There’s no getting around it now. The season is upon us. Time for the activity that brings dread to the hearts and minds of most parents. You know what I’m talking about: shopping for school supplies. Every year I promise myself it will be better than last year, but I still haven’t figured out the magic formula to make it a pain free experience, or at least less painful. Shopping for school supplies is an appropriate blog topic for now, and ideally, the writer of a blog about shopping should be able to offer some tips to make it less painful for all of you, too, but I must be honest and say I don’t think I can be of too much help here. I have not mastered this myself, so I don’t have too much to give right now except the comfort of knowing you are not in this alone. You know- misery loves company, and all.

So, I write this blog in the spirit of solidarity.  Also, in the spirit of humor. Humor always helps and expressing some of my frustrations with irony will help me feel better, too. I have a couple of helpful tips that I don’t follow myself, but I can still share them. It’s a little late for probably the most useful tip, which is to start early so you don’t feel bombarded and pressured at the last minute. Oops! But the art of procrastination is an art only if you can actually put the stressful task out of your mind until you actually are ready to tackle it. If you think about it and allow yourself to get stressed while you are procrastinating, well, you are not procrastinating successfully. So, my second tip is this: If, like me, you have not started in on the daunting and dreadful task of school supplies shopping, don’t worry about it! That’s what I’m trying to do and I think I’ve been doing it well. See- I’m not stressed. Here I am, sitting at my computer, joking about shopping for school supplies.

Something else that might help is being organized. Make a list so you know exactly what you  need. The best thing is when your child’s school sends a detailed list before school starts so that you know what to get and you won’t have to go back later. Of course, this never happens to me. So I make a broad list before school so the kids have something to bring to get started- some pencils and erasers, scissors, crayons, and a few notebooks. Then I have to brave the stores again when the teacher(s) give out the lists. The supplies list always includes some crazy item like tincture of iodine, or paper in some rare and unusual size, and the kids must have everything by the next day or there will be consequences! Yay! Homework for Mom!

A positive attitude will help- keep calm and power through. Some Advil might help ward off the inevitable headache. Ordering online means no lines in the stores, but somehow this never really works for me. And my kids love going to the store to choose their stuff. I just thought of the best tip: try and get someone else to take them!