It’s that glorious time of the year where parents set off for the malls and shopping centers to spend exuberant amounts of money on sneakers, clothes, backpacks and school supplies..I know this because I’m one of them. Each and every year I swear that I will not fall prey to the hype and I will encourage my child to use the same backpack from last year and recycle school supplies all while shopping sales and being thrifty. Yet, here I sit.
She is tired, she is cranky, she is broke, she needs a cocktail and she is ME. I can remember back to when I was a child in a home with four children and two parents and I can only now imagine how stressful it must have been for my own parents to send us off to school on that first day with the newest sneakers and the hip Jansport backpack. Now-a-days those same sneakers and backpacks cost twice as much and for the single parent it is a hard hit every September. But I can also remember the pure excitement I felt as a child when it came time to pick out the new pair of Nike or Adidas sneakers and then the pride that washed over me when I walked on to the bus the first day of school.
So here I sit, in a sea of overwhelmed, overspent, exhausted parents and yet I smile because I know that the first day of school comes only once a year (thank god, my bank account couldn’t handle much more). But more importantly I am thinking about all the other things I want to send my child off with on the first day..encouragement..strength..confidence..love..the ability to breathe fire and the directions home if she ever feels lost (and now she has a good pair of walking shoes to get her there).
Cheers!
