do the homework cartoon

Opinion | Back-to-school shopping? Do your tax homework….

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Baltimore Sun eNewspaper

• Readers Respond

Opinion | Back-to-school shopping? Do your tax homework. | STAFF COMMENTARY

Why? That’s because Sunday, Aug. 11, marks the beginning of Maryland’s annual tax-free shopping week . As one of at least 19 states that conduct a sales tax holiday, Maryland sets aside the state’s 6% retail sales tax until the end of Saturday, Aug. 17, to help families afford school supplies, apparel and shoes. The parameters can get a little complicated — the state comptroller’s office requires a full six pages to explain the ins and outs — but the easy answer is that it applies to clothing and footwear priced at under $100 and the first $40 cost of a backpack.

We can’t say we’ve always been the biggest fans of this holiday, which is projected to cost Maryland $6.6 million in lost tax revenue this year. It’s not that parents can’t use the assist; it’s really that it disproportionately benefits the more affluent consumers. Buying your kid a $100 jacket? You just saved $6. Buying your kids a half-dozen of them in various colors? You qualified for a $36 break. Granted, if they were all $200 jackets, the purchaser would get no tax break at all, so designer fashionistas are out of luck, no matter their age. The sales tax holiday is as much about boosting local retailers, and at that, it succeeds.

Oh, it gets much more complicated from there. Accessories don’t qualify, for example, so you won’t get a tax break on your child’s football shoulder pads. Do your purchases require alterations? The clothing can qualify, but not the extra tailoring. Oh, and here’s an especially tricky detail: Have a coupon that lowers the price of an article of clothing from above $100 (which wouldn’t qualify) to below $100 (which would)? You may or may not get ahead since a coupon issued by the retailer gives you the tax break, but one issued by the manufacturer would not . See? We aren’t kidding about doing your homework.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.

More in Opinion

Opinion Columnists | Armstrong Williams: Trump’s self-sabotage on display | STAFF COMMENTARY

Opinion | Musk’s oversize gall on display again | READER COMMENTARY

Opinion | Latest MCB project may not be waterfront but sure sounds fishy | READER COMMENTARY

Opinion | VP candidates get their 15 minutes of fame | READER COMMENTARY

My wife isn't 'just' a stepmom to my son. He sees her as his other mom.

• My wife has been in my son's life since he was 6 years old.
• She has taken on a parental role, stepping in whenever I need extra help.
• Even though she's his stepmom, my son considers her his other mom.

After Vice President Kamala Harris announced she was running for president, one criticism lobbed against her was that she is not a parent because she has never given birth to children. But she is the stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff's two children.

Like Harris, my wife is a stepmother to my son.

I am no longer in a relationship with his father and have been in a new relationship for four years. My wife came into my son's life when he was 6 years old and quickly stepped into a parental role. It was a role she enthusiastically took on.

Although she didn't give birth to my son, my wife is absolutely his second mother.

My son and wife's relationship started friendly

My wife didn't immediately take an authoritative role or force him to treat her like a parent. At first, she was more like a grown-up friend — someone he knew he needed to respect, but someone who would take him on drives to get ice cream or let him pretend to drive her car while I was inside the grocery store.

Related stories

I was worried about parenting with another person all the time. As the primary parent, I wasn't used to dividing parenting duties . My wife was aware of that and always deferred to me as the primary parent.

But the bond between my son and my wife was instant. He had never met someone I was dating before, but he liked her immediately.

My wife has taken on more responsibility as a stepmom

Over the last four years, she's taken on more parental responsibility but never tried to act like she was more of a parent than myself or my son's father. She is a bonus mom, someone there to kiss him goodnight , help him with his homework, and love him unconditionally.

During the pandemic, my wife volunteered to take the lead in helping my son with virtual school so I could focus on work. She created a schedule for him, made him lunch, and ensured he kept up with assignments. When the playgrounds opened, she would take him to play, armed with a backpack full of whatever was needed.

I have gone on several overnight trips , leaving the two of them alone together. My son doesn't even call or text me when I'm gone because he's having so much fun hanging out with my wife. I never have to worry about him; I know my wife will make sure he takes a bath and goes to bed on time.

There are days when I will ask her to tag in and do the bedtime routine because I'm working or want a break, and she does it without question. My son knows that if he needs something, he doesn't have to come to me all the time.

Seeing my wife willingly step into a parental role with my son has strengthened our relationship. I knew I loved her almost immediately after we met, but seeing how my son responded to her made me more secure in my decision.

Sometimes, she still refers to him as mine, and I always remind her that she's his mom, too. We do everything as a team: school meetings, performances, birthday parties . Everyone knows us as his two moms, and there's no one else I could imagine doing this with.

My son now sees my wife as the missing piece to our family puzzle. He proudly claims her as his other mom.

"You're my mom too," my son will say when my wife calls herself his stepmom. He made that decision. My wife never wanted to force a close relationship on him, but he pushed for it.

Media has warped the perception of stepmoms

Popular media depictions of stepmoms are largely negative. The common trope is that they're evil.

For example, you have characters like Meredith Blake in the Lindsay Lohan version of "The Parent Trap," the Baroness von Schraeder in " The Sound of Music ," and, of course, the prototype: Cinderella's Evil Stepmother.

These women are always seen as temptresses who come in and seduce the father into marrying them before revealing they intend to get rid of his daughter so that she will be the only woman in his life.

Maybe there are stepmoms out there who fit this description, but by and large, stepmoms are there to be whoever their step kids want them to be.

I know that's exactly the role my wife plays, and my son and I are all the more lucky for it.

Watch: Why one mother fled Texas to keep her child safe

• Main content

• AI Generator

2,007 Do Homework Cartoon Stock Photos & High-Res Pictures

Browse 2,007 do homework cartoon photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images.

• All Vectors
• Free Vectors
• Login…

Do Homework Cartoon Vectors

Showing 765 royalty-free vectors for do homework cartoon.

We’re sorry, but Freepik doesn’t work properly without JavaScript enabled. FAQ Contact

• Notifications
• Go back Remove
• No notifications to show yet You’ll see useful information here soon. Stay tuned!
• Downloads 0/60 What is this?
• My collections
• My subscription

Find out what’s new on Freepik and get notified about the latest content updates and feature releases.

• Writing cartoon

Homework Cartoon Images

• Add to collection
• Save to Pinterest

• Boy cartoon

• 3d character

• kids writing
• children drawing

• book drawing
• Book cartoon

• Cartoon kids
• Cartoon girl

• kids reading

• education illustration
• student teacher

• child education

• Cartoon drawing

• Cartoon svg
• cartoon student

• illustrator

• kids studying

• kids student

• student study

• Cartoon house
• building house

• mathematics

• girl reading
• Cartoon woman

• cute sticker
• Cartoon stickers

• student studying

• boy clipart

• education kids

• examination

• AI Generator
• Illustrations

2,007 Do Homework Cartoon Stock Photos and High-res Pictures

Browse 2,007 do homework cartoon photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images.

• AI Generator

2,007 Do Homework Cartoon Stock Photos and High-res Pictures

Browse 2,007 do homework cartoon photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images.

• AI Generator

2,007 Do Homework Cartoon Stock Photos & High-Res Pictures

Browse 2,007 do homework cartoon photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images.

Save 30% for your first month of a 10-image subscription! Get this deal for a limited time

AI generator

Homework Cartoons illustrations

115,314 homework cartoons illustrations, drawings, stickers and clip-art are available royalty-free for download..