The Big Chief

We went to Wal Mart the other day and as we walked in there was a huge crayon, red of course, and all the way around there were slits in it filled with pages of supplies needed for each area school and each grade.
I was the old fashioned mom who loved the thought of the kids going back to school except for the cost of all the supplies and clothes, and of course pictures and school lunch tickets and on and on. It seemed if I didn't have a check book I would not have been able to send my  children to school at all!
My boys were so easy to clothe. They actually liked Penny's plain pocket jeans and different t-shirts and shoes that fit. That was it!
However, they absolutely loved their new tennies. They would say, "Hey mom, look how high they can jump!" I always smiled and told them I thought they could jump higher than the ones they got last year. Big smiles for the year. My daughter by that time was able to pick out her own clothes. For a while, I had lost out with the fashion with the other girls, so I needed "help" from her. Then all was well.
Then there was me when I was school age, elementary. I was such a strange child, I didn't like change at all. I had a pair of sandels that were beautiful. I have written about them before. They were, red, yellow, and green. It was all that mom could do to not let me wear them when they were about 4 sizes too small!  My dresses wouldn't fit me at some point. I would stand in front of my closet and cry because my mean ol' mom wouldn't let me wear them.
School supplies were so simple: 2 number 2 pencils, an eraser, a ruler, and a small package of Kleenex. However, the main thing was a huge tablet called The Big Chief. Many of you may remember this thing. It was perfect for penmanship. The paper was so soft that if you erased the paper would tear and your teacher was sure to see that you had a messy paper and had made a mistake.
The paper had solid lines on the top, then lines with - - - - - - -
then solid below the hyphens. This was supposed to create perfect writing to please even the most critical teachers.
The Big Chief was so heavy that if I had to guess it had about 200 pages in it. My favorite thing to do was to use my ink pen (another story) on this paper. If a little girl would do this unthinkable thing to amuse herself, the ink would act like a blotter and the ink would make almost a picture by itself. It so sad to see that that company is out of business.
There were no checks for my parents to send to school for pictures however, mom would send thirty five cents occasionally for my hot lunch or send me a cold lunch, which ever was most convenient for her. Mother always made my dresses so no shopping.
Good luck parents as you do your shopping for your children to attend the free school that our government makes sure is provided for our children.