Back to School with Gigi

September means GOING BACK TO SCHOOL! What traditions can you start with your grandkids that will enhance their going-back-to-school experience?

I once had some guest teachers from Japan visit my classroom. They told about a great Japanese custom for starting the school year. Their schools usually start in April, a time of new beginnings and renewal. When their students are starting a new school year, the whole family participates in the commencement to show their support at the beginning of the year. Oftentimes there are celebrations at school with family and friends coming in to show their encouragement. Small gifts are frequently presented to the student. I loved this custom and decided to implement this with my grandchildren. One of the ways I do this is with a gift bag or a mailed care package.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL gift bag~

​Often my gift bag is placed at the door in a "ding-dong-run" fashion. Or I might leave it at the back step for them to discover when they return home. I have varied the contents of the gift bag through the years. It might include:

• School supplies to have on hand at the house for homework and projects
• Notebook paper and printer paper (Families can never have enough.)
• New clothes for school
• New personal journals for home
• Personal notes of encouragement from Poppa and me

This year as my grands are getting older, I opted to include some framed inspirational quotes for their rooms. I considered the goals, activities and the personality of each child. There are various sites on line for finding words of inspiration such as brainyquote.com. Then just pick out some appropriate frames, and you have a sweet gift for a grandkid heading back to school.

For my grandson, who will be playing both football and basketball this year, this sports quote seemed in order.

For my granddaughters, these framed sentiments seemed perfect! And of course match their decor!

The gift bag and its contents: various school supplies to have on hand at home, new tee-shirts for all three and the framed inspirational quotes.

Delivering the bag. Uh oh! They caught me!