6 Very Real Ways You Know It's Back To School Time

It's back to school time--here's how you know:

1. Free stuff on the side of the road: If you live in a University town like Waterloo or London or Guelph, you'll start seeing all kinds of good stuff internationally left on the side of the road outside of dorm buildings and apartments. This is a great time, if you're a DIY'er, to find your next chalk-painted shelf or cabinet.

2. Strange people: I saw today a young woman stumbling down the street rolling two suitcases in her hands and gripping a very large teddy bear between her arm; her face bearing the look of someone navigating strangely new streets (pun not intended). You'll see many of these people in a University town suddenly converging on the streets and cafes, and standing on porches and veranda landings wondering what next. 

3. Annoying commercials: We all see them on TV, reminding us of all the stuff we supposedly needing to buy for the new year. Look--it's not all necessary. By November, much of that stuff will be lost or used up, and your son or daughter--or you yourself--will be wielding a pencil nub found under the couch or a gaudy pen from your last business conference in the Muskokas. Don't get trapped in the commercial pressure.

4. More pressure: Suddenly your calendar is starting to look busier, and you have more obligations for your kids, from music and sports lessons, to ensuring you've purchased all the items from the school supply list (see #3 above). Whereas summer was simple and the kids were left to their own devices, you are now being itinerized from their side also. 

5. Itinerized Itinerized: Great word eh? Had to repeat it here from #4; I heard it from a rather ostentatious parent once at my child's school--she and her family were just "way too itinerized..." Lovely word, terrible reality. Don't be pressured to schedule yourself or your kids into over-activity--there's a great deal of life to be lived while we're making plans. (Hey, I might make up a song with that line!)

6. School memories: Sending your kids on the bus to school, or watching them lugging oversized and overstuffed backpacks with more consumer products than we as kids ever carried in our lifetimes bring back memories of our time in school--good or ill. We are worried that our child will be safe, will not fall behind, that the teacher will like him or her... While your schedule will also increase this fall, it's important to be present for your child or children: don't let school take the place of your important parenting; don't think they're fine because they come home and tell you so; don't believe it when you are told that the education of your child belongs to the school and not to you. Your children will need you more over the next 10 months than they did over the last 2. 

There is a common joke--largely perpetrated by television and radio commercials--that back to school time is the "most wonderful time of the year"--don't be fooled. While having your children out of your hair for the next 10 months may sound glorious, it's not something to take lightly. Children are the most precious beings in our lives, and they need us every step of the way to adulthood. To be a parent in this world, sending your child to school, should not be "the most wonderful time of the year," but the most vigilant time of the year: you will need to be watchful of how well or ill your child is developing intellectually, socially, spiritually, emotionally; and you can't trust others to do the job of a parent for you.