back-to-school

i have to admit, i did love the whole back-to-school shopping thing when i was young, but somehow i feel like it's become another diabolical way to convince parents they need to shop shop shop and buy buy buy. okay, so consumerism has co-opted christmas, but back-to-school? what's next? and, who came up with this whole back-to-school-shopping gimmick anyway? yes, i fell prey to it way back when, but does the next generation have to as well? my point is that kids these days (oh god, i can't believe i just said that), expect so much out of every single holiday and "event" like back-to-school that we will never be able to live up to the grand illusion. where will it end? in a few years will we be pressured into buying cell phones for our infants? because, come on folks, when babies need to be fed they don't want to have to rely on the old fashioned method of crying. they'll want to to dial her up using "my faves" and get some milk. pronto. no fuss no muss.

on another back-to-school note...i can tell the kids are getting anxious about school starting and summer ending by the way they've been pushing to do every fun thing imaginable this weekend. we've already gone back-to-school shopping (yes, i know, hypocrite), frolicked at the beach, swam in our neighbor's pool, explored the candy shop (but not in the fifty-cent sense), hung out with the cousins, and the kids even camped out in their tree fort.

what more could a small being ask for in a last summer weekend before school starts?

i totally remember getting the blues about school starting and feeling like my parents did not, i repeat, did not understand. they always tried to convince me that i would be happy to see all of my friends and i absolutely did not buy this line of bullshit. in actuality it took but a few days to get back in the swing of things and ultimately, i was really glad to see all of my friends at school again. now here i am, a stepmom, giving this very same advice to the kids and i can tell they don't buy a word of it. so, what i've realized is that they need to experience the back-to-school ups and downs just as we all did and that parents can't protect their kids from life (duh). they will be better people for it.