7 school-year sanity savers

By Ellen Breslau

We all know kids need notebooks and pencils, erasers and glue sticks, but there are a few other items we consider school-year essentials. Stock your house with these little lifesavers and you'll save your sanity all year long.

1. Electric Pencil Sharpener
"I can't do my homework yet, I need to sharpen my pencil." How often have you heard that one? Plug this baby in and no more procrastinating. Bonus: Kids think it's fun.

2. Change Purse or Wallet
Instead of kids searching for (and losing) their snack money in the netherworld of their loaded backpack, they'll now know exactly where to find it.

3. Comfortable Backpack
They have to want to wear it, so pick one with padded shoulder straps and a waist strap to distribute the weight evenly.

4. Desk
Kids need a place of their own to spread out and concentrate. (And you need to feel like your dining or kitchen table isn't always cluttered with piles of stuff.) The desk doesn't have to be huge or expensive; it just has to be theirs.

5. Permanent Marker
Fancy peel-and-stick designer labels are nice and cute, but we're all about low-tech labeling (especially since it usually happens as kids are running out the door). Markers are great for labeling everything from lunch bags to sports equipment.

6. Lunchbag with a Water Bottle Holder Attached
The water bottle never fits inside the lunchbag-so frustrating. And then your kid doesn't know where to put it, what to do with it, and so on. This year, pick one that holds the bottle on the side.

7. Alarm Clock
Cajoling them over and over to "Get up or you'll be late" can drive even the most patient parent crazy-not to mention it's a huge morning time waster when no one has any time to waste. Invest in a clock and make sure it has a loud alarm.

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