
 |
|
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
August 30, 2006
/ 6 Elul, 5766
Anxiety amid the glue sticks
By
Lenore Skenazy
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I'm not sure which is more depressing: Passing the bathing suits on their rock-bottom sales racks, or seeing the happy moms on their way to the three-ring binder display. Am I the only one who regards school supply shopping with the cheer usually reserved for pet burials?
I know this should be a time of joy: The kids are growing up, they're starting a new grade, they're growing up did I say that already? But when I realized that my fifth-grader didn't even have crayons on his list anymore, I felt like I might as well go drop him off at college or the office. How swiftly flow the years from paste to pens to PCs! Then I felt guilty for feeling good when I saw that his list included Band-Aids.
Still young enough for boo-boos. Hooray!
"The school year starting is like a birthday," said Kit Yarrow, a psychologist attempting to explain why some parents feel so bummed cruising Office Depot on a summer's day. "But in September, it's you and all the other moms saying, 'Gosh! My kid is a fifth-grader!' " And by the way, she added darkly, "Just wait till he's 13."
I'm waiting. And in the meantime, I am in the school supply aisle, trying to get the 1 zillion, god-are-these-teachers-anal items to send with my son on opening day:
-
50 pencils (50? Are there beavers in his class?)
-
One package EXPO brand low-odor, chisel-tip, dry-erase markers (could you be a bit more specific?)
-
One box of tissues (for me!)
"What I want to know," asked mom Katie Wilkinson, "is when they say, 'Crayola brand,' do I have to? 'Pack of wipes' is that baby wipes or disinfectant wipes for the desk?"
Why does getting all this right matter so much to us, anyway?
A friend of mine believes that when we shop for our kids, we revert to being kids ourselves. If you're an ex-goody-goody like me, you want to impress your teacher by being, as usual, perfect.
Maybe the non-goody-goodies are the ones who shop so cheerfully. Their self-worth does not hang on wresting that last pink eraser Back off, witch! It's mine! from the other mom about to grab it.
But the real source of my anxiety is clearly this: By the time you're buying erasers, you are facing the inevitable: school. And with school comes another year of dragging your kids out of bed, juggling who will pick them up, goading them to do their homework, inviting them to go to bed, ordering them to go to bed, threatening them: It's 9:30! Lights out! And then spending the next hour signing all the crumpled forms you find in their backpacks.
Their dear little backpacks, with the Reese's wrappers and origami footballs in them.
And the school supplies, of course, because you have a school-age kid. And deep down, you know you are very lucky.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Lenore Skenazy is a columnist for The New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here.
Lenore Skenazy Archives
© 2006, NY Daily News
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|