September is a month that brings back a lot of memories for me! In the form of birthdays and anniversaries. It reminds me of all the virgos in my life!!
There are happy moments and sad ones to remember too. My father, and my father-in-law both have their birthdays in September. I lost my dad in September but, there were new additions to the family in September too!!
Its also the month that marks the end of summer and time for my kids to be shown their rightful place to be in…Their School!!!! Time for me to tell their teachers..
”They are all yours! Fragile, Handle with care!”
For 3 long months these tiny balls of energy ( let me use this analogy until I can..I know, I’ll soon be the tiny ball in my family, with the way the kids are growing!) had tried all they could to make my home a noisy, cluttered and a lively place to be in, but you see, I do treasure my quite moments. Its time for me to reclaim that. Its time to push them into that big yellow bus that would take them back to their schools.
Two weeks into the school, the back to school bug seems already faded out. Now, past the scramble of getting the school supplies for our kids before they disappeared from the store shelves… I find myself settled into this new routine.
There is a calm in the air now! The usual calm before the storm when the desks are going to flooded with homework's to be complete and checked, for projects to be done, for forms to be filled out, for decisions to be made, which can be as silly as which string instrument to choose. Seems like that’s the biggest decision my kids are making right now!!! Decision making hadn’t been so exciting before. They already feel the freedom..That, they are in charge of what they want to do in life 
Tiny pleasures!!!
One decision old…and N is already taking other major decisions. She’s deciding what she wants to wear when she is going to be a teen!! Farsighted, uh!!
“Mama, can I decide what I can wear when I am a teen?!!” Like I am the one deciding their clothes now?! Nothing’s going to change then also…I will have to shell out the bucks for her dress, when she’s a teen too! right?! All this talk, so she can wear jeggings when she is a teen..like I would mind that!!
“Sure”, I say..”As long as you’re not showing more skin than clothes!!”
I’m sure, as inconspicuous as this permission feels now..its going to give me and her some stressful moments..some tears..some disappointments. I’m already preparing myself for that
Wasn’t I talking school supplies?!! I thought so too.
This year’s school supplies list had been varied as were the teachers. Some teachers had shown ascetic trends in their demands for school supplies, while, another wanted 5 composition books, 5 spiral note books, 5+ double pocket folders..and bundles of post its and index cards and scotch tapes and water colors and crayons and color pencils and markers and sharpies and dry erase markers with different tips!! The list had felt unending.
Just as their teachers, the kids have different demands too. For their backpacks, lunch bags (that they may carry 4 times a month for the love of buying cafeteria food…WoW! I must really suck at cooking, right?!). My kids wanted a more cool look this time with sling backpacks and messenger bags (the cheapest I found at Amazon for $30…no way!!) ..and lunch bags that had no remnants of the princess era they had been through. The bags need to have a cool retro look!
I took the easy route this time again! I went on the internet to find stuff because the stores never have all of them. Isn’t that an easy way to shop?! A set of markers from Crayola is going to be the same set if I find them in a store, right?! I had a lot more choice when it came to folders and sharpeners and school bags, on the internet.
I was even able to nail down the tip specifications of the sharpie marker and dry erase markers that was demanded in the school supply sheet! Fine tip, Ultra fine tip!!! Can you believe that?! Yes, those were some of the demands.
One teacher asks for specific colored composition books for each subject while for another, a stack of them would do! I didn’t’ realize that selecting a composition notebook can be such a tedious job. As soon as I saw the first composition book pop up in the search, I was happy to click on the quantity when my eye fell on the review that mentioned how the paper of “Mead” composition books have deteriorated over the past couple of years.
Ok! Let me look at another brand then, I thought. But, they need to be wide ruled and have a 100 sheets. Wasn’t the size specified too?!! I tried to remember. At this point, I realize, I’m not going to waste my effort this way!
But what if I bought something that the teacher wouldn’t’ accept? What if I bought a composition book with a paisley design for its cover, because I love paisleys? Then, the teacher could write back to me..
“Wasn’t my instructions clear enough?!!”
“Didn’t I mention MARBLE COMPOSITION BOOKS??!”
What would my daughter answer her? What if she sat my child in the last row for being so careless. What if that made her decide my daughter’s grade, already?!
Don’t they say..”The first impression is the last!”
The over protective, over indulging parent that I am..I don’t want my child to be in such a position , Would I?!!
And just as I had felt that all the items on the list have been checked off…phaattt comes another. I’m standing at the door, welcoming my excited kids, after their first day of school!
“We need Book Socks Mama!!”, the kids come inside, saying. Is this the first thing they could talk about, after their first day at school?!
Now what is a book socks? Haven’t heard that before!
Surely, I’m not going to find a socks so big that’s going to fit in all their books..Are backpacks banned in school now for any security reasons?!!!
Turns out, it’s a fabric or stretchable wrap for a book to keep it secure. So, I’m back to the internet to order some book socks. Now, what size was that supposed to be? I order Jumbo sizes…
After we got it…the next day, N comes back from school saying..
“Mama, the book socks doesn’t fit..its not even stretchy…”
“OK! you’ll have to do without a book socks now!!” At this point I didn’t care if her teacher will mark any grade for her…
Collecting all the school supplies is such a pain for any parent. The demands are so specific. Looks like the teachers make sure that its not as easily available as it was to her/him!! Or maybe, they want to put the parents to test!! Lets see which parent is the most persistant..won’t give up so easy. or, maybe they want to check out which parent is the most resourceful kinda person. Knows where to find what!!
I feel thankful that they just request for “A box of tissues” and “Sanitizer” instead of “A box of tissues with Aloe” or a “Strawberry Scented Sanitizer” because the kids might get allergic to the regular sent!! That would have been atrocious!!
I’m happy, I’m through filling in the class supply list for this year! .. Maybe not..Am I? Well, I hope so!!
To be continued…….
No comments:
Post a Comment