School bells ring, and children sing...
That's how those insipid ads began, many moons ago, for the Robert Hall's clothing stores in suburban New York. (They're out of business now, a merciful development.)
I hated those ads. They reminded me that summertime would not last forever. They reminded me of teachers' faces and textbooks and long rows of desks and long days in classrooms.
And those infernal ads always began in JULY. They didn't even have the decency to wait until mid-August.
Who does "back-to-school shopping" in July?
Girls do. My own girls love it. They love the shopping and they love the start of the school year.
I know that's a good thing. I could sense my younger daughter's excitement today when I went with her to her orientation at her New Haven school, where she is about to begin 8th grade. My other daughter is equally excited as she contemplates entering 10th grade.
I think it's a "girl thing" vs. a "boy thing."
Yes, I think it's different for boys. For one thing, boys don't like to shop very much, and certainly not for school supplies or school clothing.
And maybe boys are more attuned to the free-swinging lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, and so are more resistant to those days ending.
I don't have any boys, so I can't do an in-depth comparison study. I can only remember my boyhood, and how my brothers and I felt about it, as well as our male buddies.
We hated these days.
Yes, we even tore down some of those "School's Open" posters that were put up all over our town, a warning to drivers and a taunting reminder for school kids. It was our little way of rebelling against the clock ticking down our summer freedom.
I know it wasn't mature to do that. But maybe we weren't very mature kids. I'll admit it.
My kids are lucky (in my opinion) that, unlike students in many other school systems, they don't have to start school until after Labor Day. I think that's a very civilized way to do things, even if it means staying in classes until late June.
No kid should have to sit in school before Labor Day.
Yeah, but I can hear those school bells ringing and those kids singing, and I can't get that damn jingle-jangle out of my head. 'Tis the season.