I am becoming a Book Fairy

From the time my oldest child entered preschool, the book fairs began.  What I remember from a kid as being a once-a-year event has now turned into what seems like an almost ongoing process.  The preschool offers book fairs twice a year.  The public school offers them at least twice a year as well, including one run by the PTA, in addition to sporadic classroom-based book fairs that are designed to earn free books for individual classes.  At this point, each one of my kids pretty much has a library in their bedroom.  There are only so many Junie B. Jones and Dr. Seuss books one person can buy.  But, it is for a good cause- who doesn't want to help their child's school?

At one of the most recent book fairs, I noticed that entire classes were taken to the school library and allowed to create a wish list that was sent home to parents.  Parents could then opt to allow the purchase of specific books and send their children into school with money on the class purchasing day.  While this is an incredibly organized idea, and one that helps parents to monitor their children's purchases, I also wondered what the experience is like for children with parents who are unable to afford to purchase a book for their child.  How do those kids feel, knowing that they won't be able to receive anything they pick out? 

I asked the school and was pleasantly surprised to hear that they offer a "book fairy fund".  Parents can donate to this fund and kids from low-income families are able to use money from this fund to purchase a book at the book fair.  This prevents the kids from being stigmatized and allows them to have their own books, which can help motivate them to read.  Why am I sharing this information on a financial advice blog?  Quite simply, there are many small ways that we trickle money out as parents.  The book fairs add up, and they encourage overabundance in our children.  Instead of spending $20 on books for my kids like I seem to do at every book fair, I can spend $10.  My child still gets to pick out one book, and then the rest of the money goes into the book fairy fund.  This way, I can still support the school, encourage a love of reading in my child, and help an underprivileged child.  Not bad for $10!