CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's hard to believe, but next month students will be heading back to class to start the fall semester.
According to Deloitte’s back-to-school survey, parents are planning to spend more than $600 on supplies. That’s up 8% over last year.
This year, back-to-school shopping is expected to soar to new levels. A Deloitte survey predicts spending will reach more than $34 billion up 24% since 2019.
“I think we’ve gotten back to a point where we’re at a pretty good spot from where we were trending in 2018 and certainly early into 2019, so I think folks are craving that back-to-normal, and I think we’re there," Rod Sides with Deloitte Insights said.
While prices are anticipated to be higher due to inflation. Research shows some parents will find a way to pay up.
“What’s really interesting to us is parents are going to make it happen," Sides said. "We’re seeing them dip into the savings that they’ve maintained over the last couple of years to be able to make sure kids get off to the right start.”
And one different area where parents are making a priority this back-to-school season is their child’s mental health. Fifty percent of survey respondents said they are concerned about their child’s mental health, with 36% spending on services or products to address their child’s mental health.
“We think that probably takes the form of things like, you know, yoga. It could be a meditation app type of thing," Sides said. "Certainly, the extracurriculars come into play, whether it be team sports, etc.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently updated its recommendations that children ages 10 to 21 be screened annually for signs of depression.
“This is a crisis. That this is the fourth or fifth wave of the COVID crisis and that there are probably more children that are going to have bad outcomes because of the mental health crisis than directly from the virus," child and adolescent psychologist, Dr. Gary Maslow said.
Experts agree that mental health needs to be a focus as kids head back to school this year.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children ages 10-21 are screened annually for signs of depression. This new recommendation is the first major update to their guidelines in 10 years. Previously, the recommendation was for screenings to begin at age 12.
Contact Kendall Morris at kmorris2@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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