Economy won’t impact shopping
CITYWIDE — Labor Day weekend might serve as a respite from work, but it doesn’t provide immunity from the madness of back-to-school preparations.
With schools set to commence this week, parents have been scrambling to stock up on supplies for the coming academic year, snatching up the essentials, from backpacks to pencils.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District has tried to relieve the stress from the shopping experience by asking all of its schools to release a suggested list of class materials that students should purchase before the start of the year.
William Grant began hitting up Target and other stores last week using the list, purchasing items for his son, William Grant Jr., who will begin the first grade at Roosevelt Elementary School.
“It’s hectic because you still have your job and this is his job that (my son) is getting into,” the elder Grant said. “But it’s exciting for him, he gets to meet knew kids and have a fun time.”
Grant, whose family recently moved back from Maryland, said he didn’t refer to a school list when his son first entered kindergarten last year and ended up buying unnecessary supplies, joking that he didn’t want to be the parent whose child was short on pencils and paper.
“There were so many glue sticks and crayons and notebooks and pencils,” Grant said.
Dave Steer, a spokesman with GreatSchools.net, an online resource for parents looking for information on schools, said that the back-to-school jam can be avoided by waiting until after classes begin.
“A great practice is to get a baseline of supplies like pens and notebooks and wait for school to start,” Steer said. “You can gauge what the child actually needs before breaking out the shopping list and going to the mall.”
The end of the summer typically delivers a good level of business for children’s clothing stores as students want to start the year off with a new wardrobe.
Miel on Montana Avenue, a store that caters to kids from newborn to 10-year-olds, has been seeing more and more shoppers coming in the past few days, but is expecting a rush immediately following Labor Day.
“A lot of the kids come in and are excited because they are going to school and picking out their first day of school outfit,” Miel owner Stacey Riggins said. “A couple of kids have to wear uniforms to school and the minute they get home, they rip them off and put on the new clothes.”
Experts believe the current economic downturn will not have an effect on spending during the back-to-school craze as many parents have set aside a portion of their stimulus checks for purchases.
The National Retail Federation, the industry’s trade organization, found that in a survey of more than 8,300 respondents that the average family will spend nearly $600 this year on back-to-school purchases, up from approximately $563 the previous year.
Anthony Patino, a marketing professor at Loyola Marymount University, said that when it comes to spending money on education, parents will not skimp, despite the economic climate.
He warned that as a result, retailers who experienced a higher-than anticipated level of business shouldn’t expect the same success around the holidays.
“When children are in school, people find ways to devote funds in that direction,”Patino said.
Parents could find ways to save money by looking for sales and shopping online where there tends to be a bigger discount, Patino said.
With new technology being incorporated into the educational experience, electronics spending is expected to continue to rise this year. The National Retail Federation estimates that parents will spend more than $151 this year on technology-related purchases, up from $129 last year.
Much of the purchases typically include items like computers, mobile phones and portable music players, which can be used to store non-entertainment related documents and notes.
“Plenty of colleges require students to have laptops now,”Shawn Dubravac, an economist with the Consumer Electronics Association, said. “It’s no longer a luxury for students to take technology to school, but a necessity and requirement.”
Dubravac added that more students are carrying mobile phones as their functionality increases.
“Parents recognize kids can do a variety of tasks on mobile phones,not the least of which is keeping in touch with home,” he said.
PREPARING FOR A HEALTHY SCHOOL YEAR An important aspect of back-to-school preparation — one that might be overlooked in the hype that surrounds the shopping experience — is ensuring the students are in the best physical shape to take on the new year.
Parents should begin taking their children off the summer sleep schedule in advance of the school year, tucking them in bed earlier at night and waking them up at a reasonable hour, according to Virginia Barrow, a pediatrician at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA and director of the pediatric residency program.
“Kids like routine,” Barrow said. “They function best when they have routine.”
One item that parents might want to put a considerable amount of thought into is the backpack. Barrow suggested purchasing a backpack that has wide pad and shoulder straps, packing light and organizing to use all compartments. The backpack should never weigh more than 10 to 20 percent of the child’s weight, she said.
“Weigh the kid, weigh the backpack and reassess,” she said.
When it comes to lunch, parents should consider packing something for their kids during the first few weeks, especially if the students are in elementary school.
Sending children off to school with something that reminds them of home — such as a lunch box packed by mom or dad — will give them comfort during the day.
In terms of the contents of the lunch box, parents should avoid packing juices and sodas and opt for healthier items like fruits and vegetables.
Most importantly, Barrow suggests involving children in their lunch choices, making the experience more fun.
“Involving kids in those choices will help increase their comfort level,” she said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 30, 2008. Read the original PDF.