Lighten your Child's Backpacks

The best way to protect your child from an overloaded backpack is not getting the best possible backpack.

Why not trying lightening his/her load instead? Here are 8 ways you can reduce the weight your child will carry to school.

1. Does your child really eat that much?

Parents are often worried about their children getting hungry outside of their home. As a result, they tend to over pack the amount and variety of food in children's lunchboxes. Children may try a bit of everything you pack, but most of the time, they are unlikely to finish every bit of what you have packed. Whether it is packing your child's lunchbox for school or fieldtrip, a large lunchbox is additional weight for your child's backpack. What he/she doesn't eat, is deadweight in the pack.

2. Stash that textbook away

Usually, most of all that weight in your kid luggage is textbooks. Many times, a lot of these textbooks may not be needed at all. Schools normally follow a curricular timetable and different textbooks are needed on different days.

However, children may be frustrated by having to pack and repack their backpacks everyday and simply leave all their textbooks in their backpacks. To help your child pack his/her books, try starting a colour code system. Your child's textbook can be tagged with colours representing days of the week to make packing less of a chore.

3. Pack at least once a week

Other than heavy textbooks, your child is likely to accumulate stacks of assignment or other waste paper in his/her backpack. It is a good habit for your child to pack his/her backpack at least once a week. Anything that is not needed shouldn't be left inside the backpack. If your child is a potential 'packrat', teach him/her the one week rule. Anything in the backpack that hasn't been touched in a week is probably something they don't need.

4. Make good use of that locker

If lockers are available for your child's use in his/her school, help your child plan his/her schedule right. There are many books your child could leave in the locker so that they won't have to carry all those items to and fro. Your child could also bring addition items to school on days when their load is light so that they can leave them in their lockers for later use.

In this way, their luggage weight could be spread out more evenly over the week. For really heavy textbooks, it may also be good to keep two copies of it. One of the copies can be always kept in the school locker and your child won't have to carry it to school anymore.

5. Change of Clothes or Sports Gear

On days when your child has his/her gym classes they may require additional sports gear or change of clothes. While these are necessary items, you may want to spend some effort on looking for light weight gear so that they don't contribute much more to what your child already has to bear.

6. Have more than one backpack

Remember, your child's luggage is a weight in themselves. Depending on the uses of the backpack, you may need to buy larger backpacks for camping trips or heavy duty backpacks for field trips. But your child shouldn't be lugging the same heavy backpack he/she uses for camping trips to school every day. Have more than one backpack for your child to cater to different use. Having multiple backpacks also reduces the chance that your child will leave his camping items in his/her school pack.

7. Electronic books

While electronic medium are not widely used in schools yet, it doesn't hurt to get one for your child if they are available. Instead of a heavy textbook, you child could be carrying a electronic version that weighs little more than a few hundred grams.

8. Roller luggage

If there is no way your kid's backpack could be any lighter than 'very heavy', then you might consider getting a roller bag. With wheels on the backpack, your child won't have to carry the weight on his back. However you should take note that it may not be a viable option due to school rules or terrain.

If a child is struggling to put on or take off the backpack, is leaning forward while walking to compensate for the weight of the backpack, or develops redness or a rash where the shoulder straps sit then the backpack is too heavy. Other signs are complaints of back pain, stooped posture, numbness, or tingling sensations in the arms and hands. If back pain continues, consult the child's physician.