Easy Come, Easy Go

Kids lose stuff.  It's one of those universal truths like "fire is hot" and "dinosaurs eat you."

Back in the cave days, cave-moms probably yelled at their kids for losing rocks: "What do you mean you left it somewhere?  That was a really good rock!  We've had that rock since your grandmother's day."

However, Alex has lost 3 hats and four pairs of gloves in the last 3 weeks.  I'm not sure if they're being ditched in the van or at school but they are sure as heck not coming home.

We need a better system in place.  Part of the problem is that I'm not here to pick him up at the end of the day.  (I'm busy getting Nathan from school.)  So the person picking him up was not here in the morning to see what bits he left with and thus doesn't know what to look for. 

We're going to try doing up a daily checklist of what he was wearing and brought.  Hopefully we'll be able to start improving our return policy.

My big concern is that he might be ditching stuff in the van on the way to school.  Which would mean he goes all day with no hat or gloves.  It's starting to be quite cold in the mornings.  His driver doesn't seem to be particularly aware and although I've asked him several times to check Alex (or at least the van!) before driving away, it's just not happening.

This is going to take some creative thinking to come up with a solution with the resources we have.  Last year, his driver was great.  She had a little checklist for each kid (back pack, lunch bag, hat, gloves) and made sure each kid got out of the van with the same stuff they got into the van with.  This year, we don't have that luxury.