It’s Not About The Pencils

The boxes at the local stores hold the typical items. Scissors, notebooks, crayons, pens, and pencils. It’s back-to-school time and kind people drop a small purchase into the collection box to help the area children. It is a generous gesture in these wonderful communities. But sometimes a back-to-school item has nothing to do with the desk supplies. Enter the world of the school counselor. They know a successful on-boarding into a new school year has very little to do with tape and paper and so much to do with personal projection.

“M” had been the smelly kid. Last year was tough. It wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t lazy or a kid that hated to shower. It was just her and mom in the apartment. They couldn’t afford laundry soap and the coins to wash the clothes. She used the bar soap in the sink and hung the clothes from the shower rod, but it never quite eliminated the smell. Dingy, gray, and smelly was how she felt. Going back to school with the same situation seemed overwhelming. For “M” back-to-school never included the word shopping.

Her school counselor knew this struggle. She had the power to make a difference. With Care for Kids money, she purchased a laundry hamper and filled it to the brim with laundry soap, dryer balls, shampoo, a few shirts and shorts, and a bag full of quarters. It wouldn’t last forever, but it would launch this sweet child into a new school year on level ground.

With all these obstacles removed, the new pencil might be all that is needed to do back-to-school perfectly.