So, with the end of the summer time comes the inevitable back-to-school shopping. Summer’s easy livin’ shorts, tanks and flip-flops are substituted with school clothes one size up from last year since the kids have grown by a lot under the summer sun. Feet are crammed into new tennis shoes since the children look longingly at their flip flops, dirty and ragged from a summer of adventures.
The Buy School Supplies Online You understand my frustration, don’t you Mamas (and Daddies)? To school Lists which seem to grow each year. Searching everywhere for that one item that the teacher was very specific about (brand, type, color) and planning to a number of different stores before -eureka!- you discover it! Dragging your young ones along to enable them to purchase the items which suit them best, but finding yourself frustrated one minute to the several hour shopping trip because nobody wants to become there (including you). Feeling as though you are scrounging out every last penny to ensure that they have everything they want.
This coming year I discovered myself nearly in tears when i shopped with my three kids. We were in Target (ironically, my happy place) and were hoping to get most of the supplies for my three children in one trip. Each child enjoyed a list which had been an entire page long. The school supply aisles were filled with children and parents, many of whom were screaming at said children. I used to be trying my best to ensure my children were obtaining the right supplies and that they were able to pick out colors and the like, whenever they could. I needed this to become a FUN experience, a bit boost so they can get into the swing of school. However, we had been all just flustered. After an hour as well as a half and tears from two of my three children, we determined that we had exactly what we needed minus the things that we would need to create a special journey to another store for.
The cart filled until it absolutely was literally heaping and things kept falling of the top and toppling for the floor. I dreaded pushing the cart to checkout. Just looking at the level of supplies within the cart made my checkbook tremble. But, we pushed our heaping cart (very carefully, while occasionally obtaining the boxes of crayons that kept sliding for the floor) towards the take a look at and, as expected, I was a bit shell-shocked on the amount. The amount was about what our family would purchase about 3 weeks of groceries. I handed over my debit card with a grimace and could feel my kids watching my reaction when i did so. This had not been the enjoyment back-to-school outing that I had expected.
We packed up our bags and walked to the car. As I was loading the numerous bags into my trunk, I noticed the household in the car close to ours. There was clearly a Mom and her son entering into a rusted, older model car. She held onto one, single bag that seemed to be filled with school supplies and that he proudly paraded towards the car bearing his new backpack on his little back. I was able to lbtlvz a snippet of the conversation. She was proclaiming that they would buy just a couple supplies each week until they had all of them and attempting to reassure him it was okay if they didn’t get them all on the first day – everything works out. They made their way into their car (which took several attempts to start) and drove with their small bag of school supplies in tow. We sat, humbled, within our car that was full for the brim using the supplies of my three kiddos.
