Today, after three busy months of relatively carefree bliss, our boys reluctantly returned to school. So now our household has a sixth grader, a second grader and a teacher who still gets that pit in his stomach when August ‘Back to School’ season comes around.
Personally I think the infamous ‘Back to School’ sales are a retail gimmick designed to entice parents to spend more money after the summer sales dip. It may boost the third quarter sales leading into Christmas but it only depresses the kids who want summer to never end. Fulfilling those supply lists every year guarantees our stash of unused college-ruled notebooks and unsharpened number two pencils will never be exhausted. I think I could make an interesting sculpture out of our partially used glue stick inventory.
The big ‘must have’ back to school item when I was in sixth grade had to be the Trapper Keeper. I don’t even know if they make them anymore, but looking back it’s ridiculous to think that us kids were getting all hyped up over a three ring binder with a velcro flap. I guess it was kind of cool. After all, it DID have two pockets and punched folders! It wasn’t long before the blank colorful outsides of the Trapper Keeper sold out to merchandisers of kids’ toys, cartoons, movies and television shows. Soon, it became more difficult to get your hands on just a ‘plain’ one which frustrated me to no end. (I was no sell out!) Besides, I preferred not to advertise to my entire school that I, too, watched and loved Scooby Doo in sixth grade.
After the initial rush for school supplies subsided you could always find heavily discounted Trapper Keepers in the bargain bins. I felt sorry for those boys whose parents cashed in on these deals and ended up spending their entire year carrying around a Trapper Keeper emblazoned with a cute trio of kittens playing with a ball of yarn or a mythical unicorn majestically perched in a rainbow-filled sky. My parents were very practical and budget-conscious people but even they wouldn’t subject me to such ridicule.