Why Does Back-to-School Feel Like a Second Full-Time Job? My Kid Started School, and Apparently I Did Too Somewhere along the way, back-to-school stopped being just about new sneakers, a backpack, and showing up on the first day. Now it comes with emails, school apps, calendars, forms, lunch accounts, classroom updates, aftercare messages, sports schedules, and group chats that somehow become active the second you put your phone down. And somewhere, buried inside one of those apps, is probably a message saying my kid needs to bring in 14 empty toilet paper rolls tomorrow. I will discover this at 8:47 tonight. Welcome back to school. When Did School Become a Full-Time Administrative Job? As a kid, I remember the whole thing feeling pretty simple. You got your school supplies, maybe some new clothes, and then you went. I'm sure our parents were doing plenty behind the scenes, but I don't remember them logging into six different systems before breakfas...