Back to School Must-Haves

I grew up as part of a generation that didn’t get excited about back to school shopping. All we wanted to do was make the most of each day of summer vacation, and a day or two dedicated to back to school shopping was an unwelcome and protest-sparking interruption. In today’s world, the great majority of kids love to back to school shop, as their clothing, water bottles, notebooks, and pens can be an avenue to fitting in with the peer group by sporting what’s most popular. Of course, this should always spark us to talk to kids from a Christian perspective about materialism, stewardship, identity, and marketing. But considering some of what’s being seen in the hallways now that our kids have been back to school for several weeks, you might want to laugh regarding today’s must-haves. The list includes old school 1970s era bic four-color pens, the 1980s trapper keep notebook, Crayola crayons, black marble composition books, and old school Texas Instruments calculators.