Every summer, a month before school begins, it happens like clockwork: Nia and Layla wander over to the school supply section, pick up the generalized school district supply lists and question their parents as if we were educated in a distant place and time far, far away: “Mom/Dad, what stuff did you use when you where in school?”

Yes….they actually went there.

“You two make it seem like we rolled up to campus in covered wagons with quill pens, ink wells and parchment paper Nia, sheesh!” I said during a recent shopping trip. “It’s been awhile, sure, but we’re not that old.”

“Did you have computer stations that used ‘Quaver,’ ‘Education Galaxy’ and ‘Clay Piggy’ to teach you things?” Layla chimed in. “How did you find things in the library?”
“We didn’t have programs like yours, no. More reading and special activities,”I told her. “And in the library, there wasn’t a librarian directing us to a computer to go ‘Google’ things either. We used index cards, the Dewey Decimal system and microfiche, copied images loaded into a scrolling type of projector where we looked up older articles and resources.”

Predictably, they couldn’t relate: Nia and Layla were far into our futures, unaware of our childhoods filled with four-color pens, Trapper Keepers, floppy disks and scratch-and-sniff stickers that we sealed our handwritten notes with. Meanwhile, decades before them, Calvin, myself and even their older brother couldn’t imagine having ‘apps with that,’ email addresses, downloadable entertainment and phones that connected us to every corner of the globe while hovering constantly between our palms and our pockets. Our daughters probably see our long-ago youths as more difficult to endure, since Calvin and I lacked the instantaneous spoils that they often enjoy, but I take comfort in the innocence afforded my youth by not learning about global crises in real time, the constant judging and pettiness existing in social media platforms and not having to witness tabloid dramas discussed alongside the local news. Problems and possibilities that I once didn’t contemplate until middle school or later are now commonplace for our seven-year-old and ten-year old, reminding us that all progress isn’t positive and how much more fleeting their tender years have become.

Today, as a parent helping two young minds to navigate the public education system, I’m well aware of dilemmas that have been a constant thorn in the sides of Texans: school finance battles, the inequities that exist from district to district and how woefully our educators are respected, much less compensated, for the Herculean task of molding and shaping our childrens’ destinies. It’s very telling, and unfortunate, that funds seem endlessly available for new sports arenas yet we parents are pitching in more and more with outfitting classrooms for the essentials because they lack the resources to maintain their own supplies. Parents who prioritize the latest HD TVs and designer handbags are deemed selfish, but where is the disdain for a country that struggles to support institutions that they claim are so crucial to us all?

There’s a saying that Calvin and I use when we move into unfamiliar territory as parents and as people: ‘Things in the game done changed.’ We can’t control everything, but we can feed, clothe, shelter and outfit our children as we keep up our PTA dues and volunteer to chaperone field trips. Our parents didn’t have two-day shipping and tax-free weekends, but they gave us their own experiences and resourcefulness to toggle between the world we grew up in and the one that our daughters know. Nia and Layla may not realize it just yet, but that level of perspective is just as essential as the required colored pencils and composition books. And once ingrained, a lot more difficult to lose.