Unless you want to replace jackets and the like that are lost at school, be sure to label everything-on the inside. White-out (Liquid Paper) can be used on dark clothes and will not wash out. One year I had 6 students with identical navy blue sweatshirts in my class!
In Australia we find this amazing, all the children in the class would have IDENTICAL jumpers and everything else. Our children wear uniforms to school. We find it astounding that your children do not. It is so much easier for everyone. The mums when purchasing, the children because they know what to wear every day (week day !1) and there is no peer pressure to wear certain clothes. In Australia we have special clothes marking labels and special clothes marking pens. The lables are cloth and are iron on or sew in... and the pens are permanent. Some people also have name tags that are embroidered (you buy them by the 50 or so) ........ what is the reason they don't wear uniforms in American schools?
Editor's Note: At private schools and Catholic schools kids quite often wear uniforms. I know our middle school discussed it but it was voted down. Most American kids go to public schools and I guess it's our Yankee independence that we all want to have the freedom to look different or maybe it's the clothing manufacturers want it that way, I'm not sure. It's just always been that way.
As a retired elementary school secretary, I can tell you that marking your children's coats and sweaters, etc. is so important. We tried several ways to get clothing and other belongings such as lunch boxes back to the right owner.
We had a coat rack in the cafeteria and hung up the clothing items so the children would see them when they came for lunch. We were able to put the rack out in the hallway during parent-teacher conferences, or PTA meetings, etc. so the parents might find that lost jacket.
At the end of the year, once the children left for summer vacation, we would donate all unclaimed items to a local charity. We were always amazed how many nice winter jackets were never claimed. We recommended on our school supply lists for the coming year to mark everything with your child's name.
