It is hard to believe that summer is almost over and it is back-to-school season again. Parents everywhere are ramping up their shopping for the upcoming school year. This is time for lessons ahead of school.

Shopping for school supplies offers families a great teaching opportunity. Kids can learn how to stick to a budget, recycle and reuse. They also can learn great skills like compromising and prioritising when it comes to purchases. So instead of stressing out about how you will buy everything your kids want for the new school year, come up with a realistic budget and get them involved in making decisions that will impact their daily life for the coming school year.

Here are a few steps that you can take to make sure that this exercise is successful.

Lead by example

Budgeting and sticking to a shopping list can be easily learnt if your children see you doing it regularly. So if you’re not doing it already, make it habit to go grocery shopping with these two items in hand. Get your children, including younger ones, involved in picking items that fit within your budget and put things back if they are not.

Of course, this is only good if you explain the purpose. So instead of leaving it to a child to figure out why this exercise help you as a family live a better lifestyle and afford more stuff, have a simple conversation — not a lecture — about the purpose and goals.

Making a list

Remember making a shopping list must take into consideration what you already have and what can be reused. So involve your child in making the list and get some insight of what matter to them more. Balance this with what matters to you. For example, your child might care about a branded backpack or water bottle while your goals could be to get him or her a quality pair of headphones that doesn’t break down within the first couple of week.

So make sure that you sort out these priorities on the list ahead of hitting the stores, because once your child has his or her eyes on that ninja-themed backpack or Superman water bottle, compromising will be much harder. Finally, take copies of the list to the store and make it clear ahead of time that the purchases must fit the budget. Do your best to make this happen. Stretching the budget at the end will only teach your kid not to take you seriously when it comes to money, or to take your budget as an initial offer that could be negotiated.

Explaining value and functionality

Shopping for school supplies might sound an insignificant experience, but it does teach children how to perceive the value of thing and balance functionality and style. These lessons are likely to drive their money decisions through their lives.

With this in mind, take this opportunity to teach them that when evaluation purchases, there is a lot more to weigh than the style, brand, theme, etc. Ask for example about which paid of shoes feel more comfortable, which backpack is more durable, which computer has better specs and more practical, etc.

Things are just things

Although it is hard especially with older children to eliminate the aspects of style and looks altogether, it is always good to explain that things are just things. Let them know that it is OK to reuse things from past years or from siblings. It is OK to not have the latest and greatest model of things. And it is certainly OK not to worry about what others think of your possessions.

This is again something that you must model yourself if you want it to resonate with your children. And you must be flexible to meet some of their wants to ensure that compromises can be swallowed. At the end of the day, they will have to spend within your budget, so give them the tools to be able to succeed.

The writer, a former Gulf News Business Features Editor, is a Seattle-based editor.

Big lessons from back-to-school shopping

 Teach kids about budget and shopping lists

 Encourage compromises and spending priorities

 Introduces conception of value and functionality

 Put less importance on appearances and fitting in

—R. O.