Lessons Learned From Back to School Shopping

I was truly amazed when I got the email reminder that it was time for our annual Employee Assistance Program school supply drive at work. We have a great team that finds ways to help our employees who may be going through a difficult time (injury, illness, reduction in hours, divorce, spouse losing their job, etc.). One of the many ways the EAP helps out is by "adopting" children of employees who need help getting their school supplies.

For some reason this appeal really spoke to my heart this year. Maybe it was the fact that we have more than 130 kids who need help. Maybe it was my overwhelming paternal instinct and the desire to help kids as sort of a practice run at providing for my own family. Maybe it was this strong sense that every child deserves the sense of pride and enthusiasm that comes with having the right resources for success. Whatever the reason, I responded to the call and decided to adopt two kids.

According to the Huntington Bank's Annual Backpack Index the cost for school supplies has increased as much as 40% (for middle school students, elementary and high school costs have seen increases in the 20's) since 2010. But what does that really mean? I was about to find out.

I'm still waiting for my head to stop spinning and the dust to settle, but the short result is that buying classroom supplies for one elementary school student and one high school student took more than one full-day's wages for me. Granted I'm not a high-level executive, but I'm well aware of the fact that I make very good money. I'm also single, with a decent amount of disposable income. But I'll be honest. When I signed up to fill two backpacks for school I did not expect it to be this kind of investment.

And let me be clear. This was just for classroom supplies. Not new shoes. Not clothes. Not sports or music equipment. We're talking pencils, paper, binders, crayons. It all seems like small things. But there are so many of them, and they all add up.

When I think about parents who are faced with this kind of bill, while also trying to provide for their children's day to day needs, it's truly humbling. I think back to the sacrifices my own parents must have made. All while I was just concerned with having the flashiest pocket folders and most bedazzled notebook accessory. And they went through this same process 12 times for me, 17 if you count the ways they helped me out during college (which make me sick to my stomach to imagine after seeing what elementary school is like).

So even though it's not a linear as saying all my wages from today are going for these school supplies I'm going to think of it in something similar to those terms. I'll work hard, and anytime things get difficult or frustrating I'll think about the time my dad came home from a hard day of work and spent 45 minutes taking me from a hysterical meltdown to actually being able to spell MASSACHUSETTS. Maybe that was the day he paid for my school supplies. I'll think of my mom going back to the department store (my baby brothers in tow) time and time again when the super cool "HAVE TO HAVE THEM" shoes I picked out kept falling apart.

When faced with thought of what it truly takes to raise a child, to make a person, my day at work is such an insignificant drop in the bucket. But hopefully it helps. I'll be thinking an praying for these kids, this family and the wonderful team I'm blessed to work with.