I have two boys, ages 9 and 11 years old. My eldest, Oliver, started High School today - yep, they start school earlier here in the U.K.

And... a new school means a new school uniform, right? Yep, we have school uniforms here too. I quite like it. It sets a standard across the board, ensures the kids are presentable, and gives them a shared identity with their school and a sense of pride in that connection.

But new school uniforms come at a price! And in addition, all year 7's need a laptop too!

The most expensive purchases were the laptop £480, purchased through the school, and the school shoes... an easy £60... which must not look like school shoes 🙄 because... you're at High School now right, so they need to look somewhere between a school shoe and a dress shoe... more like a business shoe. Next on the list - the school blazer complete with school badge and motto emblazoned on the pocket... and then the trousers, shirts, tie, jumper, PE kit, Rugby kit, school bag, sports bag, lunch bag, stationery... and then some...

Now they say that things come in threes... and do they ever... right down to the last minute stresses associated with being ready on the day for school.

So here's the thing...

When we purchased my son's school uniform, we went to the official school supplier, a shop about 5-10 miles away from us. He was fitted for everything he needed, trying on most of the display items off the rail for size first, including the trousers!

We had a little - shall we say - disagreement about the size of the trousers; he wanted the smaller pair, whilst I wanted him to buy the bigger pair... After much back and forth, he agreed with me (because I was right... the smaller pair were already looking tight)... but unfortunately, I think the sales assistant was completely confused by then and unbeknown to us, gave us the smaller pairs from the stock room. Oliver tried them on after 8 pm last night, for the first time, and they were too small!!! Oh my gosh did we have to run around quickly... I raced him off to the nearest supermarket, fingers crossed that they might have 1 pair left in his size. Eish! After much ado... we found 4 pairs that fit nicely... and just got out of the shop before they closed for the evening at 10pm!😂

Then this morning, he was running around like a headless chicken trying to find his stationery bag and calculator... needless to say, this mom turned his bedroom upside down and found said missing calculator nestled in the folds of last term's school fleece that should have found its way to the laundry basket 7 weeks ago! 🙄🤨

Finally, we were ready... took a few photos of the big day, and set off for school. Halfway there, I turn to look at him briefly, as I'm driving, and notice he still has his earrings in his summer-pierced ears. Pitstop on the way to remove said earrings which seemed to be glued in place and caused all kinds of angst with a few tears - I think Oli cried too 🤣 and we finally then slid in through the school gates with eight minutes to spare.

Now, this is all of the school uniform in one picture... - the rest is packed away in his bag off camera 😂😂😂

So...in the end, a spend in the region of £900? Geez did that add up quickly and hit the pocket! And that is a hefty price tag... but it's not just the monetary price tag I'm thinking of...

Can you guess which part of this package elevates the price tag beyond anything else you could buy in any shop?

Can you?

Yep... it's the sweet little-big human wearing all the clothes in that picture... hehe... that gorgeous young man with a beautiful heart has occupied 11 years of my life - that's over 4,000 days or 96,000 hours spent loving him or the idea of him, nurturing, protecting, encouraging, and shepherding back into line 😂 It's a wonder anything I say these days makes it to it's intended destination inside his head at all, as it always seems to find the thoroughfare tunnel between the ears 😱😆

(they say time is money - so this counts, right Denise? hehe)

But yes, ... my children are probably the biggest investment I will ever make with time in my life... and if we are going to commoditise time and use it to invest in them, we should ensure we do it properly... with a whole lot of love and attention!

This has been my post for #marketfriday by @dswigle. You can find this week's post here if you'd like to join in.