I hauled the Sunday paper in this past weekend. The back-to-school shopping circulars added heft to the normal weight. No surprise--even without the tax free holiday weekend. We're all gearing up for the coming school year whether it be for our kindergartener starting afresh or for our college-bound student leaving home anticipating a new set of adventures and opportunities (some of which, we hope, are educational).
May I make a parenting suggestion? Try to increase the ROI on this back-to-school shopping season. Here are 3 quick tips:
- Ask your student to create the shopping list. This may require some research on his/her part. You were going to do it, right? Why not hand it over to your student? A younger child might need some additional assistance, but be the partner. Don't take over.
- For late elementary students and beyond, ask your student to create a budget for school supplies. Again, some research is in order. You might want to incentivize your student by giving bonus cash for money saved by poring over ads and shopping for deals. And, for high school students, why not include clothing in that budgeting process? You can dole out the money in quarterly increments to provide some relief if poor decisions are made in the heat of the moment.
- Celebrate what is learned...and I'm not just talking about what your student learned. That's a given. I'm asking you to take time to reflect on the activity. Have you been a parent who has been less eager to hand over responsibility to your student? Can you acknowledge this to your student? You may even be willing to take a bigger risk and allow your student to point out when you are taking over aspects of his/her life when you shouldn't be.
Do you have other back-to-school shopping tips? Please feel free to post your suggestions. 🙂
Parents, just remember that your job is to encourage* your student. And that takes courage*!
* Encouragement=the space we make for our children to become their best selves. Courage=the movement we make in the direction of becoming our best selves.
