How to be a Better Dad: Back to School Shopping

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How To Be a Better Dad is the Fatherhood and co-parenting section on SingleDad. This month, learn about how to prepare yourself for back to school shopping with your kids… Read more.

How To Be a Better Dad:
"Back to School Shopping"

How To Be a Better Dad is the Fatherhood and co-parenting
section on SingleDad. This month, learn about how to prepare yourself for back to school shopping with your kids.

Back to school shopping

It’s
that time of year once again: time to send the kids back off to school, but not
without first going through the annually dreaded school shopping. Every new school year students come
home with a long laundry list of school supplies required, as well as their own
personal desires. Regardless of
the miles of thread contained inside the closet and dresser drawers in their
rooms, when it’s time to go back to school suddenly nothing fits right anymore and
everything looks bad or is too outdated to be seen walking the locker-lined
corridors of a public school. Yes,
single dads, it’s that time of year once again: time to go school shopping.

Depending
on how many lists you have to shop for, late summer can be an expensive period
of time for single parents especially, thus making it essential to stretch
every dollar possible and be thrifty when you hit the markets. One of the biggest mistakes made by
parents when shopping for their children to go back to school is
over-buying. You can avoid this in
two simple ways: first, either wait until after the first day of school to talk
to the teacher and see what he says is absolutely essential to complete the
year with success, or second, buy only the minimum. Don’t let your children run the show; keep a leash on your
wallet and establish a strict budget to keep you on track.

Shopping

One
way to cut your cost of school shopping by a fraction is by opening a line of
communication between yourself and your child’s instructor. As a single parent, it’s never a bad
idea to be in communication with your child’s teacher(s) and it’s never too early
to begin! Talking to the teacher
on the first day of school shows your commitment to your child’s education and
your desire to be a part of their journey, and you’re also able to get to know
them better right from the start.
Asking what will be crucial for the course and learning the expectations
set by the teacher and public schooling system will not only help out you and
your checking book, but also your child and their future.

Buying the essentials

Another
approach to school shopping is to only buy the essentials – the things that are
absolutely, irrefutably necessary.
This means things such as paper, pencils, and a calculator. While your child may be upset with you
because "all the other kids" supposedly get so much more, they will learn to be
grateful for what they have and learn the difference between wants and needs in
life. As a parent, you still want
to make sure your child is provided with not just the things essential to life
but also things that make that life enjoyable. It is your job to make sure your child is supplied with all
he needs to succeed in life; and it is then his job to use the tools given to
him to make his life a success. By
buying only the essentials from the get-go, you’re teaching your child
important life lessons he will carry with him beyond the end of this school
year.

Students Running

Whether
you’ve got a full car of kids or one with a few empty seats, this summer after
you take your children school shopping it is certain you do not want to be left
with an empty wallet at the end of the excursion. Set a budget, stick to the list, and communicate with the
school in order to avoid over-spending and buying too much this year when you
hit the stores.

Back to school checklist Click Here

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Richard JaramilloRichard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com,
a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children.
RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents
“Make Life Happen…Again!”

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Richard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com, a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children. RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents “Make Life Happen…Again!”