Pencils and Notebooks and iPad Accessories?!… Oh My

I love back to school shopping, in part because it’s a light at the end of this long tunnel called summer with my kids, and in part because I absolutely love office supplies.

So you can imagine my dismay when the school supply lists came through my inbox and the first thing on the list was an iPad pencil. An iPad pencil? For my 6 and 8 year olds? I barely have an iPad, my kids don’t have iPads, why in the world do they need an iPad pencil?

Being that person, I called the school to ask wtf. The response: we have iPads for each kid but some kids like to follow along and make notes as they go so we recommend the pencil. It’s only $99, but there are knock off versions for $12.99. It’s not required, just recommended.

So many thoughts went through my head. $99?? For something my kid will lose in 5 minutes? What’s wrong with a box of yellow pencils and a notebook for $1? My kids can barely write let alone take notes. Follow along? They can’t read yet. A knock off? Seriously? Why not just sent my kid to school in a shirt that says I love my mommy?

I understand technology and the importance and the impact on our kids, but I’m sorry, there comes a point where sometimes a good old pencil and paper still have a place in our society, especially for a child. And this is coming from a mom who has 3 video game consoles, TVs in every room and a laptop for every lap.

Am I going to buy the pencil? No. My kids are going to have to make sure with the awesome gel pens and colored notebooks that I bought them. They can use their fruity smelling erasers to correct their yellow pencil mistakes and they can carry all of those things in their Pottery Barn Kids backpacks. And they can use their fingers on the school iPads like a normal child.

In the meantime though, that pencil looks really cool. Maybe I’ll buy one for myself…