It’s back-to-school time. Some parents like shopping for school supplies with their children so their child will feel like they have ownership in their supplies.

Those now-frazzled parents will discover that’s the first and last time they let their children accompany them.

No matter if you shop in person or online, there’s always one item on the back-to-school supply list that’s impossible to find.

Manila paper is the needle-in-the-haystack school supply oddity this year.

Students use manila paper for art projects, so you’d think the stores would have boxes of manila paper. They have construction paper, neon paper, plain paper and cardstock. But manila paper? Forget it.

That’s the tip of the frustration iceberg called back-to-school supply shopping. It doesn’t matter whether you’re ordering online or standing in a line, the list is often confusing.

Here’s a breakdown of what you might find on the list and the questions you’re liable to face.

Ear buds. Are ear buds supposed to be the ones that plug into a keyboard or wireless buds? Get ready to buy them for anywhere from 99 cents to $59.99. Just know that sooner or later, your child will shove the ear buds up their nose.

Pencils. There’s pencils that smell like blueberries and pencils made in a swirl shape. Your child will curse you if you buy the swirly ones. We know who these children are because they’re the ones who can’t fit the swirly pencil into their plastic sharpener because it was made for the lowly #2 pencil.

Mechanical pencils have their pluses and minuses. On the plus side, if the lead breaks, the child can click and keep going.

On the minus side, most kids will click the whole stick of lead away or see how far they can click the lead out of the pencil before it breaks. Why? Because it’s fun and will drive the teacher and the parent crazy.

Pens should be an easy purchase. But should a parent buy gel pens? Ball-point pens? Pens in blue, black, green, purple or red ink? And what about the point – medium, fine or extra fine?

When you see the word “ruler,” you might think you’ve got it made.

Nope.

There’s wooden rulers, plastic rulers, plastic rulers you can see through and triangular rulers. And all of them come in every color of the rainbow. No matter what color you get, your child will want one like their best friend’s and it will not be the color you picked up.

Plain folders with brads. Easy enough to find, you might think, but there’s cardboard folders and plastic folders. There’s folders with bunnies on the front or racing cars.

And if mom accidentally buys all blue folders and the child next to yours has orange ones – you know your child’s favorite color is orange – you are suddenly the worst shopper in the world.

Crayons. Should you buy the washable crayons, the “colors of the world” crayons, Twistables, neon or pearl? If you stick with the basic colors, should you get the 8-count, 12-count or 24-count? Go ahead and be the most hated parent in the class – get the 64-count yellow Crayola box with the built-in sharpener.

Markers fall in the same category as crayons – way too many choices and sizes. Just make sure you get the washable markers, especially if you invested in white uniform shirts.

Three-ring binders. I could buy a half gallon of Blue Bell ice cream for the same price, and I’d get a lot more enjoyment out of a carton of pralines and cream than I would a plastic binder my kid will bend, break and deface the first week of school.

Happy back-to-school shopping. And remember… after the first day of school, it’s only 172 instructional days until summer 2022.

Hang in there.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.