In the drugstore, when I got lost looking for shampoo and ended up on the "Back to School" aisle, I saw a mother with three young children picking out school supplies.
The girl wanted everything pink. The boy wanted anything "Spider-Man." The baby wanted something to chew on. And the mother wanted a break.
"That's it," she said, "we're out of here!" Then she popped a wheelie with the cart and made a run for the checkout counter.
I wish I could've seen what she had in that cart. The last time I went back-to-school shopping, my three were not much older than hers. But they were still doing homework with pencils, not computers. Things have changed a bit since then, in ways both good and bad.
Still, it made me wonder. What does a child really need for school? To find out, I asked a panel of "experts" -- parents, teachers, grandparents, students and a few folks I met on the back-to-school aisle. Here in no particular order are "20 things kids really need for school":
1. A No. 2 pencil and a willingness to erase.
2. A healthy respect for themselves and for others, especially for their teachers.
3. An awareness that the world does not revolve around them and that they alone are responsible for their actions.
4. Parents (or grandparents) who teach by example a love for reading, learning and life.
5. An assurance that school is a good, safe place; their teachers will like them; and their parents won't leave town without them.
6. An understanding that school is their "job" and no one else can or will do it for them.
7. A system for exchanging communication between school and home; a backpack for notes that need to be signed; an emergency phone number that always answers; a quiet place and a consistent time to do homework; a daily chance to read aloud and to be read to.
8. A plan for getting to school on time every morning and back home every afternoon.
9. A pet to care for, clean up after and come home to.
10. A public-library card and regular chances to use it.
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