There is a long standing joke around our office that not too
much happens the first two weeks of September because parents are too busy
getting their kids prepared and adapted to a new school year. A friend of mine calls September, “Chequetember”
and for very good reason. There are so many expenses for kids when a new school
year begins and my chequebook feels like it’s in a free fall. There are lunch fees, school supplies, milk
tickets, and we can’t forget all the activities and sports fees as well.
I’m usually very prepared and have my kids get their hair
cut and finish up all their school shopping in early August. This year was
different and we found ourselves shoe shopping on August 28th. It was a complete disaster, there were scattered
boxes, missing shoes and people everywhere! I ended up going home an ordering
several pairs of shoes online. It was so much easier on me and my kids, thank
goodness for online shopping!
A website that has made my life much easier is PermissionClick.com. The school that my children
attend began using it for their school field trips. It is an amazing website and so easy! You
receive an email from a teacher notifying you of a field trip with a link to
Permission Click. You can reject an event and send comments or give permission
for your child to participate in the event. Once you give your child permission
to participate, if required, you can pay for associated costs on Permission Click
with your credit card.
Any other parents out there will be familiar with the low
probability that a permission form stuffed in a kid’s backpack even finds its
way to the decision maker.
The second point of failure is getting the signed permission
form and payment back to the school. You write a cheque and send it in your
child’s backpack, hoping that the teacher will receive it.
With Permission Click, once you finish on the website, you
receive an email with your receipt and reminder about the field trip. Permission Click can also process school
registrations, hot lunches, fundraising, extra curricular sports, Grad ticket
sales, meal or milk programs and yearbook sales.
I hope that my children’s school takes advantage of all of
the other programs that Permission Click offers as I look forward to not
writing so many cheques throughout the year and especially next Chequetember!