Our school is having a book fair this week. The teachers bring the whole class in there and some kids have money to spend and some don't. The problem is they have to charge tax so the kids always bring up more than they can afford usually. The librarian was having a hard time trying to have them pick out what to put back. I kinda feel sorry for the kids whose parents only send them like $5 or less because really that is not going to buy much. I saw a lot of that. I just take my kids out of class and bring them down there with me and pick out what they want and I write a check for it. Seems easier.
I was in line behind this sweet little girl who was so quiet in line and she did not have enough money. I paid the extra $1.50 for her to buy her three tiny things she bought. I think she only had a couple dollars. I wish I could have done it for all the kids. Sometimes I don't even think about stuff like that like offering a bit of extra change to help someone out but I am glad I thought to do that. It made my day just knowing I did something nice for her.
That was sweet of you BA. But a lot of parents, mine included, did not have the money to be sending money with us for book fairs. The library is free, so their reasoning was, why buy books?
The books sold at the book fair are typically not ones they have in the library for check out. At least a lot of them. I mean I don't really understand why I would have to defend why someone would want to buy their kid a book they wanted. Kids wanting to read books is a good thing, literacy and all that. The kids get really excited about it.
If they don't have the money to send, then don't send it. Kids that had no money were not in the line, they just browsed and sat down. It was the kids that only were given like $3 to buy something but then did not have enough money that needed assistance. $3 is not going to be able to really buy much. But they did the best they could. That was why I helped that girl out. She only had like a pencil and 2 erasers and did not even have enough to pay for that.
I'm not taking away from the fact that you did a nice thing BA. You don't have to defend parents buying their children books. That wasn't my point.
Any of the kids that didn't have enough money would have just put something back or realized they didn't have enough and not bought anything. Saying that either send nothing or send a substantial amount is not the answer. That little girl could have easily put one eraser back. That is a life lesson and one that I learned pretty early.
I was a voracious reader and my parents took me to more than one library. Not buying books for your child does not mean your don't support literacy! Just that you support literacy at no cost and for everyone, not just the few that can afford it.
I'm not taking away from the fact that you did a nice thing BA. You don't have to defend parents buying their children books. That wasn't my point.
Any of the kids that didn't have enough money would have just put something back or realized they didn't have enough and not bought anything. Saying that either send nothing or send a substantial amount is not the answer. That little girl could have easily put one eraser back. That is a life lesson and one that I learned pretty early.
I was a voracious reader and my parents took me to more than one library. Not buying books for your child does not mean your don't support literacy! Just that you support literacy at no cost and for everyone, not just the few that can afford it.
:) I agree. Love libraries! We buy books and go to the library. Both are good in their own way.
That is what most of the kids were doing putting things back and it was teaching them about tax and budgeting and stuff, so no harm no foul. That one little girl was so cute and quiet and well behaved so I helped her out.
I understand now why my parents did not really buy books for me. I rarely read the same book more than once. I would get bored with it if I had to read it more than that. I read almost every book in the children section at two libraries, not small ones either.
I understand now why my parents did not really buy books for me. I rarely read the same book more than once. I would get bored with it if I had to read it more than that. I read almost every book in the children section at two libraries, not small ones either.
that is awesome.
My kids go through some books really fast so those types like Magic Tree house or babysitter's club we get at the library. Story time type books or books like Minecraft manuals we buy because they get read over and over.
I was sent to the library when I was in grade school. I was way ahead of the class in math and did all my math lessons for the week on Monday and went to the library for the rest of week during math class. I eventually read the entire library (fiction). So the librarian gave me first crack at any new books. I loved that!