School book bag rage

[pieceofpasta]

Does anyone else really hate school book bags? I realise we're probably in the minority walking to school but it drives me mad every day having to carry every item separately (no bag other than the book bag allowed) while juggling water bottles, school shoes (because it's so wet he needs wellies) etc and a 3 year old. I'm sure if you're only walking to a car is doesn't matter but these bloody book bags don't even have a cross body strap and the velcro constantly opens spilling the paper contents into the massive puddles everywhere. Because of a lack of a proper bag lb has left his wellies at school which means on Monday he'll get wet feet on the way to school. I really think in bad weather only rucksacks are sensible. We have tried giving him a plastic bag with the other things; the bag doesn't come back (because they don't want multiple bags) and I only have a handful of plastic bags now. Why do they make walking to school so hard! (I'm mainly pissed off about the leaving the wellies at school which is mainly my husbands fault). Lol 😨

Bookbags are great. Backpacks don't fit in the cloakroom. Also the school loses a lot of money replacing books and reading records when the children dump it all in a backpack with their leaking water bottle.

Put everything into a rucksack.

Walk to school with arms unencumbered.

Stop in playground.

Take necessary items out of rucksack. Hand necessary items to child. Child goes into school. Put rucksack on back, walk home/to bus stop/to work.

Reverse for return leg of journey.

Sorted.

We only allow the school book bags as we simply don’t have room for any other bags. It honestly isn’t because we are trying to be difficult.

When my DCs were at school they also had the book bags and we did walk the mile to school. In bad weather I took a large shopping bag to carry everything in but in good weather I made them carry their own bags (no strap just a handle).

Book bags normally go in trays which is why the shape suits the school.

and noone else

I'll miss them when they are grown up.

ah memories - try doing this as a childminder balancing 1 double buggy 1 child walking attached to buggy & your hand plus 3 under 8's = 3 school age carrying pe bags (dc carried own bookbags) numerous lunch boxes etc etc plus 1 child stuff going to nursery & than it rains/snows/hails/windstorms & they come out with wet painted glued cardboard models (I was convinced the teachers were getting their own back ) I had arm muscles like Schwarzenegger or a gorilla than

We got a bottle buddy from Amazon that fits on the book bag for £6 and a book bag with the school badge and long strap from the local school uniform shop for £6.

Ebay do the long strap bags as well.

Our book bags have the cross body strap, is it possible to purchase a crossbody bag from eBay, same colour as your school but obvs without the logo. Or just take a bag for life with you and put the book bag in to that.
Our school are ok if the children decide to take a backpack. Mine has just started taking backpack, I hate it! I would much prefer if he took his book bag, that way his letters/homework would not need to be folded (as if he can fold, more like scrunched up)

Also in my child's school, water bottles are kept in the classroom, every so often I would request my child gets it home so I can give it a good clean

I put the book bag in my own bag, sorted.

My kids have had to go to school on occasion carrying:
-book bag
-water bottle
-PE bag
-lunch bag
-Outdoor bag
-After school sport bag
It's not ideal, but calendar made it that it was THE day to bring everything. No drama.

We have asked the school to change the book bags, and the news ones this year have a strap, they are exactly the same size as before.

most of those still fit in MY big bag, I really cannot see the issue.

At the school I work at all the dc bring a backpack. They hang them on their pegs which names it almost impossible to hang their coats up. So they throw them on the floor where they get trampled on all day.

As their reading books are in their backpacks, they don’t remember to bring them into the classroom so we waste lots of time waiting for the children to go and get their books so we can listen to them read. Navigating their way over coat mountain.

I thought I was alone in my hatred of the bookbug. Our school issues them. I love a Friday afternoon and a Monday morning as they stay in school over the weekend.

WATer bottles coming home once a week is grim....would you drink out of that?

Then schools wonder why everyone is sick.

Mine take a sistema bottle, it comes homes, goes in the dishwasher ( to be sterilised) and I return it, filled with nice clean water, not the nasty lead pipe water school offers.

Book bags are crap, great for schools changing books but that’s about it.

Yes SavoyCabbage ! All of that. Honestly backpacks are the worst thing. Such a pain.

I think unless you work in a school you won't understand why it's a nightmare to have backpacks instead of book bags.

I use a carabineer thing to attach the bottle.

No chance I’d drink out of the same unwashed water bottle every day for a week.

Book bags are useless crap. DS's went to landfill after yR as the corners had worn away from him struggling to put the shoulder strap on and it inevitably got dragged on the ground. It's useless for anything other than a book and reading record. I'm not a packhorse for my DCs and they need something practical to carry their equipment in.

I bought the DCs an "infant rucksack" from the school supplier that was fairly neat for small spaces, but could actually deal with items such as a water bottle and a cardigan.

Oh yes I remember the school book bags but ours were allowed to take rucksacks a well.

When Ds was in KS1 I always carried a rucksack with everything in them gave home the individual items when we got to the playground.

He is now in a class where he is allowed a rucksack. This afternoon he came out with his sweatshirt and PE shoes in his bookbag, his homework book in his PE bag and his rucksack open and empty. He also forgot his wellies, and in the process of sorting what he did have, so did I!

Absolutely echo what @SavoyCabbage says!!

Honestly, the school aren't making these rules to be dicks. Honestly.

A lot of schools have ridiculously limited space. Most are old buildings with small classrooms that were never geared towards the amount of children & belongings they generate.

The space for bags, lunchboxes and coats in my KS1 classroom for all 30 children is about 1m x 2m. Honestly.

Imagine 30 children all trying to hang up their stuff / collect it every day, several times a day.

My heart honestly sinks when a child brings in a massive (usually bloody Smiggle) backpack as I know there's just nowhere to store it, it will get knocked on the floor, trodden on, tears, etc.

I know it's shit!

We got a backpack from year 1. hated the bookbag in reception/nursery!

We hate them here too. My sons school insists on book bag only (no rucksacks) but as you state they are crap to carry, come open and you can’t fit in the also required water bottle, pencil case etc. The school is massivly pushing walking and cycling and have made a lot of the roads near by no parking. My son cycles himself to school, he can not manage a stupid book bag, a water bottle and a pencil case plus waterproofs for bad weather seperately and maintain the ability to ride his bike so I send him with a rucksack regardless. I don’t think they give much consideration to kids to travel by themselves, last term he was expected to take his standard school stuff, outdoor PE kit and a bag with stuff for forest school, he physically cannot manage it all on a bike. On Monday they want him to take all the ingredients for a cake plus all utensils (mixing bowl, cake tins, set of scales, spoons, an apron etc) ob top of his normal school stuff, again this is an impossible task on a bloody bike which means taking time out of work so that I can run him in the car, its bloody madness.

I’ll get off my soapbox now!

I agree that they're impractical for parents. But I used to volunteer in my kids' primary school and it was nice and easy to have a pile of book bags, add letters to the right ones, find reading record books, etc. I think they're probably designed more as a carryable folder that is convenient for schools. As a parent I found them a nuisance and was pleased when my dcs were old enough to abandon them.

Add on: its a school issued backpack, very slim. its great