Preparing for School

Do you remember when school started? Do you recall the preparation for that first day?

One of the found memories I have of my parents is going to store to get all the school supplies. Today, we go to Wal-Mart or other megastores to get our supplies. In some schools, you just pay a fee and the school provides the supplies needed. Not back when I went to elementary, not in Monaco.

My parents would take me to this specialty store by my dad's office. It was Office Depot type but not that big. I remember getting all the needed supplies from compass to protactor to pens and pencils to erasers and notebook and so on. They were quality-made, meant to last the whole school year, if not longer.

Today, most of the supplies I buy for my children are not meant to last very long. Of course, there is quite a bit of price difference too. I think that the pricier items were a good thing. We would need to ask my mom to verify my assumption, but I believe that the pricier equipment made me more responsible. I took care of my stuff. Nowadays, when you spend 99 cents for a protractor, it's no big deal if you break it or lose it.

And then there was the most important item in a boy's accesories... le cartable, the school bag. I can see this with my girls. The one item that can be personalized is the school bag... And my girls have their own opinion about what makes for a good bag. Every year, that one item is usually the most expensive and the hardest to procure... because it has to be just the right one.

The ones that I remember were leather and were similar to a brief case. What a thrill to fill the bag with all the supplies and go to that first day of school... too bad that feeling doesn't always last the whole year.