Back to school. We are all trying to squeeze the last moments of summer into already busy schedules these days. But parents and kids alike are turning their eyes to school starting in the not too distant future. A colleague of mine shared this story:

“My 12-year-old REALLY wanted to go school shopping last night, new shoes, sweatpants and school supplies. I REALLY did not want to go shopping after a long day at work, finally coming home, etc. So we were sitting on the couch and he showed me on the laptop the shoes he was interested in … then he called a shoe store and they didn’t carry those, even though their online store did. So it turned out that we ordered his shoes online, searched and found a 20% off coupon which more than covered the shipping. Then we went to staples.com and bought his school supplies. I missed touching all the paper products, for sure, but it was so simple and sane. We could compare prices, we didn’t impulse buy because we weren’t tempted like we are in a store — we got just what we planned on getting and had a nice time together doing it.

• We saved money. I taught him how to look for coupons and price compare.
• We didn’t run around, stress out.
• We still kept it a “sharing” thing — I didn’t just do it, he was checking things off his list, choosing colors.
• We didn’t buy things we didn’t need.

Another colleague added a further “sanity saver.”  Along this line is a website called shopittome.com and the technology from RSSCheck. You tell them the things you are looking for, i.e. deals,  and that is what pops up.”

These moms know how to use technology to teach their kids “smart shopping” as well as save their sanity in these busy days.

-Dr. Dave

National Institute on Media and the Family