Heavy school bags

harr

Hi
Might seem trivial in the grand scheme of things but I am concerned about the weight of my sons school bag. He is 8 but all his books and copies are kept in his bag even books he doesn’t need for homework. I was hoping he could start cycling to school once the weather improves a little but the bag is way to heavy on his back and makes him very unbalanced.
I have mentioned it to his teacher but she said they have no space to store the books in the classroom.
The bag weighs over 8kg -9kg most days. This post is more of a rant than anything but would like suggestions on a good quality school bag or what type should I be looking for.
Thanks

klm1

I have the same concern over my son, his bag is very heavy every day.
I bought an under armour bag in jd sports for about €30. He actually picked it himself, as it looks decent enough.
It's been brilliant, is very sturdy and easily holds all his stuff without straining. Would highly recommend them.

Muckka

I remember well having a heavy school bag when I was young.
Back in the early 80's we'd all walk up the black path in Shannon, heavy bag's full of books and a copy book for each book.

It was heavy, but it didn't bother me.
It probably kept us fit anyhow and a bit of graft now and again didn't kill us or give us back problems.

I'm not undermining your concern, but I can see how you're worried about it.

It would be worse if your kid was carrying the extra weight on themselves without the books.

The books were a lot more chunkier back then.

average_runner

Our school bag weight a ton in school and we had no lockers. Had to cycle 3 miles each way. Kept us fit and made us stronger

harr

Muckka wrote: »

I remember well having a heavy school bag when I was young.
Back in the early 80's we'd all walk up the black path in Shannon, heavy bag's full of books and a copy book for each book.

It was heavy, but it didn't bother me.
It probably kept us fit anyhow and a bit of graft now and again didn't kill us or give us back problems.

I'm not undermining your concern, but I can see how you're worried about it.

It would be worse if your kid was carrying the extra weight on themselves without the books.

The books were a lot more chunkier back then.

It’s probably being unbalanced on the bike I am more concerned with , but in general I do feel the school bag is to heavy. And yes I do remember how heavy the school bags were In my school going days and probably didn’t do me any harm.

iamtony

harr wrote: »

It’s probably being unbalanced on the bike I am more concerned with , but in general I do feel the school bag is to heavy. And yes I do remember how heavy the school bags were In my school going days and probably didn’t do me any harm.

Suppose you could get a bike with a rack on the back.

shesty

Unfortunately I can't offer any advice but it's a pity we can't seem to get our heads around a simple storage system for school books still.Definitely don't think a bit of hard work does kids any harm but equally, carrying every single book to and from school every day seems ridiculous, even half or three quarters of that load would be plenty.I don't know if "sure we did it" is really a great excuse for stuff.I remember in particular my secondary school bag in the mid-90s.....so shoved full of books that no amount of support or padding worked because the material was so strained by the size of what was in it.Doesn't seem right.

afkasurfjunkie

Surely he could leave books and copies on his desk or seat at the end of the day. As a teacher I would be mortified if I thought kids were carrying home unnecessary books every day.

Mrnew

My Daughters school is very good in this way it has a limit weight on bags in their policy, However during the year the parents had noticed their Daughters school bags getting heavier and heavier so a joint letter was sent into the teacher stating the average weight of the girls bags and the policy. The teacher may have not been happy but it did resolve the issue of over weight bags

gctest50

It ain't good

klm1

I was led to believe we'd all have ipads or laptops and wouldn't need books or copies in school by now. School was a place I'd hover to, with m y self lacing sneakers.

A lot of that promised innovation is obviously unnecessary, but why cant the education system embrace ipads/laptops and save our children the bother of carrying such weights around.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

klm1 wrote: »

I was led to believe we'd all have ipads or laptops and wouldn't need books or copies in school by now. School was a place I'd hover to, with m y self lacing sneakers.

A lot of that promised innovation is obviously unnecessary, but why cant the education system embrace ipads/laptops and save our children the bother of carrying such weights around.

Because the taxpayer is unwilling to fund it, basically.

beauf

I think my Kids bags are far heavier than mine were. Especially in Secondary. I think it's ridiculous.

The tablet alternative is also not a solution.

It's all very 50s thinking.

TheBoyConor

When i was in school we brought home what books we needed for homework. Anything we didn't need was left stacked on our desk place. You'd rarely need all of your books.

Can they not do this?

I don't buy the argument that there is no space to store the books. Each child has a deskspace. They can leave them stacked there as we did.

Schools have a duty of care to the kids. A threat of a claim for musculoskeletal injury might make them reconsider their options for reducing the weight of things.

Garibaldi?

Bring home what is needed for homework. A little time spent on organisation would go a long way. Use simple colour-coding stickers so you can spot the subject area of a book/copy at a glance and take what you need.

jlm29

I wouldn’t agree with iPads or tablets at primary school level, it’s an unnnecessary expense for parents, and it’s hard enough to get their heads out of screens in the evening, without their faces stuck in them all day. Anyhow, most of what they have at that age are workbooks, and they need to learn to write, so I can see no need for tablets, definitely for the first few years of national school.

That said, there’s no need for 8 yr olds to be carting home every book and copy they own. One (narrow) book case from IKEA would solve the problem, I find it hard to believe they couldn’t spare a foot of floor space somewhere in the room. Or as someone said, what’s wrong with leaving them on their desks.
My 7 yr old brings home what he needs each night. I would hate him to be bringing home more, apart from anything else, he’d lose bits on a daily basis

Dial Hard

In my primary school we each had a labelled basket on our desk and left any books we didn't need for that evening's homework in there. In secondary we got an assigned locker every year.

I don't see any point in students lugging the entire curriculum of books in and out of school every day.

Fighting Tao

You could get him a pannier bag for his bike. Or a bag that goes over both shoulders so the weight is balanced.

Muckka

OSI wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Right back in your court.

Tabnabs

It comes down to the management of the school and how much input the PTA have. Our kids went from carrying mobile libraries around on their backs to having a big plastic open box which they keep the books and copies they don't need under their chair at the end of the day (box bought at parents expense) and this has made a huge difference with no books disappearing, thankfully.

There are low cost systems that will go a long way to help this issue, it just needs a bit of communication and flexibility.

harr

Tabnabs wrote: »

It comes down to the management of the school and how much input the PTA have. Our kids went from carrying mobile libraries around on their backs to having a big plastic open box which they keep the books and copies they don't need under their chair at the end of the day (box bought at parents expense) and this has made a huge difference with no books disappearing, thankfully.

There are low cost systems that will go a long way to help this issue, it just needs a bit of communication and flexibility.

I offered to buy my own storage unit for his books but both principal and teachers say they don’t have enough room for 30 additional storage bins in every class. I will speak to the PTA to see if a compromise can be got.

Tabnabs

They totally can, empty and stacked in a corner by day, five minutes to distribute and store books away over night.

Att vara en hest

Fjällräven backpacks were designed for kids to carry heavy schoolbooks.. It's now used by people of all ages for other reasons (it's a good looking bag!) but that was their original design purpose and they do still work well for that. I strongly recommend Fjällräven Kånken

storker

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Because the taxpayer is unwilling to fund it, basically.

In my daughter's (secondary) school the iPad was an option, for about €700 including e-books (with hard copies free if wanted), but she didn't want one. Instead we bought second copies of her heavier books so that she could have one set at home and the other in her school locker and no need to transport them between the two.

iguana

The general advice that I can find is that a child should be carrying no more than 20% of their bodyweight in a backpack. If the pack is 8-9kg then that is likely way, way too heavy for an 8 year old who is very unlikely to be 40-45kg in weight. I wouldn't allow my child to carry weight like that. I have long term back problems caused by carrying items that were too heavy for me when I was in my early 20s. There is absolutely no way a child that age should be carrying that kind of weight. Consult with the other parents and the teacher and come up with a better solution.

cnocbui

My daughter was carrying a bag in HS which weighed 1/3 of her body weight. Absolutely ridiculous. She would start a new year and they sometimes would take 2 weeks before allocating a storage locker, which were too small anyway. I went to lengths to find a long discontinued Karrimor 35L backpack which had an internal frame. That large backpack would usually be full to the brim.

I am not really being serious here, but perhaps schools need an app so when a teacher assigns homework the app displays how many Kg in weight that will add to what students have already been allocated for the day.

I will always regret not asking to see the principal and asking her to lift my daughter's back pack and try putting it on.

cnocbui

Att vara en hest wrote: »

Fjrn backpacks were designed for kids to carry heavy schoolbooks.. It's now used by people of all ages for other reasons (it's a good looking bag!) but that was their original design purpose and they do still work well for that. I strongly recommend Fjrn Ken

Way too small.

TheBoyConor

harr wrote: »

I offered to buy my own storage unit for his books but both principal and teachers say they don’t have enough room for 30 additional storage bins in every class. I will speak to the PTA to see if a compromise can be got.

They are overthinking it.
You don't need storage bins, cabinets, baskets or boxes. Classrooms have desks, there is oodles of space. We used just stack our unneeded books on our desk in the evening and leave them there. Next morning, they come off the desk and into your bag or whatever for the day. I think we did this from 1st class to 6th. Then in secondary we had lockers so it wasnt an issue.

I am not really being serious here, but perhaps schools need an app so when a teacher assigns homework the app displays how many Kg in weight that will add to what students have already been allocated for the day.

Taking overcomplicating things to the extreme much?

Keep it simple stupid. Leave unneeded books on the desk for the night. Most classrooms will be locked anyway overnight.

If people are worried about theft then put bright or distinctive markings or covers on the books to reduce the risk.

The thing is that with schools, an awful lot of conflict goes on between autocratic principals, power wielding teachers and over zealous parents, all jockeying to get the upper hand in the pissing contest de jour. This makes it very hard to implement anything in a common sense way.

Again, I'd say a credible threat of legal action over injury from chronic overburdening would make them reconsider their policty and they'd find room for the books.

beauf

Secondary kids move classrooms.

Dial Hard

beauf wrote:

Secondary kids move classrooms.

Which is why most secondary schools have lockers.

cnocbui

TheBoyConor wrote: »

They are overthinking it.
You don't need storage bins, cabinets, baskets or boxes. Classrooms have desks, there is oodles of space. We used just stack our unneeded books on our desk in the evening and leave them there. Next morning, they come off the desk and into your bag or whatever for the day. I think we did this from 1st class to 6th. Then in secondary we had lockers so it wasnt an issue.


Taking overcomplicating things to the extreme much?

Keep it simple stupid. Leave unneeded books on the desk for the night. Most classrooms will be locked anyway overnight.

If people are worried about theft then put bright or distinctive markings or covers on the books to reduce the risk.

The thing is that with schools, an awful lot of conflict goes on between autocratic principals, power wielding teachers and over zealous parents, all jockeying to get the upper hand in the pissing contest de jour. This makes it very hard to implement anything in a common sense way.

Again, I'd say a credible threat of legal action over injury from chronic overburdening would make them reconsider their policty and they'd find room for the books.

I don't think I am over complicating it as I was referring to secondary school, where you don't have a fixed desk and the lockers weren't big enough anyway. The real issue was the amount of home work could see a bag weighing 12-15 Kg as teachers were simply not concerned with how much homework had already been set by other teachers.

mirrorwall14

As a teacher myself at second level I think teachers can often forget the weight of books and copies. We have iPads. Two years later we had to bring in a ban on A4 hardback copies as certain teachers were insitting that students had two of them (homework and notes). If you multiply that by even half their subjects that’s a really bloody heavy bag. I make a point of one copy, don’t mind what type so long as it’s there every week. Manuscript too for music but that’s super light and necessary. Everything else is on the iPad

beauf

Dial Hard wrote: »

Which is why most secondary schools have lockers.

Still have to carry books to and from home. Also the lockers can be the other sided of the class. So you end up not bothering with them, as there isn't time to go to the locker and back between classes.

We've tried using the eBooks but not had much success with them.

beauf

Be nice if they had more double classes. Thats less books.

Dravokivich

Haven't seen anyone mention it so throwing this out there. Are the straps set properly? I see a lot of kids with straps stretched out instead of tighter into their body. If the straps are set properly the weight is much less a burden.

iamtony

beauf wrote: »

Be nice if they had more double classes. Thats less books.

You wouldn't be saying that if it was you that had to sit through back to back double classes. Ah it's so easy to forget once you become a parent.

Att vara en hest

cnocbui wrote: »

Way too small.

Highly doubt it, these bags can hold a lot more than it seems.

wirelessdude01

I'm a teacher and have kids that no matter what I say refuse to take books out of their bag that they don't need that night or ever at home. The kids each have a basket that goes under the chair each night with what they don't need that night. Not the teachers fault.

harr

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

I'm a teacher and have kids that no matter what I say refuse to take books out of their bag that they don't need that night or ever at home. The kids each have a basket that goes under the chair each night with what they don't need that night. Not the teachers fault.

I initially taught this was the problem and I said it to him to leave books on the desk when coming home,it was only after speaking so his teacher that it turns out to a school wide rule.
Now the teacher did seem sympathetic and she told us to bring it to the principals attention but sure that got us no where.

Marz66

It’s probably a little hard for an 8 year old to look at his homework list and assess what books he doesn’t need. And then remember to pack them the following day when he does need a particular book.
Asking PTA sounds like a good idea.

Scarlet42

our kids school requests them to bring plastic boxes in at the start of the year .. they are kept under their desks ... they only bring home the books they need for homework .. the boxes are under their chairs/desk during the day and at the end of the day the kids put them on the table to allow the floor to be cleaned