To be amazed that people still haven't bought their school uniform?

[llamajohn]

Kids go back on Tuesday. WhatsApp Group is alive with "argh, I can't find X item" or "where can I get the book bag"?

As if it's been a complete surprise that their child is joining reception and the uniform shops and supermarkets have been closed since June...

Why would you leave it to the last moment?

It's only school uniform, you can actually buy it year round. 🤷 I order a bunch of stuff a size up from last year a few weeks before. Anything that fit in June will physically go on in September even if it's getting short. The uniform shop with the branded stuff is open year round and a ten minute drive away.

Don't know why you'd panic, don't know why you'd be smug.

Totally agree, having a go at staff is never acceptable. Tbh it's not an issue especially if it's stuff you can get from the supermarket as it will be in stock somewhere else! We struggled with second son as his older brother regularly skipped a year in clothes as he grew so fast so went from growing out of 6-7 straight into 9-10 by the time I got new 😆. Shoes have always been our biggest challenge though and the bloody secondary PE kits with their random sizing and mandatory logos

The main reason that I was shopping yesterday was a mixture of holiday, Needing to wait until payday and the fact my 15 yo son is literally growing in front of my eyes so waited until the last minute. He has grown out of his blazer over the summer and his feet have grown a size at least (Finished the term in 7’s that were just getting a bit small and now in 8.5). As it’s his last year and will be done sometime in may I’ve literally replaced the bare minimum that he needs.

Actually it's not that I'm super organised in the way that most people are m&s did the 20% off school uniforms months back and I save tons of money by starting my Christmas shopping in the boxing day sales 🙃 for example getting £120 perfume sets for £50!

Waiting so it fits? Or waiting until they have enough money. Or, me, years ago, assuming that it would fit only to discover, two days before the new term that it didn't fit. None of it.

Yeah it’s just way too organised for me!

It's worth it for the money lol 😆

I work pretty much 7days a week in the summer holidays and ds who is 13 keeps having growth spurts he wouldn’t fit In them if I got them at the beginning/ before the summer holidays

What a bizarre thing to feel superior about

A) my kids don't go back on Tuesday - it's later in the week
B) focus on your own family and stop worrying about how other people parent

I've actually got mine, but these sort of posts wind me up immensely

Plus, this

Good for you OP. Meanwhile in the real world people have money worries and all the rest of it.

Thankfully we aren't in that position anymore but I remember vividly the July payslip having to cover the holidays that the kids were off and the sheer volume of extra food they got through let alone anything else so it was always August payslip to cover uniform and yes we know all year round however saving anything isn't always possible when your struggling to pay bills

Don't be a smug twat

Uniform was purchased months ago but book bag will be on the day as school has been closed and the parent app hasn’t had the option for book bags over the summer

My sister passed away in the summer holidays last year, which meant I got caught up in the last minute scrabble to get everything ready for the kids a day or two before term started, because I had more pressing issues on my mind for most of the holidays

I remember as a kid always feeling a bit dispirited and deflated when "Back to School" marketing and stuff started appearing everywhere about halfway through the summer holidays (as it was then).

I understand why companies do it, and I understand why parents might want to prepare early if they can, and I understand that some kids wouldn't mind or would be happy at the thought of going back.

But personally I always wished I could just be allowed to enjoy the holidays without constant reminders in shops and newspaper adverts and everywhere else of the looming imminent return to school.

We returned today after a 2 week holiday after we both not stopped working during the summer juggling childcare and work...thought I was organized buying school shoes before we went away....but dd feet grow whilst we were away so on a school shoe hunt. Yabu. Theres lots of reasons why people don't shop till the end. One being money. Lots reduced now.

If I had bought at the beginning of the summer it wouldn’t have fit, plus her feet have just gone up a size, went on holidays, shoes fit, by the time we got home the other week they didn’t. It is a pain, I’ve just got her sorted but kids are growy.

Also the school uniform shop has specific times and dates at the end of summer (I was away when it opened) and today was the only day I could make it.

I could have been more organised with some other bits and bobs tbf.

My younger child has gone up a shoe size since the beginning of summer holidays and my older one can't do up his trousers that fit him perfectly 6 weeks ago. They also fit him when he tried them on last week. Now they don't. It's the same every year! Last year his shoes fit him on the Wednesday and by the Friday he literally couldn't get his foot in the shoe they were so small. So we shop last minute!

I’ve bought the basics but can’t buy cardigans and logos as our house move is now going on month 10 of hell and I don’t actually know what school my child will be attending. I want to be organised but I simply can’t be and I can’t even tell my reception starter if she’s starting at one the other or if I have to homeschool her for the first half term

Someone feels a bit superior today don't they.

Well done OP, you're very organised. Shame about the rest of the personality.

So basically you're bragging about being rich and well organised. Well good for you.

Why would you be annoyed?

Well one year I smugly bought new school shoes at the beginning of the school holidays, and one little bugger grew a whole foot size in 6 weeks. I obviously fed him too well.

Last year I bought DDs school shirts in the 20% off that M&S do in June / July. By Sept they didn't fit, literally gaping at the buttons. Luckily they have a 90 day return policy and all but one was still in the original packaging. So this time last year I was panic buying school shirts.