Parents brace for back-to-school costs

It's that time of year again when parents of school-age children look frantically at their bank accounts and wonder if they will have to take out a second mortgage to pay for all those back-to-school supplies and clothes.

Even with the upcoming sales-tax holiday, it won't be cheap.

Students today expect to return to school with the latest styled backpacks, clothes and accessories.

For teenagers, in particular, nothing is cheap.

And Missouri's sales-tax holiday doesn't apply to watches, jewelry, handbags, scarves and other accessories.

Unfortunately when it comes to today's fashion, teenage girls are all about accessories.

I can't keep track of all of Becca's purses. One just wouldn't do even for a 14-year-old.

Girls are picky about their notebooks too.

Becca and her younger sister, Bailey, pay strong attention to color. Just any colored notebook won't do.

Whatever happened to lined paper, a basic, black binder and No. 2 pencils? School work today seemingly can't be done without colorful Hi-Liters.

Of course, I confess that I'm not an expert when it comes to school supplies.

My wife, Joni, is in charge of the shopping trip for school supplies.

And, yes, that shopping trip always involves school clothes.

I'm convinced it's impossible for moms and daughters to go shopping without looking at clothes.

In the same way that men gravitate to hardware aisles, women focus on those endless racks of clothes.

The other day we stopped at a local hardware store to buy some new doorknobs. Naturally, I wanted to browse through the aisles of tools, decorative lights and other items.

But not Joni and the kids. They wanted to go straight to the display of door handles.

It would have been far different in a clothing store. I would have rushed to get in and out while they would have planned an all-day outing.

Thankfully, the sales-tax holiday does include footwear. Women view shoes as an extension of their clothes. Everything has to match.

In addition, they need to stock their closets with enough shoes for every occasion.

Girls start early on such shopping sprees. By the time they're teenagers they are certified shopping queens.

Back-to-school shopping fits right into their culture, particularly when mom and dad are footing the bill.

It's the one drawback to the return of school. But as we all know, education isn't cheap.

And it involves more than the basic back-to-school supplies or even the latest fashion attire. Parents end up paying for everything from PTA dues to school T-shirts. Even school pride comes at a cost.

But even faced with the threat of personal bankruptcy, parents can't help but be thrilled with the start of a new school year.

It means an end to those out-of-school costs such as day care, eating out more and the cost of all those movie and municipal-pool passes.

The start of school also means fewer requirements to chauffeur children around during the work week.

And while we want to do our part to help the local economy, we hope our children get educated to the true cost of growing up.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.