Back to School
Back-to-school lists cover what the classroom needs. This covers what your child will be handling, eating from, and breathing around all year.
Safer backpacks cheat sheet
The one thing on the school list that gets bought new and then carried every day for a year. Start here, because the honest answer usually means asking the brand directly.
Then, in order
The rest of the back to school list
- RoundupDye-free snacks that your kids will love
The lunchbox is where a dye-free household usually slips, because the color is hiding in the cheese-flavored and freezer aisles rather than the candy one.
- Cheat sheetCheat sheet: safer hand sanitizers
A bottle goes in the bag on day one. Alcohol-free is the wrong instinct here, and this is what to look for instead.
- ExplainerParental controls on iPhone and iPad, set up properly
If a device is going to school this year, this is the fifteen minutes to spend before it does.
- ExplainerHow much screen time by age
September is when screen rules get reset. This is what pediatric guidance actually specifies age band by age band, and where it deliberately stops giving a number.
- ExplainerSafe Food Storage Options: Glass, Steel, Silicone, and What Actually Matters
Packed lunches mean the same containers opened five days a week. Settling the material question in August saves re-deciding it every term.
Why no product grid here
Every member page carries its own scoring and merchant links. Repeating them here would mean a second, unscored copy of the same recommendation — the thing collections exist to avoid.