Hale House Adventures

This morning I sent a letter to Crayola company complaining. I know!! Why would anyone complain about Crayola markers? But I did. And it’s not because of what you would expect.

I love Crayola brand crayons and markers. They are amazing. (Please don’t send me hate mail about how great they are. I agree!) As a teacher, I was always excited to be given them and I would always “splurge” to buy them. They were the best bang for my buck. They were coveted and loved.

So this year when Zoey had to buy markers and crayons for her kindergarten class I immediately looked for Crayola. I will be the first to admit that I am “thrifty”, some might say a little cheap. I don’t want to buy anything full price. But I DO NOT skimp when my children need something. I know you are thinking “seriously, its cents more”. I get that but it adds up. But this year Zoey needed markers and crayons, so I went for the best.

I began my search for all of the very specific items on her list and the coveted markers. For anyone that has never shopped for school supplies from the lists the school gives, it stinks. You can’t just buy an eraser, you have to buy the “white eraser with red label that was made during the full moon”. You can never buy all of the supplies from one store because there are specialty folders that you have to go across town and buy from Office Depot. Seriously, I LOATHE school supply shopping. And this is just looking for supplies. This does not account for all the other parents that are hating life as they search for the elusive magic supply. Its like Black Friday on one aisle.

School shopping for us was an extra challenge. Any supplies we buy for Zoey take special consideration as to if she will be able to use them independently. “Can she open this pencil box with one hand? Will this bookbag fit over her prosthetic?” Yes, people are always there to help her but I don’t want her to have to depend on people. So Nick and I always strive to give her things that will give her independence and normalcy. And this search led to my current displeasure with Crayola.

Zoey is able to use click top retractable markers easily and independently. She cannot take the lid off of the typical marker by herself. There is no grip for her to grab and the marker design allows no traction for her nub. Some of the marker lids are seriously just too tight to open for two handed children, much less Zoey. So I was looking for the retractable Crayola markers. Crayola has this marvelous product “washable markers”. Any parent knows this is crucial at any age but especially kindergarten. I was on the hunt. Walmart- NOPE! Target-NOPE! Office Depot- NOPE!! Amazon- NOPE!! No one had any. So then I searched for off brands-NOPE!! There were no click top retractable markers available for me to purchase.

This just would not do. I would not send Zoey to school at a disadvantage if AT ALL possible. I will enable her to be successful (not do it for her). So I enlisted the help of my family to come up with ideas. They are amazingly helpful and would do anything to help. Plus there were 3 former teachers and an engineer on the hunt for clickable markers or an appropriate solution for more Zoey friendly markers.

We could not think of a solution because we can’t manufacture markers. We were stuck. Zoey wasn’t going to have the supplies that she needed for class. I was frustrated and a little ticked off that my child couldn’t get what she needed. But I found myself at Walmart again (I swear, I am there way too much). Today I was near the office supplies that were at the back of the store. Bare in mind, school supplies are at the front of the store. As I was cutting through the office supplies, I saw them. RETRACTABLE MARKERS. There they were. I had found some markers. Ok. They weren’t perfect. They were in fact dry erase markers but we were going to make them work.

Zoey would have some markers for her class. I looked to see what company made them expecting Crayola but no. It was the Walmart brand. Seriously, Walmart produced more user friendly markers for the general public than Crayola, a company that specialized in markers and crayons. That didn’t make any sense. Why would a company NOT help a large population of clientele? There is such a huge amount of people that have issues that would benefit from clickable markers. (multiple sclerosis, amputees, people with muscle tone issues). WHY?? It was astounding to me that something so simple for a company to manufacture wasn’t being done. Were people like Zoey not important enough to warrant clickable markers? Do you think they are the only ones who would purchase them?

After much consideration, and honestly, time to calm the mama bear, I wrote a letter to Crayola. You can see the letter below.

Hello. I am coming to you as a concerned mother. My daughter started kindergarten this year. She was required to purchase markers to use in class. The issue is my daughter is an amputee and only has a full thumb on her remaining hand. She is NOT able to open your markers. I searched everywhere for retractable markers that would allow her independence and fulfill her materials requirement. WHY don’t you make them? These would be very valuable to all those with special needs. I wanted to use your company because as a former teacher I know the quality of your products. Unfortunately, you did not fulfill the needs of all of your clients. This issue is not thought of by most because it doesn’t affect them but as a mom who wants her child to feel as normal and independent as possible, it is a huge issue. PLEASE consider making click top retractable markers. Thank you for your time and consideration.

I am not sure what I am expecting from my letter, if anything. I mean, I’m one mom who really won’t make a difference to a mega company like Crayola. But I will make a difference to Zoey. One day, she will realize that things aren’t made for people like her. She will realize that we tried to provide her with what she needed. One day she will realize that I fought for her. So if nothing ever comes from Crayola, I did what Zoey needed. She will continue to have clickable dry erase markers until a company creates a product that works for her.