Why do schools ask us to do so much extra crap?!?

[Anonymous]

Our school hasnt done the “twin” day that I know of, most of the spirit days are easy for us as DS has plenty of sports attire, hats and pajamas.

I do get a bit annoyed by all the PTA fundraisers, plus solicitations for volunteers to run the fundraisers. Especially for those where really it’s just parents participating in the fundraiser anyway! e.g. dineouts where you have to specifically say you are supporting the school fundraiser, how many non-school parents are actually doing this? Sure you get a meal out of it but they are feverally weekdays where we would not otherwise be ordering takeout. I would rather just give express money to the pta and be done with it.

[Anonymous]

Honestly I can't keep track of it all. They send flyers, emails, Dojo messages, parent vue messages and also tell my kid things. Can they pick ONE method of communication and send everything through that??

My kindergartener keeps saying she wants to buy ice cream and the teacher told her to ask her mom for money. So my Kindergartener keeps asking me for "one penny" to buy the ice cream. I haven't been able to track down how much ice cream actually costs and what it's for. Is it a fundraiser? DD says they eat them on the playground during recess. Or is this a cafeteria dessert and I need to put money on her account at school (no clue how- she brings lunch). I've thought about sending her with a $1 and a $5, but maybe it's less?

Just one dumb example, but there is a ridiculous amount of "extra labor" that schools push onto parents. I also think they haven't ever worked in a corporate environment so they have no clue how to communicate. Stop with the dumb frilly flyers with lots of misspellings and start sending concise emails with links that I can click that say "add to calendar".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who don't like this stuff are the same people who don't like baby showers, or adult birthday parties.

I hate stuff like this and like baby showers and adult birthdays. As others have said, it's the lack of adequate notice that I resent. If you want me to do something, email me about it at least a week in advance so I have time to Amazon something, and not buried in some interminable email about all the things happening this week/month. Schools need to communicate better in general and figure out how to highlight action items. Like most people, between home and work I get hundreds if not thousands of emails a day and have virtually no free time.

YES!! Stop with the masses of emails and just use bullets. Action items are desperately needed.

I really don't need to know that it's Dr. Seuss week and then a summary of it- I DGAF. Just tell me what to have my kids wear/bring and when. I mean I don't email the teacher a huge summary of my wonderful vacation that I'm pulling dd out of school for. Nope- I just say DD is absent X day.

[Anonymous]

Twin day is the worst. This is when clicks and groups rear their ugly heads. You end up with large groups of kids, especially girls, dressing identical and one or two girls being left out.

[Anonymous]

It's called grade school. It mostly stops in middle school, except for spirit week or college focus week (e.g, wear your favorite college Tshirt, sweatshirt, etc.).

My kids are in HS, but I remember going to Michael's and stocking up on a bunch of artificial flowers, holiday themed stuff on clearance (buying for next time), and odds and ends. I kept it all in a bad in the closet. Also, I always kept a few spare shoe boxes on hand. As soon as I recycled all the shoe boxes, my kids each needed one for class. Every. Time. So keep a few handy.

I never made my kids do spirit week, crazy hair day, crazy hat day, two different shoes day, etc. unless they were into it. I always followed their lead.

[Anonymous]

^ I kept it all in a bag in the closet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I can't keep track of it all. They send flyers, emails, Dojo messages, parent vue messages and also tell my kid things. Can they pick ONE method of communication and send everything through that??

My kindergartener keeps saying she wants to buy ice cream and the teacher told her to ask her mom for money. So my Kindergartener keeps asking me for "one penny" to buy the ice cream. I haven't been able to track down how much ice cream actually costs and what it's for. Is it a fundraiser? DD says they eat them on the playground during recess. Or is this a cafeteria dessert and I need to put money on her account at school (no clue how- she brings lunch). I've thought about sending her with a $1 and a $5, but maybe it's less?

Just one dumb example, but there is a ridiculous amount of "extra labor" that schools push onto parents. I also think they haven't ever worked in a corporate environment so they have no clue how to communicate. Stop with the dumb frilly flyers with lots of misspellings and start sending concise emails with links that I can click that say "add to calendar".

This is my biggest frustration. I don't mind the theme days, PTA events/fundraisers, etc. It's all voluntary so if you want to do it, do it. If not, don't. But make it easy to find the information in one, concise email. My child's current teacher makes this easy but other teachers in the past have used any combination of methods and it's crazy. Class Dojo was the worst and don't even get me started on Parentvue.

However, I am coaching a sports team this spring and the parents are absolutely ridiculous--they "didn't get" the email, this one texts me, another one sends me a sports team app we should use. NO--I don't have time for that. Read your damn email. So, I'm sure teachers are just trying to reach everyone where they are most likely to be reached because some parents are....extra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's called grade school. It mostly stops in middle school, except for spirit week or college focus week (e.g, wear your favorite college Tshirt, sweatshirt, etc.).

My kids are in HS, but I remember going to Michael's and stocking up on a bunch of artificial flowers, holiday themed stuff on clearance (buying for next time), and odds and ends. I kept it all in a bad in the closet. Also, I always kept a few spare shoe boxes on hand. As soon as I recycled all the shoe boxes, my kids each needed one for class. Every. Time. So keep a few handy.

I never made my kids do spirit week, crazy hair day, crazy hat day, two different shoes day, etc. unless they were into it. I always followed their lead.

Not at my kids' high school. I hate it. "80's day"--where are my kids supposed to get 80's clothes? I certainly don't still have my clothes from the 80s, and I don't have time or money to go to fifty thrift stores hunting for stuff.

[Anonymous]

What a bunch of whiners! Its optional! Don't do it if you don't want to! Oh but wait you can't handle the FOMO for your kid. Well, I guess you have a choice to make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I can't keep track of it all. They send flyers, emails, Dojo messages, parent vue messages and also tell my kid things. Can they pick ONE method of communication and send everything through that??

My kindergartener keeps saying she wants to buy ice cream and the teacher told her to ask her mom for money. So my Kindergartener keeps asking me for "one penny" to buy the ice cream. I haven't been able to track down how much ice cream actually costs and what it's for. Is it a fundraiser? DD says they eat them on the playground during recess. Or is this a cafeteria dessert and I need to put money on her account at school (no clue how- she brings lunch). I've thought about sending her with a $1 and a $5, but maybe it's less?

Just one dumb example, but there is a ridiculous amount of "extra labor" that schools push onto parents. I also think they haven't ever worked in a corporate environment so they have no clue how to communicate. Stop with the dumb frilly flyers with lots of misspellings and start sending concise emails with links that I can click that say "add to calendar".

Yes! Also, the flyers with all the clipart and minimal details killllllls me.

I understand that many teachers right now don't even have a planning period because they are covering other classes (have heard this from 3 different teacher friends), but when you get a word-of-mouth half description of what is needed from your kid at 6 pm the night before, there's really no time to email the teacher. I mean, I do, but I've only gotten a reply back once before the next morning.

The last time it happened, my kid said he needed 22 boxes for the next day. I was so confused. I'd never seen a flyer or any message from the teacher on this. He was insistent that he was correct. I called another parent from the class with a girl because I've found the girls are usually 90% correct with relaying what the teacher said and boys tend to be about 45% correct. Anyway, that mom was confused too because she said her kid told her they needed boxes of cereal for the whole class. She didn't know if that meant a box for each kid or one box that would feed the whole class. I emailed the teacher and sent a box of cereal with my kid the next day. The teacher emailed back saying "more details will be coming home today!" and sure enough, my kid came home with a damn flyer. Each kid was supposed to bring 1 box of cereal for a Rube Goldberg type of deal. The cereal was then being donated to the food bank afterwards. I guess she told the kids about it and mentioned that they needed to remember to save empty cereal boxes or bring in a new box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a wealthy school district issue. My guess is bored SAHMs drive these things- they like getting the pictures, they like coming up with "fun" things to do at school, they like forcing ridiculous fund raisers and events so they can sponsor over the top assemblies, they like throwing elaborate school parties that require parents to either contribute a lot of money or sign up for something dumb. Social media drives it too. I went to a top public school in the 90s and we didn't do any of this and our mothers weren't making chalk posters for us to hold on the first day of school.


Again, just a guess. High(er) FARMS schools don't do any of that. Likely bc it will be ignored by most parents.

That’s a pretty stupid guess! You think random SAHMs dictate these things to the school? This is 100% the administration and teachers.

[Anonymous]

Usually it's private schools and schools in wealthier areas that do all this stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a bunch of whiners! Its optional! Don't do it if you don't want to! Oh but wait you can't handle the FOMO for your kid. Well, I guess you have a choice to make.

If half the kids are experiencing FOMO or whatever, then it isn’t building a school community. So what’s the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a bunch of whiners! Its optional! Don't do it if you don't want to! Oh but wait you can't handle the FOMO for your kid. Well, I guess you have a choice to make.

If half the kids are experiencing FOMO or whatever, then it isn’t building a school community. So what’s the point?

It’s not though - most kids are participating because it’s fun. Even if you don’t think so. Sorry!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a bunch of whiners! Its optional! Don't do it if you don't want to! Oh but wait you can't handle the FOMO for your kid. Well, I guess you have a choice to make.

If half the kids are experiencing FOMO or whatever, then it isn’t building a school community. So what’s the point?

It’s not though - most kids are participating because it’s fun. Even if you don’t think so. Sorry!!

Sigh. Why can’t you try to understand?