Back to School: Thing I Missed.

On Monday, my Kate went back to school. This time, she’s a first grader.

Her first couple of days went really well overall. However, as with any transition, there have been a few bumps in the road, so when Target asked us to write about things we missed but will remember for next year, I was all over it. Had they asked us to write about what brilliant tips we had for making back-to-school season seamless or how to keep homemade bread fresh in a BPA-free hand-knit lunchbox, Jenny and I would have had a good laugh and then told them they’d better go find themselves some other bloggers. But screw ups? We’re your people.

*ahem*

Without further ado, I bring you my list of things I will try to remember next year.

1) Regardless of when our school year starts, I will go shopping early. Like I said, Kate started school this Monday, which was a solid week (or two) behind most of the districts in our area. I thought I was relatively ahead of the game by taking her to Target for school supplies 10 days or so before she went back (it was NOT the night before, I swear!), but I failed to take into account that all the other prepared moms kids had already done their school shopping, and by the time we got there, the school supply aisle looked like a war zone. We still found everything we needed, but the selection wasn’t what it would have been had I been a little more on the ball.

2) I will have a camera on hand for the obligatory huge-backpack-on-a-little-kid first-day-of-school picture. Our camera died while we were on vacation, and I’ve yet to replace it. Fortunately my sister took one for the team and got up early to be our photographer, but it still meant that I took crap pictures with my cell phone once we were actually in the building. However, I would like to point out that I at least remembered to take the pictures, unlike a certain co-blogger/cousin of mine who shall remain nameless.

3) I will buy bread. Kindergarten is half-day in our district (which is really super handy for working parents, but that is a story for another day), so last year she ate lunch after school at her sitter’s house, which required no effort on my part. This year, however, she is there from 9-3:15 and for whatever reason won’t agree to just wait til she gets home to eat, so I have to deal with school lunches. I thought I was all ready to go – she had a new monogrammed Lands End lunchbox and matching thermos (am I good or am I good? Oh wait, Grandma ordered those for her) but when I got ready to actually pack her lunch, I discovered I had no bread. Awesome. So I had to convince her that buying her lunch on the first day would be super exciting. Miraculously (because we never, ever have cash) I was able to scrape together $2.50 to put in her backpack. And while I’m on the subject – $2.50? Seriously? When I was in first grade, lunch cost 90 cents and if you were cool and had a dollar, you could get a cookie with the remaining dime. (I ranted about that to my dad last night, who said that when he was in school, lunch cost 2 cents. I don’t really believe that, because really unless they were serving tree bark with a side of rain water, what good would 2 cents do? You know, the whole “up hill both ways” routine.)

4) Finally, I will realize that the “I walk home!” badge is meant for her locker, not to be used as a name tag. See photo above. That thing I taped on Kate’s chest? Definitely not a name tag. Of course, I didn’t realize that until we got to school and to my horror none of the other kids had their mode of transportation brandished on their person. I slyly ripped it off and I don’t think she noticed, but I’m sure her teacher did. I am all about making good first impressions.

This is totally the story of Kate’s life – she is the guinea pig in our grand parenting experiment. Hopefully we will have these things down by the time Sam is in first grade. But who am I kidding? I’m sure I’ll screw up plenty of things for him as well.

So let’s hear it – what did you miss in the back-to-school craze this year?

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This post was sponsored by Target, but the idiocies described are completely my own.