Since we started this baseball season, my daughter has been suffering from what I can only describe as performance anxiety. She would get up to home plate, clutching her bat and would just stand there. At first we thought she might be afraid of the ball, but that wasn't it at all. She had it in her mind that rather than swinging and missing, it would be better to not swing at all.

Naturally, this was frustrating for everyone. After a couple of games where she stood at the plate looking like a deer in the headlights, the coaches decided to make her understand that swinging and missing was not the end of the world, and that she might actually hit the darn ball if she took a few cuts.

At a practice last week, she batted for almost an hour while all the pitchers took turns pitching to her. And she hit the ball a few times, fouled it off a few more times, and walked away totally pumped up. She believes she's a hitter now - and we all are thrilled.

My son, on the other hand, gets a hit at every at-bat. Of course, they are using a pitching machine for the time being, but he's totally comfortable at the plate. However, fielding the ball is not something he is interested in. He'd much rather just lay down on the benches in the dugout between innings.

This next weekend is their league's Bat-A-Thon, which I guess is the primary fund raiser for the league. They use the money for everything from uniforms and equipment to field maintenance and Both kids have forms to use to solicit pledges or donations - and I've got a bit of the deer-in-the-headlights look going on myself. I'm a horrible fund raiser person. I usually just write a check for whatever we can afford and stick in in the envelope and move on with my day. But my kids both asked me to help with this one, and they are quote, unquote embarrassed by the fact that we generally don't try very hard.

I guess the way it works is the whole team gets a time slot and then they tally all the hits the kids get off of a pitching machine. The total team score is what determines the pledge value. (If it was individual, my daughter would be a very attractive to the pocketbook option, but alas, most of the kids on her team are great hitters.)

So here it is, internet buddies: wanna do me a solid and make me slightly less embarrassing in my children's eyes, while supporting an organization that has made a huge impact on not only my family, but a zillion other families in our town? I'm sticking up a paypal donation thing for this fund raiser, below. They've got a suggested pledge of a penny or more (which would max out at $4 - $8 for the penny pledge) but I'm a big fan of the flat donation, myself.

If you can toss a buck or two into the baseball hat, we'd be really grateful.

And hey, when your kid has a fundraiser? Holler at me. :)