Scrolling through all the back-to-school photos in my online feed made me feel a little melancholy this week. How is it possible that school’s out forever for my family? Where did the time go?

Welcome to week 34 of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. In addition to back-to-school reflections, this week I look at the cost of raising kids, stats on shrinking families, the dilemma of e-waste, and tips to reduce lunchbox waste.  

The Sunday Spark – Week 34

On my mind this week: School’s out … forever?

Tuesday was the first day of school day for kids here in Ontario and many other parts of North America. The start of a new school year always holds so much promise. Even more than the start of a new calendar year, a new school year is a reminder of the rhythm of life. It signifies progress as children grow—becoming a little more independent with every first day of school photo.

I love to see everyone’s snapshots of their smiling kids as they start another academic year. As I scrolled through the photos this week, I felt a twinge of sadness. For the first time since 2004, I don’t have a child returning to any form of schooling this year. Both my daughters are now in the workforce full time, so our back-to-school days are behind us—at least in the traditional sense.

All week, Alice Cooper’s iconic hit School’s out has been ringing in my head. It’s a strange feeling knowing that school is indeed out forever for my family. In the last year, the girls have both moved on to new grown-up adventures—exactly what school is supposed to prepare them for. Even so, I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic.

So, I’ll wish everyone a successful school year and share the last first day of school photo I have of my girls together. In 2017, Laura was starting her final year of high school and Colleen her first. In some ways, it feels like only yesterday, yet it also seems like a lifetime ago.

Parents, enjoy the excitement of a new school year. I guarantee you’ll miss these days when they’re gone.

As for me, I think I need to find a course to take because even though school’s out, the learning never stops…

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Three highlights of the week

Every day, I keep track of daily highlights in my journal. The passage of time is a reminder of the importance of celebrating milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• Now that the deck is done, we have a little landscaping to do. On the weekend, we planted two hydrangea bushes and a lilac tree. I’m looking forward to some more colour once they start blooming.
• On Sunday evening, Colleen and I played Scrabble on the deck. We normally prefer to play cards, but it was a little too breezy for that!

• A couple of my house plants had outgrown their pots, so I repotted them on Monday. It’s hard to believe the two in the front started out in tiny pots just a little over a year ago. The one on the right used to be on my desk. If only I could get my vegetable garden growing so well!

Three things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Cost of raising kids in Canada

I often joke with my daughters that I’d be long retired if I didn’t have kids. This week, MoneySense confirmed that with a report that it costs $321,000 to raise a child to age 18 in Canada. Add in the cost of post-secondary education, and the cost of raising two kids is close to a million dollars.

But I wouldn’t trade my girls for anything!

Families are shrinking

Maybe it’s the cost putting people off, but Canada’s most recent census reports Canadian families are shrinking.

In less than a hundred years, our average family size has decreased from 4.2 to 2.9. The increase in single-parent families could account for some of that change, with almost 20% of Canadian families now falling into that category. Interestingly, the number of couples living without children is now equal to the number with children. (Source: StatsCan)

It’s getting harder to get rid of e-waste

It’s getting harder to dispose of e-waste. When our 8-year-old printer finally had to be replaced this week, I did some research into the best way to dispose of e-waste. It’s not an easy thing to do. E-waste drives that were popular a few years ago seem to be a thing of the past.

The inability to dispose of our e-waste in a responsible manner is frustrating. The amount of e-waste being generated worldwide is exploding thanks to business practices like planned obsolescence that put profit before sustainability.  

There is good news, though. Cell phone batteries represent 10% of all e-waste. The RMIT School of Engineering in Australia has developed a new recyclable cell phone battery using a material called Mxene. This innovation could extend the life of our smart phones up to 10 years. (Source: Happy Eco News)

Now we just need cell phone manufacturers to get on board. In the meantime, I’ll continue to collect my e-waste in a box in the basement until I can find a way to get rid of it responsibly.

Sustainable living tip: litterless lunches

Back to school means a return to packing school lunches. This week, do a lunch-bag waste audit to see how much waste your lunches are generating. Then, check out Easy swaps for litterless lunches for ideas to cut lunchtime waste.

I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.