Mom Talk: Passing the Torch
August 26th, 2010 by Expert Experts
You guys: my kid starts school this year. I said MY KID STARTS SCHOOL THIS YEAR!!!!
I’m going to skip right past the part where I whine and cry and carry-on about how my girl’s growing up and how my poor mama-heart is breaking and how I’m freaking out because I’m suddenly dead-certain that I’ve done absolutely the wrong things during the past four years to prepare her for school—she has absolutely no idea how to tie a shoe for example, nor has she ever encountered a wall-mounted pencil sharpener. Yep, I’m going to skip all that because I have something much more important to discuss:
School. Shopping.
I LOVE school shopping. There. I said it. When I was young (and then still when I was not-so-young), I really looked forward to (nerd alert!) school starting each year. For me, the start of the school year was like the true New Year—it just felt so promising, like anything could happen. Almost… (super nerd alert!) magical.
I am the person that Back-to-School commercials are written for. I eat it up. When stores start breaking out their Back-to-School signage, and stacks of paper and sparkling displays of brand new pens (!) begin spilling into the aisles, I get a little shiver. Yes. Still.
I have many, many stock reasons for needing another notebook, and I can come up with a project requiring a brand new Sharpie marker on the spot if my husband intercepts me slipping school supplies into our cart.
However, since I’ve been out of school, I also feel a wistful little pang whenever I see those beautiful displays of school supplies. My time has passed. I no longer have a (legitimate) reason to buy a brand-new protractor or a 10-pack of pretty folders each fall. <sigh.>
But! This year all that changed because this year a very special piece of paper arrived in our mailbox. This year, we have a school supply list! A list! Of supplies! That we HAVE to get! From the Back-to-School section!!!
My daughter and I set a date, made a plan, and, clutching my her precious list in my hand, we headed out to the store. (Tra-la!)
Of course, she’s only 4, and she’ll be attending half-days in a pre-kindergarten classroom, so our list was mostly comprised of things like paper plates and Dixie cups (to share with the other students), but she did get to pick out a back pack and a special folder.
And I don’t think I need to tell you that we also came home with some new pencils and glue sticks (And a notebook! Everyone needs a notebook!) to play with at home. We were school shopping, after all. For the first time! I had a precedent to set, and of course, my nerd status to consider.
She’s been carefully filling up her new notebook ever since…I think she gets it.
Posted by Shannon, a Dot-arilla Blogger
