(NAPSA)—Your child’s back- - to-school list, that is. With more than 33 million students returning to school this year, the backto-school season means hitting the stores before kids can hit the books. According to more than 500 mothers of grade-school aged children surveyed by Parenting magazine’s Mom Connection, there are more items on their children’s lists than ever before. Here are some of the results from the survey: “The average American family is spending $45 dollars per child on back-to-school supplies,” according to Cheryl Wilbur, Director of Research and Brand Development at Parenting magazine. And momsaren’t waiting until the last minute to start their shopping—nearly 90 percent of mothers begin their back-to-school shopping at least two weeks before the first day of school, with one out of five beginning their shopping two to three months ahead of time. Necessary Items Back-to-school shopping may be inevitable, yet more than fifty percent of mothers actually look forward to taking their children to buy school supplies. But their children’s lists are longer than they remember from their own child- hoods—more than three-fourths of mothers say their children need more items for school than they did as children, with nearly half needing more than twice as many supplies. What’s new onkids’lists? Over half of moms reported need- Approximately 33 million children will be heading to school this fall. ing to buy hand sanitizers and cleaning products for their kids; while one-third also provide computer supplies, highlighters, colored pencils and snacks for their children’s classrooms. Nostalgic Brands Butit’s not all new items on today’s school supply shopping lists—certain tried and true products still show up year after year. For example, chances are likely that white school glue will be toward the top of the list. Parenting’s Mom Connection found that brands such as Elmer’s make momsfeel nostalgic for the first day of school, and the majority of moms buy at least two bottles of white glue and three glue sticks per school year. According to Elmer’s, more than 30 million U.S. grade school students use Elmer’s Washable School glue each year—a product founded in 1947 and used widely eversince. Additional product information can be found at www.elmers.com.
