It is the last day of school and a celebration for kids everywhere. Moms however watch their kids skipping home with 50 pound backpacks and ask the same old question: “what the hell do we do with all this end of the year crap?” All their stuff accumulated from the entire school year now lies in a messy disgusting pile on your living room floor.
School supplies once so perfect and new in September now huddle together crumbled and abused after eight months of living in your child’s backpack. Or as I call it the black hole. There are chewed pencils with half eaten erasers, dried up markers with no caps, unused highlighters in 15 different colors, dirty erasers, sticky lollipops, piles of crumpled papers, broken binders, ripped folders,the stapler I have been trying to find for six months and a writing journal with only one entry: “what I did on my summer vacation”.
While every September sales at Staples skyrockets, in June sales of garbage bags at Costco reach an all time high. Well that all depends if you are a newbie school parent or an experienced one with middle schoolers. The newbies keep everything. They lovingly go through every paper written and every art project as well as ohh and ahh, and post them on Facebook. They compile every last item into an expensive glittery box and custom engrave on it “kindergarten masterpieces”.
The old timers have learned to ditch the sentimental attachment and be practical. We throw everything out. We keep maybe one or two writing samples to have something to show for our ridiculous private school tuition. All other crap goes in the garbage. The sanitation department has to hire extra trucks the week school ends.
School supplies once so perfect and new in September now huddle together crumbled and abused after eight months of living in your child’s backpack. Or as I call it the black hole. There are chewed pencils with half eaten erasers, dried up markers with no caps, unused highlighters in 15 different colors, dirty erasers, sticky lollipops, piles of crumpled papers, broken binders, ripped folders,the stapler I have been trying to find for six months and a writing journal with only one entry: “what I did on my summer vacation”.
While every September sales at Staples skyrockets, in June sales of garbage bags at Costco reach an all time high. Well that all depends if you are a newbie school parent or an experienced one with middle schoolers. The newbies keep everything. They lovingly go through every paper written and every art project as well as ohh and ahh, and post them on Facebook. They compile every last item into an expensive glittery box and custom engrave on it “kindergarten masterpieces”.
The old timers have learned to ditch the sentimental attachment and be practical. We throw everything out. We keep maybe one or two writing samples to have something to show for our ridiculous private school tuition. All other crap goes in the garbage. The sanitation department has to hire extra trucks the week school ends.
Oh, did I mention the science projects. Every semester my son insists on after school science. Every year he comes home with the same disgusting silly putty. (That does not come out of hair easily) This year the teacher mixed up it. Alex came home one week with a bird feeder made from an old sports sock. The following week he made a potato plant wrapped in pantyhose. Either this teacher has a serious foot fetish or is cleaning out her sock drawer.
Now for the school bag. Putting your hand in that bag at the end of the school year is a dangerous and risky move. One never knows what you will find growing at the bottom. Best advice: burn the bag.
Once the disinfecting is done parents can then enjoy the summer months of no homework and the only mess is ice cream dripping across your kitchen floor. All is balanced and tidy. Well, until the school supply catalogs start arriving in July and the cycle starts once again…
Now for the school bag. Putting your hand in that bag at the end of the school year is a dangerous and risky move. One never knows what you will find growing at the bottom. Best advice: burn the bag.
Once the disinfecting is done parents can then enjoy the summer months of no homework and the only mess is ice cream dripping across your kitchen floor. All is balanced and tidy. Well, until the school supply catalogs start arriving in July and the cycle starts once again…
Marcie Gandell is a full time Westchester NY Mom to three boys and a part-time web designer. She is also a cook, housekeeper, chauffeur, handyman, expert negotiator and an excellent juggler!
Read more from her at her blog, Random Stupid Thoughts, a Mom's View of the World
Read more from her at her blog, Random Stupid Thoughts, a Mom's View of the World
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