And so it’s August. The month when Halloween decorations start shamelessly appearing in the shops. When the season changes and autumn begins (never mind your meteorological calendar nonsense; I know what I learned in senior infants) confirmed by the language of our great nation.
August is followed by September, or Meán Fómhair – the middle of autumn – as we season experts prefer.
It’s that time when the back-to-school panic sets in as you realise, once again, how hard it is to source properly fitting school trousers for very tall, slim boys. A time of strange but inevitable shift in your school holidays vernacular when you move from “#Day1729 of the summer break in the Big Mother house, and I’m questioning if the children’s allowance is actually worth all this” to “Oh sweet Jesus, in just four weeks’ time, we’ll be back to homework hell”.
Before all that, there’s some serious flinching for your wallet to do. And the planning for that often starts well before they’re due back. Every year the same conversations happen about crippling back-to-school costs. And every year it appears to be a storm and an eight-year-old Department of Education circular that just needs to be weathered – until the next year.
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But in the midst of frustration about the perennial conversation, there are a few small things that you can do, to try to ease the financial burden just a little bit.
[ Third of parents expected to go into debt to fund back-to-school costsOpens in new window ]
Put the WhatsApp groups to good use
“Impossible,” I hear you cry. But no, it’s true. They have other upsides beyond reminding you of form deadlines, cake sales, uniform and tracksuit days, and the many other things you forgot to remember. They are a perfect place for back-to-school uniform swap shops. How often have we found ourselves with items of uniform (particularly those crested ones – but more on that later) that are in perfectly good nick, with no younger siblings to pass them on to? Enter the WhatsApp group and a general message offering these to any takers, and the doors have been opened to reciprocal offers. Or even a straight-out suggestion of a WhatsApp school uniform swap shop. Good for the pocket, good for the environment and good for cluttered houses. It’s the circular economy in motion.
Look at what you already have
Shiny new schoolbags, lunchboxes, beakers and boxes of crayons all look great on display in the shops. But are they really necessary? If by some miracle you got to the end of the year with a lunchbox that still has a lid, then a new one may not be needed. And if your child’s schoolbag isn’t too junior themed and is in perfect working order, then perhaps a new one can be crossed off the list. It’s easy to get caught up in the pressure to have all new things as children embark on a new year in school, without properly surveying what you already have and what condition they’re in. So maybe have a proper check down the back of the couch before buying that new box of Twistables.
Choose your activities wisely
After-school activities can be one of the costlier aspects of back to school. But while parents might like to offer their children the opportunity to try lots of things, free time for children is also essential. Something to remember if you’re feeling guilty about what you can afford. If you’ve more than one child, these costs can quickly mount up, so keep an eye out for sibling discounts – and if you don’t see any offered, ask. Nothing ventured and all that. As for any costly equipment/football boots and so on that might be needed, or outgrown spares that you may have, there are those WhatsApp groups.
Ask questions
Possibly too late for this year, but like I said, perennial conversations. The cost of those pesky crested uniforms really shouldn’t be the source of financial stress for parents that they continue to be. In 2017 the Department of Education issued a circular requesting school authorities to adopt a number of measures, including: “(a) All elements of a school uniform should be purchasable from various stores; (b) Only ‘iron-on’ or ‘sew-on’ crests should be used; (c) Wherever possible, generic rather than branded items should be specified (eg uniform, clothing, IT tablets, sports equipment etc).”
And, yet here we are, eight years later, and not all schools have adopted these measures. If your child attends a school that hasn’t, you might wonder why. That’s a question for your school’s board of management.
Resist temptation
Don’t get sucked into buying any of those Halloween decorations.
