School Supplies

In less than two weeks I am sending my firstborn to Kindergarten. Along with an onslaught of emotions about this upcoming event, I also have a list of school supplies. I have a very detailed, very specific, list of school supplies, courtesy of my local Independent School District.

A month ago I saw at the grocery store a pre-packaged box with Will’s school supplies already picked out and a price tag of $50. Hubris took over – surely it could not be that hard to buy school supplies and surely I wouldn’t spend nearly $50 on them! I passed up the pre-packaged supplies while other mothers were grabbing them up, singing praises to our local Albertson's. Our dear friend, (teacher and mother of 2) volunteered to watch Reagan and Wilson while I went school shopping. I said “It’s just a list of school supplies!” She looked at me with the eyes of experience.

I’ve learned experience is the thing you get after you needed it.

After work I took Will and Reagan, the school supply list and my grocery list to Super Target. I figured we’d be in and out in 30 minutes, groceries and school supplies in hand.

I miscalculated.

Our store is pretty close to the campus of TCU. I was school shopping with parents who are sending their children off to college. I noticed similarities between me and the college bound mothers: we all have a list, we all have strong emotions about this, and we are doing our best to be excited about this new “adventure” while suppressing the urge to drag the kids back to the nest and chain them down. The mothers smiled at me, my kindergartener, and my 18 month old. I smiled back. We had a moment. They were sisters in arms. They were getting me. I was sympathizing with them.

The college bound daughters were arguing about reading lamps, comforters, pillow sizes. The college bound boys looked bored while their mothers tried to get them interested in reading lamps, comforters, pillow sizes. In both cases I could read the mothers’ actions “Please let me choose this lamp for you! Please ask me to help you! Please give me this before I have to leave you alone with this lamp! Please let me continue to hold on to you!” In any case you could see their college bound children were ready to pick out their own lamps or to tell their mothers that comforters are stupid. In both cases the kids are ready to go out on their own.

I made it through the college bound set to the school supply area. I pulled out my list. My very detailed list that mentioned it was “brand specific”. That means I’m not going to be able to get by with the store brand knock off. Crayola crayons ONLY. Elmer’s School Glue ONLY – with no gel, color, or sparkles. Specific sizes and brands of construction paper, scissors, Kleenex, and dry erase markers (black – low odor). Somewhere in the dry erase marker area I was starting to get a migraine (possibly from the high odor markers?) and I realized I’d already exhausted the 30 minutes I had planned for this trip and I wasn’t halfway through my monster list.

This is when I looked back over at the college bound parents. None of them had an 18 month old getting antsy in the cart. That alone made me envious. And, while they too had lists, their stuff was large, easy to find – lamps, pillows, comforters – I was getting eyestrain looking for the specific scissor type specified for me by my demon list. I started to realize that those college bound parents also were not bound by a brand specific list. They could price shop. And, they could probably send their kids to the bathrooms alone – I had to leave my cart while taking the kids to the bathroom to change and diaper. So – school shopping will get easier, it will just take me 13 years to get to that point.

Finally time came to choose a backpack. There was a whole wall of backpacks. I read my list: “1 backpack – no characters, no wheels”. No characters. That removed 1/2 of our options. No wheels. That took out 1/3 of our remaining options. I showed Will the remaining choices we had. He wasn’t impressed. He wanted the Spiderman backpack with wheels. I showed him the list.

“See, right here. It says – no characters, no wheels.”

“I can’t read Mom.”

“I know. That’s why I’m buying this junk for you to go to kindergarten so you can learn.”

He studied his choices. He tried on different backpacks. I suggested some, he turned them down. I wanted to choose it for him. I know what a good backpack is. I have experience with backpacks and school. I looked across the store to the moms arguing with kids about desk lamps. I wanted him to say “Mom, I really need you to help out with this because you know more than I do.” But that’s not how growing up works. I have to let him do this alone. I have to keep letting him do this alone. I was going to cry, but Reagan dumped my purse out all over the floor. Mothering meltdown averted.

I decided to multi-task and search for “4 assorted solid color pocket folders, two with brads, two without brads”. Reagan started to get antsier. I quieted her with “beveled pink eraser”. I found the pocket folders with brads just fine. The ones without brads were giving me more trouble. From the back recesses of my mind, homeschooling became a very real, very appealing option.

Finally backpack was chosen and I discovered you can remove the brads from pocket folders easily, which I decided to do later at home.

We found everything except for 3 items. We ran through the grocery list in ten minutes. I wheeled our cart to the checkout. Two hours had passed. Two HOURS. Final cost, more than $50 for the school supplies. Next year, it’s Albertson’s pre-packaged deal.

We arrived home late. Chris helped unload the groceries and the school supplies. He saw the weariness in my eyes and suggested dinner out. I kissed him and handed him the detailed school supply list with the three remaining items. He said “I’ll just pick these up on my lunch break.” I laughed and said “I wouldn’t count on it.”

Kindergarten is turning out to be a learning experience for me. A very painful, costly, time consuming experience.

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