Blog Brand Names, School and Lessons Learned

Here it is August already and we’re headed into fall. Families with kids are gearing up for school. This means shopping for school supplies, clothes, and shoes. Every year this becomes more stressful and expensive.

I remember school shopping and some memories aren’t good ones. Our budget was stretched thin with children, then teens who preferred brand name clothes when we hardly had a Walmart budget. It might sound out of line for kids to want brand-name items, but I early realized why, especially since my son really cared nothing about such things—at least not for its own sake. No, those with brand name items made the wearers “cool”, “in” or whatever they were called at any given time.

Kids not wearing brand-name items were put down, teased, and, often, bullied. One year my son and I actually got into a yelling match in Walmart over shoes. That’s not something we ever did before or after that. I am glad that for us, those days are behind us. For one granddaughter those days are just beginning.

I knew brand names really weren’t either the problem or the solution. My husband and I tried instead to instill in our children that they were special creations of a loving Lord. They had value and worth simply because they existed. That God loved them as they were. We tried to instill confidence and a willingness to be and to think independently, even go against the crowd when the crowd was headed the wrong way. We taught our kids not to bully and stand up to those who were.

Our children may not have had fancy clothes, shoes, or school supplies, but they learned lessons of caring, kindness, independence, and faith that have stood them much better as adults than brand-name items that lasted a very short time.

The very best thing we can provide our kids is a foundation of faith in the one who is the essence of love--Jesus Christ.

© 2022 Carolyn R Scheidies

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