To think the strain on students backs from book bags has a lot to answer for?

[KriticalSoul]

Was something that came up in conversation with my mom today, I just wondered if anyone else had ever had the same thought.

I was talking with her about the fact my long, long battle with back pain has now been going on 20 years.. I was in physio and having x-rays at 17 from chronic lower back pain that often left me 'locked up or unable to walk.. having to roll out of bed...etc and no-one could ever come up with answers so I was just fobbed off with pain killers and told there was nothing wrong.

At 17 I was doing my a-levels and had spent the better part of 6 years, walking a mile to school with a heavy bag full of folders, text books, work books, pe-kit etc that I then also had to lug around all day, then back home again.

I really think this kind of stress on a young, developing spine really cant be healthy, and wonder if its partly to blame for so many people suffering with mysterious back pain in adulthood.

I've since been diagnosed (in the last 3 years) with degenerative disk disease that the dr said would likely have been picked up all those years ago had they not just shrugged after my x-rays came back with no evidence of anything wrong. >.

so until they learn to be more organised and only bring the stuff they need for one day then we have to watch them struggling.

I'm shocked. Are you serious?

Pulling those wheelie things isn't good for the back either.

My parents were separated and we would spend alternate nights with them which meant taking two days worth of clothes, books, pe kit etc everyday. Looking back it was a ridiculous idea and there was no thought involved.

The problem is five lessons a day, that often set homework. DD has a locker, but she needs to bring her books home each day for homework completion.
Add games kit, packed lunch, home economics (thankfully over for this year) and an instrument.... her bag weighs a ton
She's very organised, and I do make sure she empties out the things she doesn't need, but still, the weight is ridiculous. She's not the largest of children either!

I can vividly remember looking in the mirror of a New Look fitting room as a teenager and realising that my left shoulder was at least an inch lower than my right. I’d insisted on carrying all my books around in a cool (for them!) record bag instead of a saddo backpack, and that was the result. I reluctantly started wearing a backpack instead but I think the damage was already done, and my shoulders are still messed up today.

I used to have days where I’d have to carry all my books, a clarinet, music stand, PE kid and hockey stick all at once. I can still remember how horrible it was trying to stagger home with so many different bags.

My younger brother’s friend had a hernia aged about 9, which they reckoned was caused by carrying such heavy bags around all the time.

YANBU!

DuchyDuke that may well be the case, but I know the walk to school wasn't the only activity I did, I used to play a lot of netball and badminton, and go swimming... unfortunately my back issues stopped all that because you can't run around a court when you can barely stand up straight and put one foot in front of the other!

our secondary has lockers, but the students aren't allowed in the buildings at break or lunch. And with a school site which takes 10 minutes of fast walking to get from front to back AND no lesson changeover time, you either risk a bollocking for being late to lesson, or carry everything around with you. Can't even leave outdoor coats in the lockers, as you need them to move from building to building.

While I agree lockers should be provided so books don't have to be carried back and forth, what about homework?
Books are needed at home to do homework. Can't have it both ways.
We didn't have lockers at school because apparently it was unsanitary - people leaving lunches in lockers. I've always had back issues. As has my DH. He was apparently one of those kids who left all books in his bag all week. Surely the answer is less books?

In the school I work in there are enough lockers for everyone but the kids don't use them. The conscientious ones haul everything around in huge rucksacks. The less conscientious ones just have a JD bag or a largish hand bag that nothing fits inside and never have any of the right books or equipment. There always seems to be plenty of room for their phones/make up though!

If they would only use the lockers it would solve both problems.

DC's school used to have lockers in the PE changing room for kit. PE staff decided that they didn't want the faff of having to lock and unlock the door (and that they didn't like the stink of the black polyester kit they'd chosen if it wasn't freshly washed every time) so they got rid of them. So several hundred teenagers now have to lug their PE kits around school all day or leave them piled up in the classroom where everyone who has forgotten an item can nick it. But hey the 3 PE teachers are no longer inconvenienced and that's the important point isn't it.

I notice most of the boys on the way to the local secondary at least now do backpacks on both shoulders - which when I was at school would have been a one-way ticket to the "uncool" station.

The girls all however seem to be using posh shop carrier bags at the moment.

We had lockers at school but I never dared use mine as it was always being targeted by bullies who'd spray anything they could get (silly string, spray cheese, ketchup, perfume... the lot) into the vent holes.

My son's school has lockers available, but I didn't bother because between washes and homework and studying for tests, it wouldn't be used much and he'd still have to drag the weight around in school.

And he has to take exercise books in addition to the main manuals.

I've considered ripping the books into sections.

I remember my first day at secondary school and my rucksack was incredibly heavy and painful.
I was nervous about rocking up to a class without the right books so for a bit I pretty much lugged them around with me.
Then Jane Norman carrier bags became fashionable!

There is absolutely no room at all in my school for lockers, we're packed to the rafters with kids. We're very oversubscribed with an average intake of 140 a year and loads more getting in on appeal. In theory they're a great idea, but lockers for around 700 kids just take up too much space. We genuinely do not have the space. None of my pupils have to carry textbooks and they can usually leave their exercise book or folder in the classroom unless they really need it for homework. I know most teachers at my school do this to help with the bag situation. I'd be surprised if many schools insisted pupils always bring books backwards and forwards everyday.

Our secondary has lockers for all Yr 7s who want them and then the remainder is allocated to the other years but you have to apply for them. They are not big enough for all the PE kit and books and coats and all that stuff.

The lockers are scattered around a huge site and the chances of getting a locker near your form room or near the PE area is slim. Which means you have to make sure you get your things out of your locker at break or lunch and think in advance and there isn’t time between lessons to go to the locker unless you are lucky and it is near to the lesson. My DTDs sometimes find it easier to bring everything home and then lug it back again. They also have a 2mile walk there and back.

Bananas what a brilliant idea! I suffer from severe neck issues I have always wondered if it was lugging around books for years, I distinctly remember the pain. When mine goes to secondary that is exactly what I should get her. Such a brilliant solution

yanbu
which is why I think 'book bags' in primary school should be replaced with backbags.
year 6 dc's bag is heavy, but as it's an ergonomic backbag it's ok.

I saw an article on newsround about paperboys and girls having back trouble because of carrying their bags on one shoulder. I carried my backpack on both shoulders after that, and we did have lockers and cloakrooms. Why are our schools so poorly designed?

Dd's bag is very heavy. They have lockers, but they don't have time/can't be bothered to be going back and forth to their locker all the time. Secondary schools are mostly pretty big sites - it can be a long way from your classroom to your locker. Going to your locker at the end of the day to pick books up to take home for homework can risk missing the school bus home.

Wheely bags would cause total chaos if lits (never mind all) the kids were using them. I'm a secondary teacher and corridors are crowded enough anyway between lessons. I don't know what the answer is tbh. Some schools are moving towards online homework, which helps.