forbes & marshall
Most Wonderful Time of the Year? by Michael Forbes It's late August and, like some parents, I was scrambling to find the school supply list for the "most wonderful time of the year" … back to school. Why is it whenever we get to Staples, the shelves are picked clean and we spend part of our precious summer wandering around looking for a "metric ruler, intermediate, plastic 30 cm." I mean, what is that exactly? It seems more like a nuclear launch code than something you'd find on a school supply list. I also discover that there's always one thing missing, but your kid "totally needs it" or they'll look stupid. I remember when Noah was 11, we just couldn't find him a drawstring gym bag. On back to school eve, he goes to bed in tears and I do what any parent would do: I drive around for an hour-and-a-half looking for one. I ended up buying the material and then sewing and gluing one together. I was up until midnight. They found me early the next morning with a death grip on the needle and plenty of glue-induced drool. After all that, my son ended up complaining that he was teased the first day because he was the only one in his new class that didn't bring a plastic grocery bag for his gym shorts. The items themselves I don't really have a problem
with – it's the quantity. How could one child possibly need 48 wooden pencils? Those crazy crank sharpeners are to blame. The next time someone complains that our forests are disappearing, don't lash out at the pine beetle, blame the list. They should make them whittle the ends off their pencils with a spoon. It's also too bad that my seamstress skills are limited to gym bags, because I would somehow "make" my boys' back to school clothes to save money. It's really amusing that you pay the most for the jeans that look like they got their butt wupped in a knife fight. It can't be done in a factory either. To be authentic, it's like they have to be worn in for a month by a rough and tumble kid on his coffee break while working in a Hondruran sweatshop. Leading up to back to school, we must also be sensitive to the fact that not everybody has children, but they have been inudated with the pounding message that summer is over. Even though September always behaves summery, there is no fun allowed after Labour Day. The kidless are the ones that would probably support school all year round because they could finally have their summer back. I would like summer back too, because despite having to keep them entertained every moment and break up fights, I miss my boys being home. Well it's back into the routine this month and we realized that we did miss a couple of things on their list that they totally "must have." I'm trying to find a "poly-vinyl folder w/ pockets & prongs," so I type it into Google, praying that at the same time, a bomb bay door is not slowly grinding open at a missle silo somewhere in Iowa. Forbes & Marshall are the hosts of Ocean 98.5’s popular morning show. They are one of the few married morning show teams in Canada and have two children, Noah and Adam. Join Forbes & Marshall weekday mornings from 5:30 to 10:30 a.m.
We’ve Got It & We’re Here to Help You Find It! From inside to outside, we can help with all your projects … So you can start enjoying summer sooner
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SEASIDE TIMES | september 2012