Kids Selling Gluten!

[GlutenFreeManna]

If one more kid comes to my door trying to sell me something I think I am going to scream! Since school started back up we have had kids trying to sell us: donuts, cookies, candy bars, and pizza. I very politely explain to them that I can't buy anything because I have food allergies. They look very confused when I tell them that and I feel so bad but I'm not going to buy something I won't even allow in my house. Last year my husband bought Girl Scout cookies from one of his co-worker's kids and gave them to his co-workers so the cookies never came home. Since moving to a bigger place that costs more, however we don't have money to throw away buying stuff we can't even eat. I have been not answering the door this week when I see it is just kids. They have rung my bell EVERY SINGLE DAY! They don't understand what allergies mean. They get all confused when I just say that cookies make me sick. Just now they rang the bell again and my husband was home so he answered (I tried to tell him not to) and it was the same kids that were here earlier in the week. He told them we can't buy anything because we have allergies and they just kept saying, "but it's for a really good cause!" Argh! Between the kids ringing my bell and the kids standing outside of stores trying to sell gluten junk I am really frustrated (not because I can't eat it but because they don't understand why I can't eat it). I don't know how you parents that have kids in public school manage it. Do you let your kids sell stuff they can't even eat? Why don't more school age kids know what food allergies are? I thought more and more schools were becoming nut free?

[Jestgar]

Put a big

NO!!

sign on your door?

Buy a tape of vicious dog barking sounds?

Tell them you only support car washes, or other activities where no one but the 'good cause' gets the money?

I don't buy things from kids. I think it's a bad idea for all kinds of reasons.

[come dance with me]

We've never had that here. We've had children sell raffle ticket and I buy them even if it's a meat tray becaue it's ulikely that I'll win anyway. We never have people turn up with actual food to sell to people. We have children after donations for school fundraisers too. I will buy a raffle ticket or put a little bit towards a fundraiser for a child. I'd probably buy a packet of biscuits (if they are in an actual pack not on a tray with plastic wrap over them) then take them to work for people to share but no-one's ever tried to sell them.

[ravenwoodglass]

Yea I agree with a big sign on the door. Kids are selling pizza door to door! EWWWWWWWW. There are times also when kids will be selling stuff and saying it is for their school when the money really is going in their pockets. I donate enough to the schools in the form of my extremely high taxes and if I want to give more I will give it to the school directly.

[Roda]

I usually don't let the kids sell much for the fundraisers. The thing with our school is that in order to attend the end of the year Mega party for the full 2 hours they have to sell 10 items. Most of the stuff is junk or cookie dough and wrapping paper. I usually buy the wrapping paper and we hit up immediate family. They ended up last year only selling 5 items each. That was enough to attend the party for an hour. I think it is terrible to bribe the kids with a party, I do not like it. They are doing a fund rasier this fall and it was to get people to sponser you in reading. For every minute they read people pledge a certain amount. I thought it was a great idea. My kids do read, but we didn't get any sponsors, so I will just make a cash donation in behalf of both of them. Luckily I don't get many kids at my door.

[celiac-mommy]

You can get 'No Solicitation' signs at your harware store, home depot, etc...

But I'll play devil's advocate here. I'm pretty involved with my kids' school and PTA and we have all kinds of fundraisers from food to crafts to holiday bazaars. Anyway, one of the biggest fund raisers is our cookie dough sale. I give my kids the option to sell (*** BUT, our school has a strict NO door to door selling policy). My daughter really gets into it. I make her do the selling if she wants to get involved. It's good for building communication. She calls family members and tells them all about the products, etc... She really enjoys it...

[Jestgar]

I usually don't let the kids sell much for the fundraisers. The thing with our school is that in order to attend the end of the year Mega party for the full 2 hours they have to sell 10 items.

That's pretty appalling. How about they have to get straight A's to attend the party? Is it a school? or a factory?

[GlutenFreeManna]

Yea I agree with a big sign on the door. Kids are selling pizza door to door! EWWWWWWWW. There are times also when kids will be selling stuff and saying it is for their school when the money really is going in their pockets. I donate enough to the schools in the form of my extremely high taxes and if I want to give more I will give it to the school directly.

They didn't have the actual pizzas with them. They sign you up and then you have to go pick up the pizzas at a later date from the school or maybe they bring them to you, I don't really know because I didn't ask. I don't like to buy from kids I don't know anyway because like another poster said who know what the money is really going to.

[Twinklestars]

That's terrible to bribe children with a party!!! An end of year celebration should be for everyone to attend, it shouldn't have conditions put on it like grades (this puts pressure on kids who find learning difficult) or SALES! That is seriously messed up!

[GlutenFreeManna]

You can get 'No Solicitation' signs at your harware store, home depot, etc...

But I'll play devil's advocate here. I'm pretty involved with my kids' school and PTA and we have all kinds of fundraisers from food to crafts to holiday bazaars. Anyway, one of the biggest fund raisers is our cookie dough sale. I give my kids the option to sell (*** BUT, our school has a strict NO door to door selling policy). My daughter really gets into it. I make her do the selling if she wants to get involved. It's good for building communication. She calls family members and tells them all about the products, etc... She really enjoys it...

When I was a kid my mom took me to all the neighbors we knew and also had me call family. But my mom was with me, it was small town and we knew those people on our street. We just moved in a little more than a month ago, I'm in a big city and these kdis were without any adults at all! What if we were kidknappers or child molesters or something?!? The kids were between 5 and 8 years old. I doubt they would pay attention (or understand?) to a "no solicitation" sign. Plus we rent this house so we would have to ask the landlord for permission to put one up.

[kareng]

No solicitation signs don't work for kids.

I have gluten eaters in my house, so I will buy Girl Scout Cookies. I love the frozen cookie dough. My gluten eaters can make cookies with no flour flying!

[GlutenFreeManna]

That's terrible to bribe children with a party!!! An end of year celebration should be for everyone to attend, it shouldn't have conditions put on it like grades (this puts pressure on kids who find learning difficult) or SALES! That is seriously messed up!

When I was a kid we could not go on class field trips or participate in extracuricular activities (sports, band, choir, art, etc) unless we sold stuff. It was based on total class sales (as a class we had to reach a certain goal) however and not on an individual bassis. If the class as a whole didn't sell enoguh we didn't get a party. We coudl choose not to sell but then our classmates woudl be mad at us. My mom took me to family, neighbors we knew and often she ended up buying a ton from me as well to make sure our class "won" the party or whatever it was.

[Roda]

That's terrible to bribe children with a party!!! An end of year celebration should be for everyone to attend, it shouldn't have conditions put on it like grades (this puts pressure on kids who find learning difficult) or SALES! That is seriously messed up!

I think that is why I got a bad attitude about letting them sell stuff for school and the fact I hated it as a kid! My oldest son last year sold popcorn for cub scouts and he was really into it. My youngest son loved going with him and "supervising." He was the top seller in his group. Unfortunately he decided he didn't like cub scouts and he quit.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I think that is why I got a bad attitude about letting them sell stuff for school and the fact I hated it as a kid! My oldest son last year sold popcorn for cub scouts and he was really into it. My youngest son loved going with him and "supervising." He was the top seller in his group. Unfortunately he decided he didn't like cub scouts and he quit.

Do you happen to know if the cub scout popcorn has gluten, dairy or soy? I see the cub scouts selling popcorn outside my grocery stores. That's the only thing I have thought *maybe* I could buy but I don't want to approach them and give them false hope if I can't eat any of the popcorn. I usually try to enter the store at the entrance farthest away and pretend I don't hear them when they yell to me to ask if I want to buy anything.

[kareng]

Our Boy Scouts say that every one must make a $25 donation if they don't sell a certain amount. We used to sell trash bags. Now we sell grocery coupon books. 2 different stores. We sell for $5 the troop gets $ 3 or 4 for each. In each coupon book is a coupon for $5 off at the store, so even if you don't use the other coupons, you get your money back.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Our Boy Scouts say that every one must make a $25 donation if they don't sell a certain amount. We used to sell trash bags. Now we sell grocery coupon books. 2 different stores. We sell for $5 the troop gets $ 3 or 4 for each. In each coupon book is a coupon for $5 off at the store, so even if you don't use the other coupons, you get your money back.

Do they not have dues? $25 per kid seems kind of high if they are paying dues on top of that. What does the money raised go towards? I would consider buying a coupon book for grocery store as long it it had soem coupons I could use in it. But instead I get the kids with the boxes of Kripsy Creme donuts and candy bars comign to my door.

[kareng]

Do they not have dues? $25 per kid seems kind of high if they are paying dues on top of that. What does the money raised go towards? I would consider buying a coupon book for grocery store as long it it had soem coupons I could use in it. But instead I get the kids with the boxes of Kripsy Creme donuts and candy bars comign to my door.

That's a way to pay for the dues. It's used to buy trash bags for service projects, a new tent, etc. They can also apply the money to the fees for campouts. The church that sponsors us didn't want anyone excluded because of money so letting kids earn the money is a good solution. The $5 coupon in each book for any groceries makes them worth buying for most people.

[ravenwoodglass]

Our Boy Scouts say that every one must make a $25 donation if they don't sell a certain amount.

Just my opinion but I think that is disgusting. As a single parent supporting two kids on a minimum wage job $25 was more than half my weekly grocery budget when my kids were growing up.

I enjoyed selling stuff like Girl Scout Cookies etc when I was a kid. With my kids I never even heard of the sales because they didn't want to do them and wouldn't tell me. Participating in those sales should be voluntary and the kids shouldn't be 'punished' if they can't participate.

[Roda]

Do you happen to know if the cub scout popcorn has gluten, dairy or soy? I see the cub scouts selling popcorn outside my grocery stores. That's the only thing I have thought *maybe* I could buy but I don't want to approach them and give them false hope if I can't eat any of the popcorn. I usually try to enter the store at the entrance farthest away and pretend I don't hear them when they yell to me to ask if I want to buy anything.

Their popcorn is by Trails End. Here is a link to their FAQ's page.

Open Original Shared Link

If you click on the nutrition info on a particular product, ie Unbelievable Butter Microwave Popcorn it states "NATURALLY CHOLESTEROL FREE, 100% WHOLE GRAIN, NATURALLY GLUTEN AND SUGAR FREE."

Open Original Shared Link

Now that does not take into consideration cross contamination. You probably could contact Trails End and find out their policies. That way you would know if they come around again.

[kareng]

Just my opinion but I think that is disgusting. As a single parent supporting two kids on a minimum wage job $25 was more than half my weekly grocery budget when my kids were growing up.

I enjoyed selling stuff like Girl Scout Cookies etc when I was a kid. With my kids I never even heard of the sales because they didn't want to do them and wouldn't tell me. Participating in those sales should be voluntary and the kids shouldn't be 'punished' if they can't participate.

There needs to be dues to support the troop. You can have your kids mow the neighbors grass to pay them if you would rather. Call Grandma or explain you can't afford it. I don't think $25 a year is unreasonable as the troop supplies all the tents, cooking equipment , supplies for service projects and many of the supplies for various badges.

[GFreeMO]

You could buy what they are selling if it is sealed in a box if you wanted and donate it to a food pantry. There are a lot of folks who can't afford treats who would really appreciate it. Thats what I do in these situations. Our local grocery store has a Harvesters container where you can put in food donations and they take it to the homeless shelter.

[ravenwoodglass]

There needs to be dues to support the troop. You can have your kids mow the neighbors grass to pay them if you would rather. Call Grandma or explain you can't afford it. I don't think $25 a year is unreasonable as the troop supplies all the tents, cooking equipment , supplies for service projects and many of the supplies for various badges.

I'm not against the Scouts or the dues but $25 in one pop would be too much for many families. When I was in Scouts we paid a very small amount weekly and perhaps your troop would allow something like that for some of the kids, I don't know. I am strongly against the schools that punish the kids for not selling by banning them from a school function though. I think that is unfair to the kids that for one reason or another can't sell the stuff.

[ravenwoodglass]

You could buy what they are selling if it is sealed in a box if you wanted and donate it to a food pantry. There are a lot of folks who can't afford treats who would really appreciate it. Thats what I do in these situations. Our local grocery store has a Harvesters container where you can put in food donations and they take it to the homeless shelter.

I voluteer at a food bank and it would be VERY appretiated. You should see the kids light up when we have some candy or other treat to give them. For those that can afford to do that it is a great way to deal with the issue.

[Katrala]

No need to tell kids about allergies.

Just say no thank you and leave it at that.

Fundraiser stuff is typically overpriced because it's the cause you're supporting, not getting a good deal or even good product.

If you do have the money to contribute, maybe you can buy one and give it someone else.

[Twinklestars]

I am totally supportive of fundraising. I think it's important for kids to realise that things have to be paid for somehow and I think it's important for a community to be supportive of it's local school and community groups.

Like Raven said, my objection comes from holding kids to ransom and withholding special events or treats because they don't 'meet the target' Some parents may work full time and object to their kids going door to door (I know I would), or may have no extended family around to buy the excess from them or any number of reasons. Often it's not the child's fault if fundraising targets aren't met, so why punish the child?

Fundraising should be a community activity with both parents and children and extended family getting together for a united cause. Not using children to peddle cookies!

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now, but stuff like this makes me mad.