Back-to-school shopping is about more than notebooks, backpacks, lunch boxes and traditional school supplies. Sending your kids to school with personal care items can help make the transition easier, whether they are stocking a locker, packing a gym bag or moving into a dorm with a shared bathroom.
Use this back-to-school checklist from Dove to plan toiletries, sweat-management essentials, shower products and semester restocks for your middle school, high school and college-age kids. This guide is designed for parents and caregivers who want to promote a healthy and confident lifestyle for their kids by equipping them with a few personal care essentials.
When you’re back-to-school shopping, have a conversation with your child about what they need to be successful this school year and how you can help support them. Listen to what they say they need. This may open the door for them to talk beyond just school supplies and about their friends, hopes and fears for the upcoming school year. Whatever they share, be an active listener and a supportive parent and help give them self-confidence.
A complete back-to-school toiletries checklist should include everyday hair, skin, deodorant and dental basics. Start thinking about when your student will be using the items and build your shopping list accordingly. Here are some questions to ask yourself when packing:
When you are packing your back-to-school list, expect your kid to use, share or even lose all of the items that you pack before the end of the school year. Some things to avoid packing include:
A backpack is something your student will have access to most of the time, so it’s a great place to put toiletries that they may need on the go, before school, during class (depending on your school’s rules) or after school.
To help keep their backpack organized, dedicate one section of your kid’s backpack to emergency items or get a small bag that can fit into their backpack to house everything.
Backpack Checklist (travel-sized or small items):
Typically, middle and high school students have lockers to keep things in between classes and overnight. To help your kids prepare for any hygiene emergency they (or one of their friends) might have, send them to school with a small stash of personal care products.
Similar to packing a backpack, consider a small bag of items that they may not want to ask a teacher or nurse for when they need them. If you have included an item in their backpack, you probably don’t need to include it in their locker kit, since they’ll rarely be at their locker without their backpack. When packing for a locker, think about how often they will use the item. If it is used daily, consider a larger size, but if it’s rarely used, prioritize travel or trial sizes.
Locker Checklist:
Whether your kid has before-school practice, midday gym class, or after-school sports, they will need one dedicated bag for their workout attire and post-workout care.
Tips for packing a gym bag:
Use multiple bags: If your kid has multiple activities, such as before-school swim practice and after-school ballet, consider using two clearly labeled bags so they are easy to find and grab when needed.
Keep the bag packed: If your child needs a gym bag every day, there’s no need to completely unpack everything. Simply remove the sweaty clothes and replace them with clean clothes (or have them do it) and keep all other items in the bag so nothing is forgotten.
Gym Bag Checklist:
Sweating or body odor after P.E. class, sports or even just a long school day is normal, especially during middle and high school. Creating a routine can help them manage their sweat confidently and discreetly.
College students living away from home need toiletries for daily routines, shared bathrooms, gym visits and weekend travel. Many college students do not have a car on campus, so it’s important to send them with a few months’ supply when they leave for school. A good dorm checklist should include in-use products for the shower caddy, plus backup products that can stay in dorm storage.
For communal bathrooms, a shower caddy and shower shoes are especially important. Keep the products your student uses daily in the caddy, then store club-pack extras in a bin, closet shelf or under-bed storage so they can refill without taking every bottle to the bathroom.
College is an incredibly exciting milestone for both students and parents. Kids are becoming adults and have more freedom and responsibilities than ever before. The first semester of college can be a challenge for students, learning how to balance studying and classes, extracurricular activities, and friendships. Sometimes this can lead to a slippage in taking care of themselves.
Tips for talking to your college freshman about personal care:
How much body wash, deodorant or shampoo a college student uses depends on product size, shower frequency, activity level, climate and personal routine. Instead of packing one of everything, plan for your child’s personal use plus backups. Look at your student’s schedule and try to plan to send enough products so that they won’t need to refill until you see them next (fall break, Christmas, etc.).
Bulk packs can be helpful because they let families stock a semester’s worth of essentials before move-in. They are also useful when students want one product in the dorm, one in the shower caddy and one in a gym bag or backpack.
If your student runs out of an item in the middle of the semester and doesn’t have easy access to a car, do not worry. There are a lot of retailers who can easily and quickly ship products for affordable prices to student mailboxes.
Today you can get personal care products nearly everywhere, both in stores and online. The number of choices can be overwhelming. Use these tips to simplify your shopping experience:
Remember, everyone has different product format and scent preferences that may be changing rapidly as they mature, try new things and are influenced by friends and social media. Helping them prepare for the unknown scenarios shows that you care and gives them confidence that you trust them if they have a hiccup.
Once you have gone back-to-school shopping, make sure you talk about what you bought, how it’s packed, why you packed it and how to use any new products. Give them an easy way to communicate with you that they need more of something, such as adding it to your weekly shopping list. Set reminders (monthly or on school breaks) for checking on when your kids might need product restocks. Keep the conversation open so they know they can always come to you for advice, especially during the teenage years when they are experiencing a lot of changes.
This story was produced by Dove and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
