OK, so this morning I actually bought yet another brand new backpack for the Boy Wonder (this one with wheels), because I have felt so bad seeing him stagger into school this week with his huge, heavy school backpack and his soccer practice backpack. TWO separate ones, and both full to the top.

I know this is old news, how much our kids have to carry to school, but this new backpack thing has really pushed all my buttons. And not just because I’m annoyed that I didn’t buy a rolling backpack first.

“If you didn’t work full-time, you could take him to soccer yourself, and he wouldn’t have to carry all of his stuff all day like a pack mule,” says Judgment Mommy in my ear.

“Wait a minute,” says Sane Mommy, in the other ear. “Part of the reason he gets to do all of this great stuff is because you do work, and I haven’t noticed any of your stay-at-home-mom friends taking it all that easy.”

Why do we always jump right to the ways our children’s struggles might be our fault? (C’mon, I know I’m not alone here.) Actually, that’s one of the things that BW’s fourth grade teacher has been pretty clear about: He will learn this year to be independent. To be responsible for himself and his own things. She actually had to tell me this week that one of the ways to prevent him (and me) from fretting all night about whether he’d put all of his work back in his backpack was to double-check it before bedtime. Duh. This was after he’d gotten up in the middle of the night, wandering around the upstairs of our house, looking for “all my work.”

Is your organizational life completely out of control when your kid’s fourth-grade teacher has to help you?