Family Friday: Kids’ ClassMate Small Backpack
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Is it back-to-school shopping season already? I feel like summer camp just started!
One of my favorite rituals as a kid was picking out my backpack for the year. My taste evolved from a pink crayon one (kindergarten) to a dark green canvas, leather-bottomed one (college). Lands’ End has a great selection of backpacks in a range of colors, patterns, and sizes to fit your kid. For instance, their ClassMate Small Backpack is perfect for my soon-to-be first grader — it features exterior and interior pockets, an adjustable chest strap, water bottle pocket, reflective strip … the list goes on.
My daughter is going through a unicorn phase so she would definitely choose the “Glitter Ombre Unicorns” design. You can even personalize the bag with your child’s initials or an icon.
This backpack is on sale for $31.95 (down from $34.95) with code FIREFLY. It comes in 10 other patterns aside from the unicorn design in case that’s not what your kid is into.
Sales of note for 1/16:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
- AllSaints – now up to 60% off (some of the best leather jackets!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles with code — readers love this blazer, these dresses, and their double-layer line of tees
- DeMellier – Sale now on, free shipping and returns — includes select options like Montreal, Vancouver, and Venice
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; extra 50% off all clearance, plus ELOQUII X kate spade new york collab just dropped
- Everlane – Sale of the year, up to 70% off — reader favorites include their scoop tee, Dream Pant, ReNew Transit backpack, silk blouses and oversized blazers! New markdowns just added
- Hannah Andersson – Up to 30% off all pajamas;
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off select styles; up to 50% off cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything
- L.K. Bennett – Archive sale, almost everything 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Tag sale for a limited time — jardigans and dresses $200, pants $150, tops $95, T-shirts $50
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Semi-Annual Red Door Sale – 50% off + extra 20% off, sale on sale, plus free shipping on $150+
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
Ugh I hate my job so much. I never loved it, but things have gotten soooo much worse during the pandemic. I’m now being micro-managed to a ridiculous degree and I have to work with a lot of really demanding, unreasonable people who don’t understand why I can’t just drop everything and immediately do something they irrationally decided was super urgent. Finding a new job would take years if I could do it at all and quitting is not an option for my family, but I’m out for two weeks of vacation starting in a little over an hour and, man, I really really really do not want to come back.
I’m so sorry you are going through this. I had a winter baby and PPD/PPA with my first and it was super tough. Are you trying to decide between daycare and a nanny for your daughter? Or just pulling her out of daycare and then working and taking care of her? Under no circumstances would I recommend the latter! PPD plus no childcare is not a good recipe. I have done it and it was so horrible for my daughter and for me.
Based on my PPD experience, I would ask your partner for help getting you help! I would take a day off work but keep childcare and then work to get the below in place:
-prioritize sleep above all else. Are you breastfeeding? If so, I would add in a formula feeding for your partner to do and get some sleep. You can do that tonight! think how great that will be! If anxiety is keeping you up, you can get a rx for klonopin which is breastfeeding friendly.
-get a therapist trained in treating PPD/PPA (ask your OB or look for motherhood center-type places for recs)
-explore medication! (I was very anti-meds at one point but have come to view it as something that I would do as needed so my kids can have the mother they need as fast as possible. framing it this way was helpful for me, i.e. I am taking this pill for them and not for me was the push that I needed. sometimes talk therapy is enough but medication can help speed things along.)
-join a moms group (either online or offline)
-if you have the mental bandwidth, plan something fun for yourself. If that’s more work than you can handle right now, thats ok too.
Trust that there will be better days ahead and just hold onto that little ember of hope. Sending you all the hugs!
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who has zero interest in taking a kid-free vacation! Zero shade to those who take them or are craving them – I just feel like I spent my 20s and 30s traveling solo or with my husband and I’ve waited my whole life to travel with kids! Even though it’s a different kind of vacation :) maybe it’s partly b/c my parents never took a solo trip without us so I didn’t grow up that way?
Looking for solidarity… I’m just tired, guys. First time mom of an awesome almost-nine month old baby after fertility treatments. Found out that IVF worked basically the day that Covid was declared a global pandemic. Had a boring pregnancy, despite being old and fat and my husband not being able to come to a single appointment. My girl was born in early November – and winter postpartum accompanied by a Covid and an armed insurrection was rough. She started daycare in June and has adjusted great – but now, as Delta variant cases are going up… we’re contemplating what our risk tolerance is and whether or not we can keep her in daycare (which, annoyingly, has thus far not released staff vaccine stats).
We have basically zero family help…or even, like….companionship? My parents are half a continent away and not in good enough health to take care of a baby even when they visit. My MIL is nearby, but healthwise is in the same situation as my parents. My SIL has her own two small children to take care of and has her hands full…and my friends are the same.
My girl is the best. But the isolation and the worry are tough. I know that having a kid means signing yourself up for a lifetime of worry….but it would be nice to just be concerned about the normal kid things.
Anyway…not really sure what the point of this is. But…I welcome messages of solidarity or similar tales of woe.
Just need to rant for a minute about houses and renovations! I hilariously followed along with the discussion about resale value and bathtubs because we just overpaid for a house with 4 bathrooms and zero bathtubs with the thought that we could easily put one in. Our realtor recommended a contractor who said it would be about 12k – great. Now after talking to an architect and interior designer, it sounds like putting in a “nice” bathroom with high-end finishes is going to be like 50-80k. So, my question is, how much should a total bathroom renovation plus stacked washer/dryer addition run? I mean, the house is 1.5 mil so we want to make sure we are investing in it appropriately but we probably would have bought a different house if we knew how much everything was going to cost us and I feel pissed at this low-ball contractor.
TJ of couples travel above: how do you get away if your parents/in-laws are too old to care for your kids? My mom is the only local family and she still works. She will likely be 68 before my twins are potty trained. My MIL is of similar age and the primary caregiver for my four year old niece so she’s got her hands full. She also lives 250 miles away. Maybe I just need to get creative about splitting our three among aunts and uncles and offer to reciprocate?
Best remedy for scratches on the top of the dining table (from moving the high chair over the top of it a few times – oops)?
New school has those auto flush toilets. After a week of no issues my 3.5 year old girl has decided they are “too loud” and is wetting her pants. I have spoken with the teachers who will try the post it on the sensor trick (it didn’t work yesterday but that was the first try, she sat there and didn’t pee). This is a child who potty trained at 2.75 in 3 days and never has accidents. She wears pull up at night but it’s always dry.
We talked about how it is loud and she “doesn’t like” it. I told her it was ok to be scared (biglittlefeelings style). She hasn’t been able to tell me why she doesn’t like it other than the noise. She’s not particularly sensitive to other noises and doesn’t have any known sensory issues.
The school which is brand new said other kids were talking about the loud toilets. It seems a stupid choice for preschool but here we are. Internet says it’s a thing. Any tips for talking thru it or other ideas? Teacher is trying post it trick and stickers as inducement today.
So I saw the discussion the other day about someone going PT for transactional work. I’m just wondering if anyone has completely gone into a different field or leaned out completely while on maternity leave or shortly after? Any pros and cons? I’m a FTM currently on maternity leave and am an income partner in a transactional group at biglaw. While I liked the intellectual stimulation of working on complex deals and the money,I also really dreaded going into work each day. I don’t like the constant pressure “to be on” and available 24-7, the anxiety of making sure every aspect of the deal worked, the emptiness of just helping financial institutions, and the guilt in making associates work late nights and ruining their weekends. And most of all, I hate business development. Given all that, I don’t really think this is the right job for me and now that I have a child I don’t know how I can continue to do it (and I don’t really think it’s realistic in my group to go part time in any meaningful way). I also don’t want my child to see how miserable I am working (and if I’m going to be away so many hours from my kid I want to at least be doing something I love) but I also want them to see a badass mom who has a successful career (and I want to provide financial security to my family and be able to help extended family—I grew up poor so I’ve had to make my own safety net for myself and my family) so I’m torn as to what I should do and just looking for advice or anecdotes or just commiseration. I thought I’d have time during maternity leave to figure out what to do next but I really don’t have time at all to anything at all.
How soon after your children were born did you take your first adults-only vacation and how did it go? My husband and I are going to a wedding in Europe next summer when our baby will be 1.5 (staying with grandparents), and I’m trying to decide if we should make it a super quick trip or stay for a week.
For august my older daughters (8) camp ends an hour before my toddler sons childcare arrangement. On most days I will likely pick up my son earlier, but I would love some ideas of fun one-on-one activities I could do with my daughter that last about an hour or maybe two (I can pick her up an hour early if I can manage to finish my work)?
I was thinking so far ice cream, an early dinner put together, maybe a walk if I can convince her, sitting at a coffee shop or park reading together , walking around town/shopping, getting out nails done. Any others?
there is a school district near me that just announced that they will not be requiring kids who test positive for Covid to stay home (it will just be encouraged), nor do they have a mask requirement in place. fortunately my kids are too young for regular school and we are in a different district, but this sounds bananas.
I’m feeling really bummed about my workload lately. For the most part I have no problem outsourcing, but I would love to take advantage of the summer weather to do either dropoff or pickup in the stroller. However the time difference is like 60min vs 10min, and I am just feeling I can’t spare the extra time. I guess the answer is you have to MAKE time, but particularly working across time zones it feels impossible to wrap up at 4pm.
This was triggered this morning by seemingly half the class showing up with mom and dad and the dog, strolling up with a coffee in hand all smiling and relaxed and me super frazzled basically throwing the kid out the door and dashing off to my day o’ meetings.