What’s a mom’s least favorite time of the year? Can you take a guess? Back to school shopping. Every year it’s the same story and the same drama. Does this sound familiar?
Kid: Mommy, mommy I wanna buy the 200 pack of colored pencils even though the school supply list only suggested 12.
Or maybe..
Kid: I want the emoji notebook. All the other ones are boring.
Mom: But honey it’s $5 extra.
Kid: Waaa!
Yeah, not so fun. At least for your parents. But us kids aren’t entirely wrong either. A message for all parents who take their kids back to school shopping. Don’t buy everything on the school supply lists other than the very necessary things like pens and pencils until you meet with your kid’s teacher first (if possible). This past year the school supply list for seventh grade recommended two notebooks. All the kids who took Spanish as their world language course used both but all the kids who took French didn’t use their second notebook because French didn’t use notebooks to take notes. I ended up not using any of my glue or tape since the school provided us with glue and tape.
Some “Must Needs” For School – Kids Perspective
One thing that kids really love to do at school is to “out cool” their friends. One of the easiest ways to do that is with your school supplies. Who has the most colored pencils? Who has the coolest notebook cover? Obviously this is the only thing that kids think about during back to school shopping. But your parents, on the other hand, don’t understand the big deal about getting mechanical pencils over regular ones. Or getting a sports themed folder instead of a blank white one. Although they do have a point: all of the folders and pencils serve the same purpose. But would you rather write an essay with a boring pencil or with one that has some style? I’d pick the stylish one.
Some “Actual Must Needs” For School
Some of the mandatory things you need for school are a pen, pencil, eraser and paper. Instead of getting a pack of ballpoint pens you could get a pack of Papermate felt tip pens. They both do the same job; it’s just that the felt tips do the job better. Also, why would you get a 4 pack of pens when there is also a 12 pack option? How are your parents supposed to answer that question? Don’t get me started on pencils. They are just as bad as the pens.
Quick tip: stay away from the color changing, light up, and/or expensive mechanical pencils. It won’t end well for your credit card. Paper isn’t so bad. I mean it’s paper. You can’t really do much with that.
Erasers: Regular erasers aren’t cool. They’re not glittery. They’re no fun at all. Which is exactly why you need to get amazing erasers. Most people don’t use the cooler looking ones since they don’t want to ruin them. So much for erasing. When your parents imagine a cool eraser they think of the boring white and pink ones. When kids imagine a cool eraser …. Kaboom! Just kidding! That was a bit of an exaggeration. But what really does come to their minds are these: Take apart Animal Erasers, Erasers that look like Iphones, Lego Erasers, Scented erasers
Bottom line for parents: don’t listen to everything your kids say while you guys go back to school shopping. Kids: fight for what you believe in. But remember that you can’t let materialistic things define you. How you do in school won’t be determined by the things you buy. Your effort is what counts.
