Back 2 School: On School Supplies

Hey everyone! I'm excited to announce that today begins my Back 2 School Guest Post Series! I have a bunch of awesome bloggers who have come together to produce a series of wonderful posts for you, all focusing on going back to school. It's August, we're all getting ready to get back into our routine and we're trying to figure out life for the new school year. I don't know about you, but it takes us a few weeks to really get into the swing of things and I'm always looking for new ideas.

This series will bring you funny stories, creative ideas and put you in the Back to School frame of mind. I'm going to kick this week off with a post of my own, and the rest of the week will be my fabulous friends.

So, let's talk school supplies. I don't know about you, but I have a love for office supplies. Pens, pencils, post-its, I love it all. But when that list comes out and it's time to go shop for school supplies for KBug... I dread it. Because KBug isn't a big fan of shopping for all of it. We get into this The List Says vs. KBug Wants craziness and it can be a mess. The List Says she needs a green folder, KBug wants a pink one. The List Says she needs white erasers, KBug wants the cute dessert shaped ones. The List Says she needs a roll of paper towels, KBug wants the ones with flowers printed on them. It's ridiculous!

Suffice it to say that I have stopped doing Back to School shopping with KBug. It all gets done in random pieces throughout the summer so she doesn't notice, and when we get the actual list she usually spends a couple of hours with Gramma. It's just easier that way.

But I have to admit she has a point sometimes.

I understand the necessity behind having an eraser. I completely understand that some erasers work better than others. That's not the issue. But why exactly can't she have the dessert shaped erasers? Why does it have to be the plain white erasers that take seventeen trips to WalMart to find? It probably has something to do with the fact that teachers don't want to deal with children fighting over them. And I get that. But at the same time I think she should be able to express herself in little ways. The poor child goes to a Catholic School with uniforms so she looks exactly the same as everyone else right down to the white, above the ankle socks on her cute little feet. I think a little self-expression in the form of an eraser could be acceptable. Am I wrong? Probably.

Folders. Finding folders is crazy. Why? Because KBug needs multiple folders. But they can't be the fun ones that she likes. They have to be solid colors. But KBug doesn't want the red, green, blue and yellow ones. She wants the purple and pink ones. Alright, kid, it's getting old. Back to the basic colors we go. But now that I've convinced her that The List Says it has to be the basic colors, we can't find the right kind of folders. I would think it would be easy to find a set of plastic folders in basic colors. But it's nearly impossible. Walk into any store with a Back to school section and you can find the entire row of folders right at the front. But are there any plastic ones? You might be lucky to find 3. Maybe. But I'm not that lucky, apparently, because I'm pretty sure I still don't have a full set for her and she starts school on Thursday. Oops!

Now let's talk pencils. I'm a fan of mechanical pencils. KBug is a fan of mechanical pencils. The List Says she has to have regular pencils. And they can't be the pencils in fun colors, no, they have to be the standard, yellow, number 2 pencils that have been around since the beginning of time. Therefore no pink or purple or blue for KBug. Honestly, I really don't care about this one. And KBug deals with it well. But why can't she have the fun ones? Again, back to the self-expression thing above.

Backpacks and lunch bags. Finally an area KBug can make her own decisions! These are non-specific and allow a little self-expression. But then KBug has to make up her mind. Does she want the blue backpack or the purple one? Does she want a little horse icon on the front or a tiger? Does she want her full name or just her first name? What about initials? And then she gets to pick the font and thread colors and it's a lot for a little girl! I'm amazed we only had to look at all the lunch bag fabrics three times and not fifteen! And choosing a thread color? That was a ten minute exercise in Mama's patience.

What else is there? Oh, ponchos. It rains here. Quite often. And sometimes it rains without notice. The sky could be clear blue, but then there's one cloud that comes through and decides to open up and pour buckets on us. So the students are required to have ponchos. But KBug doesn't want the plain yellow one from the store here. Nope, she wants a fun one. A princess one, maybe? Or perhaps it's Tinkerbell? I'm lucky enough that we have managed to hang on to the same one since she was 4 so I haven't had to purchase a new one. But one of these days she's going to finally grow and I'm going to have to get a new one. I'm not looking forward to that day. I'm really not looking forward to that day.

I'm sure there's more I could right about the craziness that is school supplies, but I can't come up with anything else right now. So there you have it. My thoughts on Back to School supplies.

Stop back in tomorrow for a post from Karmen over at 2+2=4 and a Pup. She has some awesome tips and tricks for making your early school mornings a little less chaotic!