events are also about awareness. And teaching our children that there are others in the world less fortunate than us.
Not about big gestures with a cheque book.
You are amazing to have done anything at all, please dont feel guilty about what you havent done and rejoice in what you have done. Shown your family that you care and that you know this money makes a real difference.
You shouldn’t feel guilty about pudsey teeshirts and the like – you have given what you can afford AND your time. Every little thing helps and it shouldn’t be a competition. It’s also a real waste of scarce resources to buy stiff that’s going to be worn once and then binned!!