The Childhood Raffle Dash

Just finished another round of our annual preschool fundraising dinner and basket raffle - as we were setting up the tables one of the grade school girls, the sort who has several small siblings and as a result speaks more like a wise mom than a kid, made the observation that "Oh yes, now all the little girls will come in and get their heart set on something in baskets, and then when they don't win they'll cry and cry." 

Watched as families mobbed the hallways, enthusiastically dropping tickets into the little buckets.  Plenty of little girls (and boys) who obviously had already decided whatever was in their chosen basket was theirs - especially the three beta fish artistically floating along among themed items in three different places.  Winning tickets were drawn and the halls filled with the sound of wailing as small children were given the "Sometimes these things happen, that's just the way it works" lesson.  One girl whom I would have thought old enough to already know that stood and just sobbed - she'd apparently fastened onto one of the betas and even given him a name.  In her heart, he was already in a fishbowl in her room and now a stranger was taking 'her' pet away from her.  So many small childhood hopes dashed amid the celebration.

I divvied up the decorative balloons and handed them to the kids who seemed to need to have something that they'd 'won' in their hands the most.