The commercials for back to school are just now getting started and if you haven’t started to get ready for it now is the time. Parenting is a different life then I had ever imagined.  I think that at least once or twice a day.  Even as I am in my 13th year of being a parent I am still surprised at every turn.  There is so much you never see coming and you cannot prepare for.  However parents there is hope on several fronts one of which is what and how you prepare for what you can. 

I like to begin where it all begins of course in preparation.  For me that begins with finding what I have left from last year how many lunch boxes, gloves, you know of all of those little things made it home and how many got lost in “the lost and found.”  If you are a first timer to the public school venue you just need to consider stock piling these items now as they will inevitably and continuously disappear. 

Next is the all important trip to your store(s) of choice for school clothing.  I do like to split the shopping trips and make the journey twice, as this seems to be the best way for budget, patience and amongst the other reasons to compare what you bought to what they have and may still need.

As my ten year old daughter is just now expressing herself through her clothing choices, I am expecting these trips most challenging with her.  My thirteen year old son should be much less of a worry since he has yet to find a reason to care about what he is wearing.  The challenge with him is getting him to even change outfits day to day. 

You will find a school supply list at the store in town that you almost always have to go to and you find yourself and everyone else you know there at least once a week it seems.  A word of caution here:   parents if you received a list for supplies at the end of last school year or during the summer compare that list to the new one and save yourself the potential trip back to the store because of changes. 

This as you know is the tip of the iceberg there is a lot to being a parent and this is just the start of my posts so be looking for more to come.

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