To sodding hate book bags

[Gileswithachainsaw]

They never last dd2s is getting a hole in the corners on top of the Velcro starting to fail meaning as soon as you put the water bottle in the flap just comes open when you carry it.

She's going to need a new one for September on top of the new uniform and shoes and they can't have a bag til juniors. For an extra few quid I could by a decent quality back pack and get a couple of years or more out of it. All dd1s back packs have lasted well. Instead I'm replacing the book bags with another book bag that won't last...

They are such a sodding waste of money... Grrrr

No more fountains... Is it hygiene? Used to hate the queue for the fountain after p.e water bottles much more civilised.

My god, bookbagdrama, that is a chilling Orwellian vision of how book bags can be used as a means of control.

Bloody hell book

clearly that school has huge issues cos surely only a school already in the shit with ofsted would care so much about a fuckin bag

British schools need to switch to Schulranzen - cripplingly expensive but ergonomically designed so that your 6 year old can walk to school carrying their own body weight in books and equipment without getting back ache, equipped with many reflective strips to be visible to cars on dark winter walks to and from school, and totally indestructible - it'll be just cockroaches living in Schulranzen ... and maybe the descendants of the few tiny children who managed to hide inside their own Schulranzen... after the nuclear apocalypse :o

www.schulranzen.com/

It was a H&S issue apparently as someone fell over the handle of a bag on bag that wasn't a school bag. Obviously despite book bags having a shoulder strap too this somehow full fills the requirements.

At our school, kids can bring any school bag they wish even if it is a back pack but we were still advised a book bag was advisable, not compulsory. Being new to it all we did buy one but as I said in a previous post we ditched it early on and put his homework folder in his bag. Less room on pegs for a back pack and a book bag and what if they also bring a packed lunch in a box!? 3 bags is completely excessive.

At the end of the day I always saw having a backpack as a health and safety necessity if you are walking/cycling or taking public transport. I made it really clear to dds teachers that they would be using backpacks as they weren't driven to school and that their safety in going up and down the stairs on buses was more important to me than issues over space in the cloakrooms. I was often not in a position to carry anything as dd1 had a cello ad dd2 a violin, and I was their roadie...........

just put the tatty book bag in a back pack. School and you...both happy. No sewing required !

Yep Londonmummy I too have found that by claiming the moral high ground of not coming to school by car, you get to dictate your own school bag terms.

I also tell my kids only to obey rules that are reasonable and sensible.

YANBU. I refused to get one for dd2. It isn't even safe to have children distracted and laden with multiple bags and bits on the busy road their school is on - I want at least one hand off each child to grab, please.

when dd2 started reception this year there was a dig about book bags in the newsletter once a week until about half term when I just wrote a letter in to explain that I wasn't going to get one, and why. I think it must have been aimed at me, because the digs stopped :) I wrote at length explaining how the a4 compartment in the backpack I had bought was better for books and papers than a book bag that also had a cardigan and a water bottle jammed in there. I bet they love me.

I also pointed out - not in these terms, but nearly - that when a 4 year old is lying in hospital (or worse) having been hit by some dickhead whizzing round the bend at 40mph, as she saw a friend and made a dash for her because her mummy wasn't holding her hand because they were holding 7 separate objects between them instead, then it wouldn't be much consolation if the head of Early Years strokes mummy's arm, in the hospital, as the life support machines beep, and whispers "at least she had a regulation book bag when it counted"

PS I have a lot to do with other countries' school supplies at work and no other country dicks about with this shit. they all have backpacks and some of them have fiendishly useful compartments that I covet

I think they are are pointless who thought it would be a wonderful idea for 4/5 year olds to have more than one bag needs questioned. I'm guessing they are a money making concern. Kids survived school without them for years.
Possibly ok for kids who get lift or walked to / from school. But I just see a disaster ahead with DS leaving it on the bus / at afterschool / forgetting to take it and other bag.

Most bags have pocket for water bottle outside so what is the issue?
I'm half tempted to get him a ziplock folder for books and keep it in his school.

Bought a hello kitty bag from Amazon with buckles and a shoulder strap. Fits in school draw. Still going strong even with drinks bottle, books, pictures, carries, coat, bits of stick, stones and other random crap chucked in it. Invest in a better bag, no rucksack required.

I hate book bags too.

I think they are are pointless who thought it would be a wonderful idea for 4/5 year olds to have more than one bag needs questioned. I'm guessing they are a money making concern. Kids survived school without them for years

Absolutely.

And if schools get paid to shove all the advertising in the bag it's actually kind of unfair that the children are not only being used for free advertising, parents have to pay for the privilidge.

Most these schools were built before book bags were a thing so how a building that coped previously suddenly can't accommodate the basic necessity of a bag is most puzzling.

And maybe if space/shelving etc for crates and lunch bags and water bottles hadn't had to be factored into any re fits there might have been room for more peg space?

My DDs school don't use bookbags, actually had to google what they were. In primary 1-3 the school recommends a backpack no bigger than an A4 sheet of paper and they supppy a wee plastic folder to protect books and homework. Then you just pop a pencil case in and a water bottle and that's that. The bags go under the desk where the child is sitting. Lunch bags go on a trolley and only jackets and shoes go in the cloakroom. Seems to work fine. DD does have to clean out all the crap weekly though.

I always wondered what was with those nonsense folders that children carry on the school run. Now I know.

This is madness. What is the problem with a small backpack? The only reasons I've seen on the thread are that
"The school says there's no room"
"Kids will fill them with crap".

But that's palpable nonsense so why?

The only crap kids fill bags with is crap from school in the first place. A bag just saves them carrying it along side bottles and lunch bags

I still have my junior using book bags! We get ones with more space from out local uniform stockist and they last really well. He will have to change to a backpack next year as he goes to high school

I see where you're coming from but also (I have worked in primary schools for years) cloakrooms have very little space and a book bag fits nicely into a tray.

YANBU

Those bloody things are an abomination and should be burned.

Every child is given a bookbag when they start our school. The are pretty sturdy, no velcro involved and they would last the whole 7 years if required, however our school doesn't insist on using them. I love our school!

YADeffoNBU

I would simply tell school that you are getting a back pack and tough it out
Waste of money and the earth's resources to do otherwise

And if the school pulled any of that bullying shit that bookbagdrama's did I would be making vigorous complaints to head and governors. Disgraceful.

David what bag did you find to suit? Because I'm seriously considering not getting a book bag going for a bag a little bigger than A4 and a plastic wallet.
Very few bags come up when you search for A4 backpacks or they are massive.

TellMeDani I think a shopping trolley would be completely sensible. I don't have school age children yet (my son starts in September) and have no idea how parents get to and from school with lunch boxes, book bags, water bottles, PE kits, art project and tuba without either driving or a shopping trolley. A friend has one and says it is AWESOME. However, she lives in Barcelona, where even stylish young men have them.

Check this one out