Back to School in Memphis

Moment of honesty: These first few weeks of school have thoroughly and unapologetically kicked our butts.

The kids are 16, 12, 12, and 10. The adults are 40 and 39. Waking up at 5:30 a.m. to stretch, because the body I went to bed with isn’t the same body I wake up with, is meh. Trying to help the kids remember which days are “even days” and which are “odd days” according to their respective school calendars is confusing. At this point, may the odds ever be in their favor. Hubby is getting tired of restating the importance of completing one’s homework before pickup. And Life360 tells us every time y’all make a detour to McDonald’s. So after a successful professional development, the turning in of late assignments, permission to proceed with their STAR Tutoring program, and the start of ballet season, we decided we needed a break!

Cellar Tabletop Games & Comics

I’m a big proponent of literacy. Kids need to know how to read and comprehend what they’ve read. And I’m a firm believer that reading shouldn’t only take place at school or be a form of punishment. That’s why, when the kids needed a break from school but not from reading, we headed to our local comic book store. Comics are great for increasing vocabulary in kids and adults. Plus, they’re really, really interesting!

We went to the Cellar Tabletop Games & Comics. As it was a Saturday, the place was packed! There were Pokemon games going on, as well as Dungeons & Dragons. My kids went straight for the Marvel comics, while a DC comic, Nightwing: The Secret Origin of Bea Bennett, caught my attention. My husband gushed over the Superman comics and tried earnestly to get the kids’ attention. They were almost about to fall for the bait until they found an Animal Crossing comic. They couldn’t resist a comic with their favorite video game characters. The kids also scored some Scott Pilgrim comics. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what your teen or tween is reading, as long as they’re reading. Comic books? Great! Lego instructions? Wonderful! Reading the back of a cereal box? Cool! Reading the cheat codes to your favorite video game? Even better! Reading the Memphis Flyer to find events to add to the family calendar? Get to it!

Aldar Cafe

I remember when I was in 10th grade, someone told me, “Prior proper planning prevents a poor performance.” So in order to have a good week, I like to take time to plan out things that need to be done and add items I’d like to remember to my calendar. This has worked really well for me. So I’ve decided to get the kids used to this same habit. So we went to Aldar Cafe on Summer to plan out our week and read. I ordered the sensible Arabic breakfast with red tea since it was 9 in the morning. Hubby had a latte and pieces of my breakfast platter. The kids, on the other hand, ordered a vanilla milkshake, a strawberry milkshake, a cream cheese croissant, and a slice of cheesecake.

We organized our calendars, adding after-school meetings and activities, Mario Kart tournaments, sewing clubs, and important assignment due dates. The kids also got into good games of Uno and Jenga. All of our shoulders relaxed and we smiled. Now as soon as we got home, pajamas were in full effect.

And yes, we’re still buying school supplies! A moment of transparency: We did not purchase everything on the kids’ school supply list. We pulled mostly from our supply stash and reused old binders. We made sure they had pencils and paper, but our wallets truly dictated when and what supplies we bought prior to school starting. But those aren’t what we’re still shucking out money for. We are now in the band dues phase. We are parting with our dinero for leotards and jazz shoes for dance class. We’re saying au revoir to our wallets for STEM supplies. And the 16-year-old’s college art class necessities are costing a crisp Benjamin! Luckily, his professor created an Amazon cart of all the supplies needed, and his art teacher vetted the list and told us local places to find the items even cheaper. (Now Mr. Benjamin Franklin doesn’t need more friends.)

And we will continue to ensure they have whatever they need to be successful in school. They might not get it when they want it, but they’ll definitely have the supplies when they need them.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to take your own break from back-to-school busy-ness!

Patricia Lockhart is a native Memphian who loves to read, write, cook, and eat. By day, she’s an assistant principal and writer, but by night … she’s asleep. @memphisismyboyfriend

A familiar sound has returned. The wind carries the brassy notes and errant cymbals of practice through my neighborhood as a nearby high school’s marching band tunes up for football Fridays. I think (hope) they’re supposed to be playing “Hotline Bling,” but they don’t quite have it down.

The aisle blockers at Target and Walmart are no longer on the hunt for Pokémon. Instead, they’re diving into racks of white polos and navy khakis. They’re checking off items on a wrinkled sheet of paper as they count out glue sticks, red pens, five-subject notebooks, and three-ring binders.

It’s a little endearing to see the supply list still going strong, in spite of the technology that’s come around since my mom and I argued over Lisa Frank folders way back when. I wrongly assumed Amazon would put an end to the pageantry of school shopping and those parent-child showdowns in front of the backpacks. “Are you SURE this is the one you want? I’m not buying you a new bookbag when you decide you don’t like (insert whatever the kids are into these days here) anymore.”

Yobro10 | Dreamstime.com

Last Wednesday I even received an email at work assuring me that it’s “not too late to think about back to school for my retail clients.” Actually, marketing automation software vendor, it is. Now that the conventions are over, television is one long commercial with some tweens dancing in front of lockers. Because it’s that time again.

Some schools are already back in session. But the school year really kicks off in a few days when our Instagram and Facebook feeds will be overtaken by the images of drowsy children wearing brand new sneakers and toting lunch boxes that likely won’t make it past Christmas break before being forgotten on the playground. “My First Day of Third Grade!” a Pinterest-inspired placard reads. “OMG third grade already? I can’t believe she is so grown up! It seems like she was in diapers just yesterday! Heart eyes emoji” our mutual friends will remark in the comments.

I can list about a million things I do not miss about school. Math and science rank high on that list, followed by undressing for gym class and then participating in gym class. Most of all, it saddens me that there is no “adult life” equivalent to the new beginning that is the First Day of School. Until high school, when “cumulative GPA” becomes part of the equation Day One is Square One. Everybody’s got straight A’s on the first day. It’s a chance to make a first impression on a new batch of potential friends and on the teacher, who, by the way, is holding it all together even though she has no idea which student is which.

My teacher friends are my heroes for so many reasons. They spend their summer “vacations” planning, attending workshops, and cramming in as much time as they can with their own children before they re-dedicate their lives to educating other people’s. I don’t know how they do it. Never mind the long hours, inadequate pay, the administrative responsibilities, and paperwork — the mere thought of spending seven or so hours a day with a roomful of kids and their questions terrifies me. Especially during this bizarro election year. Isn’t there, on some level, a moral obligation to discuss it, at least in social studies class? How do you simplify for a child a series of events that defy logic for adults? What do you do if some kid says something like “Donald Trump is going to make America great again”?

I don’t know how I would respond. Wait, yes I do. I’d say something rude like, “Well it’s a good thing you’re too young to vote, because even the members of his own party don’t believe that.” Or I’d accidentally let slip an F-bomb. Then the kid would go home and tell his parents, and that would be the end of my career. That right there is why I could never be a teacher.

So here’s to you, patient and saintly educators. And here’s to you, parents, as you finalize carpool plans and try to figure out why your child needs to provide six boxes of Kleenex and 40 reams of printer paper. And, to the students, good luck. Pick out your clothes the night before, get a good night’s sleep, and make sure you eat breakfast. Don’t get lost, and try not to do anything that will earn you an embarrassing nickname that lasts your entire life. Go get ’em.

Jen Clarke is an unapologetic Memphian and digital marketing strategist.