In eight days I'll have a first grader in da house, and: a) I have done next to nothing to prepare and b) I'm pretty darn fine with that. It's like having that second baby. For the first one, you spend 47 hours trying to pick out a stroller and another 47 washing all the newborn clothes (the ones my jumbo-size infant didn't even fit in anyway) in that silly baby detergent. When the second one comes along, he gets the hand-me-down stroller and his clothes get washed next to the socks your husband wore the last time he mowed the lawn. And you know it's okay.
Really, there are just a few basics that a new baby really needs, and the same goes for first-graders. Backpack? Last year's is fine, and so is the lunchbox (actually, I think we ended up with about four of those last year). School supplies? Ordered through the PTA last May. Clothes? Her closet is overstuffed as it is. In a few months, if I realize she's short on jeans or tights or long-sleeved tees, I'll fill in the gaps. Underwear? Covered. The only thing left to do is replace the gym shoes we bought a year ago.
Occasionally I have a fleeting moment of "shouldn't I take her shopping, make a big deal out of it?" Then I decide: Nah. There are plenty of other ways to celebrate the occasion, and most of them don't cost a cent.
... today's confession brought to you by PBN and Hanes Kids.
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11 comments:
Ordering school supplies through the PTA? Ooooh, sign me up! I went to THREE different stores and still couldn't find all the requested brands.
M's school provided all the school supplies for Kindergarten last year. Not so for first grade, but it was still easily managed.
I hear you on the clothes too.
Not slacker - efficient! And green!
I tried the "Let! Us! Pick! Out! New! Clothes!" but my boys rolled their eyes and told me the ones they had right now are justfine. So now I'm gonna go blow the non-existent wad of cash on some back to school duds for ME.
(You're not gonna let her get a cool midriff-baring top to show off that well-earned scar?)
That's pretty much how I feel, too.
But I'm liking that order-through-the-PTA bit! I'm going to suggest that to our PTA.
"surfing " and found you. Definitely be back. definitely.
I am SO buying our school's preassembled school supply packs in the spring through our PTO. That was a huge pain in the a** as it turned into the great hunt to find the nonexistent storybook journal. #$&*@#
Ha! Another reason to homeschool. :) No pesky back-to-school shopping.
Aw - sweet.
I'm right there with you on the slacker mom thing.
You're my role model in this area. And I love that you can order school supplies through the PTA. I should suggest that.
From a mom of a recently-married 23-year-old son, currently-in-college-but-living-at-home 20-year-old sib, and a just-left-for-college 17-year-old daughter, a wholehearted ditto!
Except for the part about not needing a new backpack. My kids were always pretty hard on them, and a new one every year was always justified.
P.S. Followed your guest-post at Mrs. Chicken's. Well done (I'm a professor's kid, too!).
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