how do y'all deal with these contests? the ones that flood the school with entry forms, and if your kid is a "finalist" you have the "opportunity" to buy a $$$ book that is only available to "finalists." And just about every person that enters becomes a finalist, so it's really not an accomplishment. I don't want to disappoint my son, but I also don't want to shell out $40 for a book that will probably just sit on a shelf
I fell for one of these things when I was a kid, it was cool and exciting at the time. As I got older I felt stupid for falling for it and bad that my parents spent $$$ on the books. I threw them away because it was depressing (and the books were ridiculously huge).
How do I not buy the book and explain these lame "contests" without hurting my son's feelings and hurting his desire to try to do things??