Trendy School Bag

Oh gosh. I sent my DC with a backpack. A very uncool backpack with the school logo.

How could I have got it so wrong?

That's alright Exit!

The school I refer to is actually a lovely school. DD went to the junior school and the senior school were very keen to have her but decided on local school as it is fantastic and free! Would have been very happy for her to go to the private school if she had not got a place at local school though. The girls are all lovely.

I guess what I am trying to say in my rambly way is that it is natural for teenagers to be obsessed with fashion, it is a necessary phase in the process of becoming adults. It certainly doesn't mean that they are not lovely hardworking young people with bright futures.

Thanks for that Carrots. My DD is at the local private school which, whilst OK, is not in the top echelons for results. I was beginning to worry that the obsession with bags and turning skirts over at the waistband to make them shorter meant they would all end up on life's scrapheap.

Yellow - Bread probably has a valid point about not being led by fashion.

However she completely lost all credibility by saying sensitivity to fashion is somehow related to how "academic" the school is and basically if a teenager wants to follow fashion it means they are empty headed and a bit thick.

That made me laugh as the school locally which seems to be most obsessed with having the "right" bag is the highly academic girls private with A level results in the top 10 nationally. They also have the shortest skirts!

So Bread - you are completely deluded and up yourself I'm afraid.

Well I like the lemming message.

"not very academic" school.
you are so up yourself.

breadandbutterfly - get over yourself.

Did those nasty girls laugh at your bag when you were an ickle girl and you never got over it, perchance?

Just read breadandbutterfly's last post.

Bugger. I've bought dd a rucksack to start year 7. Will she be a social pariah?

ha ha, don't worry I will not feed the troll anymore (sorry, looks like I made that mistake once already)

shineypenny - not quite sure what you imagine my dd's bag is like? It's gorgeous - she chose it off ebay. It's v stylish (I'd be more than happy to use it), looks solid and like it should cope with carrying her stuff.

Also, I find myself wondering if you have chosen to send your dd to a not-very-academic school, where the only aims are to have the 'right' bag and blend in...? Hence maybe the differing perspectives?

My dd chose a v academic school (her choice, not mine) because she has ambitions beyond looking pretty and where the values and ideas of 'cool' go beyond a particular choice of bag. Given that a substantial proportion of the girls - including my dd's friends - appeared to be carrying the school backpack with crest on (surely the antithesis of 'cool'?), I can't see my dd is going to struggle terribly with her choice.

They had a bag check at my DDs school . Hers was borderline so she had to run it past the headmistress. Fortunately she OKd it. We tread a fine line between trendy and acceptable.

I endorse your comments shineypenny. I remember a girl bringing her packed lunch into school in a Dr White's bag and everyone on the table sniggering all the way through lunch, even me, though I had no idea why a Dr White's bag was funny .

I always try and make sure that my DD does nothing to make her stand out and be ridiculed. I am all for individuality, but at 11 they just want to fit in.

breadandbutter you really do have a lot to learn. What is the point in paying out money on a bag that your child will not use (they will stuff it in their locker/tutor room at school and walk around with the books in their arms) or 'accidentally' lose, when all this can be avoided by a bit of research and getting the right bag in the first place?

I have bought dd a Roxy bag this year, but I spent less than £10 on it, including delivery. ds started Year 7 with a backpack. He used it without complaint, but with the straps down so low that it was hanging by his legs. The bag contained every book he had been given (they choose to do this rather than risk the detention for not having the right book for the right lesson) and was very heavy, so using the bag in this manner was not doing his back any good, so now he has a branded messenger bag which has lasted two years. It also does not hold so much, so he has had to learn to be organised, so win, win :)

It is not about being a shallow parent, it is about ensuring my children are not insecure but happy and it doesn't have to be expensive, so where is the harm in it?

Alot of girls have PB bags at dd's school, but they seem to be going out of fashion again.

Any big, ott handbag goes really. I am off to Primark with dd to get hers today. She likes to change her bag often, so it has to be a cheap and cheerful one.

My boys all have fairly randomly selected non-branded backpacks which I replace every so often when they fall apart or get too smelly or mouldy. It hasn't wrecked any beautiful friendships and my boys are generally cool.

Plain dark coloured rucksacks are the only thing allowed for Y7s at her new school. The HOY is such a stickler for rules, I'm sure she'll send anyone with the wrong bag home...

It's not 'no no' to have backpack.

Are you all bl;oody sheep, women?

My DD started school today and loads of lkids (the vast majority) had backpacks.

What a lot of seriously shallow parents there are. You'd expect it from an insecure 11 year old maybe, but haven't the mums had a chance to grow up a bit?

Oh dear - have just this evening ordereed DD (Y7 next week) a Jansport backpack. Guess we will have to wait and see. It is checked, though, and according to Justine Picardie, checks are the thing this season.

Backpacks aren't that bad- Animal or Roxy for Year 7 won't get her much attention. Otherwise Quicksilver or Eastpak. But wear them low i.e. loosen the straps way too much.

Otherwise, Topshop or River Island.

kslatts Have a look at www.surfdome.com

Just got DSs bag from them, free delivery and it arrived 2 days later, plus their helpline was great when i rang to get bags dimensions,

Hollister was the in bag for DD this year, it was a Gola bag last year.
And she had to have a Jack Wills pencil case.

But it's a no no to have a backpack.

I was quite releived to see lots of girls with backpacks at DD's school today as I only learnt a couple of days ago that they might be 'uncool'. Also surprised that DCs might want to have a bag that everyone else is having - I thought the point was to avoid looking like everyone else not creating a new uniform. What am I not getting here?

DD has got a Paul Frank messenger bag for starting Y7 tomorrow (eeK!) as she told me EVERYONE had one. Now it seems EVERYONE has got adidas messenger bags, apart from one (uber cool) girl. I am hoping that the 'no logo' does not extend to the stupid gurning monkey.

Is there anyone who tells their dcs to get a practical bag and ignore the fashion - or rather, be a trendsetter rather than follower?

My dd has chosen a backpack- firmly recommended if not quite demanded by the school - of her choice. It is not branded but fairly expensive and rather chic. No way am I shelling out for another bag at half-term 'just because everyone else has them'. How are teenage girls ever to learn not to be fashion victims if their own parents encourage them in this endless conformity?

I don't buy branded clothes now or feel the need to wear exactly what every other mum is wearing; I regard grown-ups who insist on wearing the latest over-priced yet strangely unattractive brand as rather sad.

Am I alone in this desire not to instill fear in my dd that she might get the 'wrong' bag? How 'wrong' can a bag be? It's just a bag.

Paul's Boutique is considered "chavvy" in dd's school.
They have to be the worst bags on earth, even by teenage standards.
Agree with no to backpacks. Most yr 7s start out with them but by half term have something-anything- else.
For boys the retro sports messenger bags are good though £££. Ds got one at XMas and it's still going strong, though ds would love a new one. I suggested he buy it himself