Editorial: Have you had your child’s school stationery list yet?

I don't know why my child's teacher thinks they need this many pens and crayons, but I don't care wither, writes Ilona Hanne. Photo / Unsplash

From blue pens to a specific type of colouring pencil, boxes of tissues to rulers and whiteboard markers, over the years I have brought a wide range of things as directed on the dreaded school stationery list.

For those lucky readers who don’t have the foggiest as to what I am talking about, enjoy your ignorance, it really must be bliss. For those of us with school-age children however, at some point in January, we have to fight the battle of the school stationery list. If you are lucky, this is nicely emailed to you by the school with easy-to-find items listed. Less lucky are the parents who discover a dog-eared copy of the list under a rotting apple at the bottom of the school bag a week before school is back.

The contents of this list can vary greatly, not just between schools, but between teachers and classes, with some simply asking for a couple of pens in different colours, a pack of colouring pencils, a ruler, a pencil sharpener and three exercise books all the same size. Those lists exist... somewhere. Not many parents have seen them though, and those who have speak of them with wonder in their voices...

Okay, maybe I am slightly exaggerating that last part. It isn’t an exaggeration however to say that school stationery lists tend to become a hot topic with parents over January. Posts on social media asking exactly why a 6-year-old might need so many black pens get numerous responses, with every second comment sharing another “unnecessary item” their child’s list asks for. What really irks many parents is that some teachers then collect all the stationery in, and dole it back out, pen by pen, as each child needs it. It becomes part of a communal source in those cases, along with the tissue boxes and other items the stationery list sometimes requests.

Over the years, the stationery lists at our house have been an assortment. Some years I have been madly hunting down an exact brand of felt tips, while other years I have stood in Paper Plus Stratford wondering exactly what 7-year-olds do all day to require 10 blue ballpoint pens. There was the year the list included a request for a ping pong ball (I never did find out what that was needed for as we moved towns, and therefore schools, before it got used), and the year one of the exercise books listed appeared to be as hard to find as the Loch Ness monster.

One thing that stays constant, however, is that on the first day of the new school year, I happily send my child in with all the items requested by their teacher. Whether I think they need 20 yellow crayons or not, if that’s what the teacher has asked for, that’s what I will send in. Actually, if the teacher asks for the Loch Ness monster, I will do my darnedest to find the elusive Nessie and send her in too. Why? Because I am not the teacher, I am not running that classroom, so I am going to let the person in that role tell me what they need. My job is to provide it.

Teachers don’t, generally speaking, actually ask us to send in fictitious lake-living creatures, they ask for the things they know will be needed for the lessons and activities they have planned. Some teachers specify particular felt tips because they know the problems caused when cheaper brands snap and leak ink all over your 7-year-old’s artwork that they spent most of the term working on. Others ask for a particular type of ruler because it’s the right length to enable your child to do all the measurements their math unit will require in one go. Basically, your child’s school pens and pencils are their tools, just as a hammer and nails are for a builder. As a parent, my job is to make sure my child has the right tools that are up to standard for the work ahead.

As for the number of whiteboard and permanent markers required, most parents know that lurking at the very bottom of the art drawer at home will be several, if not dozens, of pens missing lids. Children don’t always put the lids on things properly (as anyone who has opened a precariously stacked fridge door in a home containing children might have found out) and pens dry out quickly.

So I don’t care if I am asked for communal supplies or individual ones, specific brands or generic ones. I don’t care if the teacher needs 25 ballpoint pens or just one, or ping pong balls (in fact, I wish one would ask for them so I could find out what they might have been used for at that last school) because I know making sure my child and their classmates have the right tools for their learning is worth the effort. I also know, if I don’t send in the requested tissue box, or whiteboard eraser, then when it’s needed, the teacher will be supplying it and probably out of their own pocket too.

So when you get that stationery list this year, be it neatly emailed, or apple-smeared, try your best to fulfil it and start your child off with the right tools for the year. Oh, and if their list includes ping pong balls - do let me know, maybe this will be the year I find out what they could be used for.