TOO MUCH: Since When Did Our Kids Become Tiny Salespeople?

Given that I've only been a parent for a mere seven years, I'm no expert and I certainly still have a lot to learn.  I was never one of those 'I read it in the parenting books' kind of moms, I'm more so the 4am 'is this normal' text message to my friends kind of gal.  Recently I had a few conversations with some fellow parents (and even some friends who don't have kids) about our little ones being little salespeople.  Let me explain.

Why Are There So Many Fundraisers And Sales For Our Kids?

I knew that when I signed my daughter up for extracurricular activities that there would be the eventual fundraiser or bake sale.  What I did not realize what that there would be multiple fundraisers running simultaneously, both in her outside of school activities, and in the school as well.

This year alone, she's been sent home with a chocolate fundraiser packet, a wreath and poinsettia fundraising order form, magazine subscription sales, nut and chocolate orders, and now I'm hearing rumors that the wrapping paper order form is en route - and we are only midway through November!  Now, the chocolate fundraiser was from school and came with instructions to set up an online sales site but that ran simultaneously with the extracurricular nut/chocolate/magazine online site that we had just created.

Is it too much? Because I think it's too much.

Get our free mobile app

Am I Forgetting Something? Has This Always Been A 'Thing'?

Like I mentioned, I remember the occasional fundraiser from when I was a kid, like a raffle for my soccer team or those candy bars we would secretly eat and then my parents would have to pay for.  I was a Girl Scout so selling cookies was part of the gig, but lately it feels like my daughter is being groomed to be a tiny door-to-door sales person (which, by the way, I don't ever let her go door-to-door selling anything).  To be very honest, we'll create the online site, share once with friends/family, and call it a day.  I'll order a few things to support the cause but beyond that I'm just not comfortable with the idea of her going around banging on doors begging people (who likely have kids selling similar things) to buy stuff from us.

In discussing with a friend, after I told her how many different products and fundraisers we were trying to manage, she asked if my seven-year-old was getting good benefits and a 401K for all her work!

Does anyone feel like the fundraising has become too much? Do you allow your little ones to go out selling? Have you ever not supported the cause and skipped the wrapping paper order or passed on the chocolate bars?  Help this mom out.