Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 9:01 a.m.
All right, parents, in case you don't know, it's back-to-school time -- and time for that annual trip to the mall to purchase those essential items every child needs for heading back to the classroom.
We need to say right up front: It is important that children stay in school, because without an education how are they going to be able to figure out the Clark County School District's complex year-round system and know when it's time, years from now, for their own children to go back to school?
The track break has totally confused the back-to-school shopping issue. A brief explanation: Students are assigned to one of five "tracks" that begin and end classes at staggered times -- which essentially has them attending classes throughout the year.
Aug. 28 is CCSD's official back-to-school day -- but that's for students on the traditional nine-month system and for Tracks Two through Five.
Track One students are still on break and don't go back until Sept. 18 -- the day that Track Two students begin their break.
My 8-year-old daughter, Lee, completed second grade a little over a week ago. She is a Track Three student and will only have been out of school for three weeks when she returns.
So does Lee really need to go back-to-school shopping? How much could she have grown in three weeks? Do they need more crayons in third grade than second?
"Most of my crayons have been stolen," Lee argued in favor of shopping.
"Someone broke into your classroom and stole your crayons?" I asked.
"I loan them to my friends and they don't give them back," she said.
"They don't have their own crayons?" I asked.
"Theirs were stolen," she said.
Later, heading out the door, I made sure I had everything essential for the back-to-the mall field trip for the back-to-school day.
Wallet? Check. Shopping list? Check. Daughter? No daughter.
Where did she go? I found her in the car, impatient to get going.
But go where? Which store at which mall?
Shopping tips
Wherever you go, there are some guidelines every parent needs to know before starting out. Wal-Mart's marketing department unselfishly provided a few tips:
* Talk to your kids. Ask them what's cool. Encourage them to educate you on everything from toe socks (socks with individual compartments for your toes, sort of like gloves for the feet) to leopard-print handbags.
* Make shopping fun. Go with your kids and tie in lunch (Wal-Mart has a lunch counter).
(. Use your time wisely, says the marketing department, and shop at a place that has everything (such as Wal-Mart).
Lest one think the mega-department store chain was self-promoting with its tips, the spokesman also suggested that parents "know your limitations and check with your local school on dress codes."
I knew my limitations but not my dress codes. I asked my daughter what she couldn't wear at school.
"You can't show your belly button," she said.
"What else?" I asked.
"No tank tops, and the bottom of your shorts have to at least touch the tip of your fingers," she said.
"What about platform shoes?" I asked.
"Not good for P.E.," she said.
With the codes firmly in mind, we set out for Fashion Show mall -- home of Neiman Marcus, Robinsons-May, Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard's and other upscale stores. I thought I would take Lee on a fantasy shopping trip before introducing her to reality.
The Robinsons-May department store has quality merchandise, not overpriced but higher than I'm used to paying. A tie-dyed shirt cost $22; faux snakeskin pants, $27.99.
Faux animal-skin prints are in this year -- fake snake, zebra, horse, leopard, leather (called "pleather").
But Lee's favorite item was the faux fish, displayed among the Christmas items already on sale on a counter at the back of the store. The fish that captured her attention was Big Mouth Billy Bass ($29.99), which hung above the dancing Santas.
The next stop was Neiman Marcus, where I rejected Lee's pleas to buy a $300 giraffe twice her size. She said she could take it to school for show and tell.
"Do they have show and tell in the third grade?" I asked.
"Sure. Then I can take it home and play on it," Lee said.
She liked a thin, cotton dress that had a price tag of $250, on sale for $125.
According to one published report, American Express figures that families will spend an average of $548 for school shopping this year -- up 20 percent over 1999 and the sharpest increase since American Express started keeping count five years ago.
That number might equal two purchases at Neiman Marcus.
Father-daughter bonding
Leaving Fashion Show mall empty-handed -- but with a full wallet -- we went to Meadows mall.
No. 2 on the Wal-Mart shopping tip list was to have lunch with your child, so we had a burger at the mall's food court.
"It tastes burnt," Lee said.
"It's charbroiled," I said.
"It still tastes burnt," she said.
After the father-daughter bonding lunch we jump-started our back-to-school shopping spree.
"Let's find the pet store," Lee said.
"We're here for back-to-school stuff," I said.
"I can take a puppy to show and tell," she said.
The current top five "cool" brands for teens, according to American Express, are Tommy Hilfiger, Old Navy, Nike, Gap and Polo/Ralph Lauren. But there is no end to the list available: Calvin Klein, Express, Bugle Boy, J. Crew and DKNY, to name a few.
Lee is still in the Pokemon phase.
My wife, Carol, has a simple philosophy about such things.
"Trendy crap is crap," she says, especially clothes. "It will come apart after a few washings. Or it will disintegrate in the dryer."
Lee and I roamed around Meadows mall, visiting Sears, Macy's and other stores.
Howard Couch, the JC Penney store manager, said a lot of students are buying dormitory items whether they are in college or not -- things for their bedrooms, such as a small microwave that comes in assorted colors ($99) and a small refrigerator ($199) to hold their soft drinks.
"That would be neat," Lee said. "When you're grounded you can go to your room and make some popcorn and have a Coke."
Couch said the hottest clothing item for girls in his store is pleather. "It's a very shiny synthetic fiber."
For guys, the hot items are zip-off cargo pants, plaid short-sleeve shirts and embossed T-shirts, Couch said.
Britney Spears is hot this year; the Spice Girls are not.
"I don't like the Spice Girls anymore," said Lee, who attended the recent Spears concert at the MGM Grand and is now a devoted fan.
Sears was pushing the popular platform shoes, bell-bottom pants, a hand-cranked solar radio and Pokemon everything.
Among the school supplies at Sears were pens that light up, so you can write in the dark, and gel pens, touted as having acid-free ink.
Gel pens are apparently the new rage. The ink comes in colors that are metallic, pastel and fluorescent -- in tones with names such as orange splash, lime jazz, peach melba and banana split.
The gel pens supposedly write on anything, including black paper. Black paper is also in, because you can write on it with gel pens.
Lee likes gel pens.
"You can write on your hand and it comes off easy," she said.
After Meadows mall, we hit the stores where I could feel like a big spender -- Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target.
Judy Friesz, children's department manager at Wal-Mart on Craig Road, said people are buying toe socks.
"And hats with logos; things with pony, zebra and leopard prints, Capris (pants), things that have things around the bottom like tassels and embroidery," she said.
Also, the Powerpuff Girls (the girls' counterpart to Pokemon) are hot.
By the time my daughter and I reached Kmart, my head was swimming from all the merchandise we had seen.
It was like a minefield of clothes, accessories and school supplies. What do we buy? Pokemon? Powerpuff? Barbie? Pooh? What about a calculator, protractors, erasers, glue and spiritual beads?
I needed reinforcement, so I called my wife, who arrived at the store in time to stop me from making any major purchasing errors.
"No plastic shoes," she said, "they're hot and sweaty. These clothes here are too hot for summer, but not warm enough for winter.
"When you buy clothes you have to determine how much time you want to invest in it after it leaves the dryer. Do you want to iron it or not? Ironing is an investment of time and time is money, which adds to the cost of the clothes," she said.
I knew that.
"Brand names add 15 to 20 percent to the cost of the item," she said, "so be careful there. And you have to watch the sizes. Every brand's size is different, so she needs to try everything on."
Lee is hard to shop for because she is so tall and thin.
Then, much too abruptly, Carol said, "She needs a training bra."
"Won't a T-shirt work?" I asked, taken aback by the sudden announcement -- nowhere on the shopping list, which included crayons, pencils and erasers, did it mention a bra.
"Look at her. She needs a training bra," she said.
Too flustered to continue I hastily abandoned my wife and daughter so they could complete the back-to-school shopping chore.
archive
