Back-to-School Traditions

"I'd say all over the world children are excited about the first day of school but a little fearful, too," says Ellen Jackson in her book, It's Back to School We Go! First Day Stories From Around the World (Millbrook Press, 32 pages, $15.95). So to ease transitions, families create their own traditions to make the change more fun, or follow a tradition common in their country.

In my family and in Germany, children entering first grade are given large Schultüten, or candy cones, which are filled with all sorts of small items from candy and small toys, to school items like erasers and pencils. Everyone gets one of these cones, which are sold in various sizes in stores everywhere during late summer, and as important as the treat itself, is the requisite photograph of the child holding the cone. Photographs are taken at home, and some teachers even take a class picture with each child and cone. In later years, photographs of the children become a nostalgic marker of how big the children have grown. The tradition is loads of fun, and can easily be adopted anywhere, as the cones are relatively simple to make with colorful thin cardboard, and tissue paper for the top. Fill with lots of little goodies, of course! Here's a simple how-to compliments of Crayola.

Other cultures have traditions around food – maybe a special lunch for back-to-school for good learning or good luck. In Japan, make sure the rice with seaweed sauce and quail eggs are packed neatly in the lunchbox! Some families create their own meal traditions including a unique dinner for just that special day, which allows lots of time for conversations about the school experiences.

To be sure, most cultures include one (or more) shopping days to prepare for the big day. Certainly, school supplies are an important consideration, but more often than not, a new backpack and a pair of shoes are part of the planning. In America, shopping takes on more importance than in many other countries, and some families buy new clothes down to the undies before school starts anew. Other families just add a new outfit or a new coat. It depends entirely on budget or how much the child has grown over the summer.

What about in your family? Do you have special cultural traditions for back-to-school? What kind of new clothes did you buy? Please share some old and new traditions with us in the comments, and also feel free to comment about how traditions have changed.