What are your back-to-school traditions?

From the time my daughter, Laura, was five, she has spent time alone with my parents in Mississippi in the summer while I stayed and worked in Ohio. That first summer, Laura surprised me by returning with her first-grade supplies already bought, after a special shopping trip with her grandmother. Since that first summer, my mother has always set aside a day during my daughter's visit to take her shopping for school supplies. As a working mother, I might have argued that separate gym shoes weren't really needed and that the art-supply box and backpack could last another year, but my mom has more wisely taken the tradition to heart and bought every item listed. With my daughter entering high school this August, the list now includes locker storage equipment and more clothing than art supplies. But still the tradition continues between grandmother and granddaughter. As a mother, all I need to do is appreciate it, from a distance.

This tip is from Real Simple reader SUE CARTER, Bowling Green, Ohio