For me, August is synonymous with back to school shopping. When my daughter was younger, we’d spend the day at the mall. I remember shopping at Gymboree. It was the easiest place to shop since everything in their clothing line matched. I didn’t have to walk from rack to rack, trying to coordinate outfits. They did the hard work for me. We’d pick out shorts, tops, and hair accessories – and we could mix and match all of them. It was a dream come true. Looking back now, I have to laugh. Although every outfit was unique, each piece of clothing was in a similar color palette so it looked like she was wearing the same clothes every day – lol.

Fast forward 13 years. My daughter now goes shopping with her friends. The only role I play in back to school shopping is that I open up my wallet and give her spending money. Man, my girl has got to get a job so she can pay for her own clothes. Especially since she’s shopping at Lululemon while I’m shopping at Target. Seriously, there’s something wrong with this system.

This year, things look a lot different. Instead of going to the mall, I bought her a few shirts online. Yes, just shirts. Who cares what she’s wearing on the bottom, you won’t see that on a Zoom call. We didn’t spend hours at the school supply section in Target. She doesn’t need new folders or notebooks. We’ve got scratch paper around the house. And she didn’t get a fancy hair cut at the salon. She got a pandemic haircut at home, compliments of myself.

Yup, things are much different this year. Leave me a comment with your back to school traditions. I’d love to know what your family does.