School Supplies + Labels

lots of labels

Kindergarten was three weeks away.

In the haze of counting down the days until my oldest started kindergarten, my phone buzzed with a reminder that the used uniform sale at Caroline's school was that afternoon.

The used uniform sale was in the school basement that evening. My niece was visiting for the week, and I confidently announced we’d leave at 5:15pm so we’d be among the first families there. I wanted enough time to make sure I could pick up the jumper we needed and another red polo. Plus we needed to pick up school supplies at Target after and I didn’t want to be out too late.

At 6:10pm we loaded into the van.

We drove 10 minutes to her future school and as I began to unbuckle Caroline from her car seat I remembered the uniform sale was cash or check only. The car was getting hotter in the late July sun as I checked the glove box and the center console for any hope of an emergency cash fund that I always said I’d keep in the van for moments like this.

With not even a collection of coins to conjure up, we drove back home, got the checkbook, and headed back to the school basement where we culled through bins of khaki and navy uniforms that sat on folding tables against the cinder walls.

We picked out a pair of size 5 blue pants and two (used to be white) polos.

I wrote a check for three dollars.

We re-loaded into the van and headed to Target.

Earlier that day my niece made Caroline her own school supply shopping list in Canva. She found colorful graphics and wrote out each needed supply item in big bold letters. Next to the letters she made thick check boxes that would be easy for Caroline to read and go through- item by item - to mark off the selected purchase.

Caroline clasped her supply list securely to the brown clipboard we borrowed from a friend and began her shopping. She refused to go out of order from the list and clicked her sparkly pink flats up and down the Target school supply aisles.

Each time she added an item, she read it aloud and made checkmarks that went from right to left in the appropriate bolded checkbox:

3 packs of Crayola Classic Color Markers added. Check.

6 large (.77oz) bottles of Elmers glue sticks. Check.

We repeated the routine with crayons, erasers, folders, and a pair of scissors that I hoped were left-handed.

We checked out and headed home.

At home, my niece and I unloaded the supplies and confirmed against the list. At the top in bold type we read: Please label ALL of the supplies below with child’s name (including each individual marker and crayon).

I did some quick math. I came up with 126 items that need to be labeled. I imagined us writing out the 8 letters of her first name and 5 of her last onto the paper wrappers of 72 crayons. There was no way.

The next day, we borrowed the Brother P-Touch label maker from my work and I put my niece to work.

She typed C-A-R-O-L-I-N-E into the machine, adjusted the margins, and we watched thin white strips emerge with her name printed in black capital letters. My niece peeled the backing from each label and wrapped it around the barrel of every crayon, marker, and colored pencil before tucking them neatly back into their Crayola boxes. Curled ribbons of paper gathered across the table as we worked.

I hope she’s the only Caroline in Kindergarten.