To hate bloody book bags?

[Rainallnight]

Why are book bags a thing? They are annoying, uncomfortable to carry and can’t sensibly hold anything else. Which means I end up carrying them plus whatever other bag is needed for DCs’ bits and pieces.

Why can’t reading books be put in an ordinary backpack? Is there something I’m missing?

Our school stopped back packs due to covid

Book bags are supposed to fit in trays

But what trays? Why can’t bags just be hung up with their stuff?

Our school never used book bags and my kids didn't have trays. They had backpacks

I just used to take a large shoulder bag and put Dds things in there and just carry that home as otherwise I'd be carrying PE bag, lunch bag, book bag and anything else she needed to bring home, plus anything I needed to pick up from the shops.

The book bags are practical in the classroom as they can all fit in a plastic box and the teacher / TA can pop letters in and organise them quickly and easily instead of individual rucksacks where the letters etc get squished at the bottom.

My DC always had backpacks. But I guess it depends how much space the school has for hanging things up. Most children seemed to have book bags though.

I also never carried their bags for them. Sod that

They go in trays at our school.

They fit in trays.
In infants there is very little the children need to take in - lunch is provided, they don't take pencil cases etc. If my son took a rucksack all it would have in would be his reading book.

Oh and the coats area in our classroom is tight on space already with bulky winter coats. If we added in rucksacks to the mix there would be no space at all.

I didn’t go to school in this country but my children are and I wonder constantly on my way to school with them why they are used.
I agree with everything you say OP, my kids hate carrying them so I end up having them all. Ridiculous old fashioned design and our school won’t allow backpacks.

@Theunamedcat

Our school stopped back packs due to covid

Book bags are supposed to fit in trays

This sort of stuff drives me mad. How on earth is a back pack a covid risk

My youngest is now doing A'levels. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! It does get easier, I hated book bags and reading records my childminder filled in the reading records for me

@DeepaBeesKit

Oh and the coats area in our classroom is tight on space already with bulky winter coats. If we added in rucksacks to the mix there would be no space at all.

This- there’s not enough room in the cloakroom for bulky bags. Plus discourages kids from filling them with unnecessary crap to take to school

@Rainallnight

But what trays? Why can’t bags just be hung up with their stuff?

Our cloakrooms are really tiny. Too be fair they aren't cloakrooms. They are just hooks outside the classroom. They are very close together and we have narrow corridors.

If every child had a backpack on their hood it would be a nightmare. Infact they wouldn't fit.

Book bags are very thin. They are designed to fit into school drawers. In our school every child has a drawer in their classroom and their book bag goes in there.

What else do they need to take to school?

Ours only need to transport school books, the odd letter that hasn't been emailed and a water bottle. The spare change of clothes for the lowest years have them in a thin carrier bag on their peg that doesn't take up much room. No PE kit is being brought in and out as they now come dressed for PE on the right days. Only a handful have packed lunch. Lunch boxes have a basket they go into. Nothing else is taken into school here.

Kids need to carry their own book bags! Nothing worse that seeing a child come out of schol and throwing their book bag at their parent who then picks it up and carries it for them 😳

If you're talking about tote bags filled with books, which all children receive in my LA, then YABU

Fantastic to encourage children to read, inclusive to give to everyone, best not to exclude people who don't see the value or don't want to be singled out, most of the books are passed on when children grow out of them

DeepaBeesKit

They fit in trays.
In infants there is very little the children need to take in - lunch is provided, they don't take pencil cases etc. If my son took a rucksack all it would have in would be his reading book

But they have lots. The jumper they always take off, the coat, drink bottle, reading book, show and tell item and the huge amount of artwork my reception child also brings home is enough to fill a suitcase. Everything is squeezed in and or falls out along the way. Because the drink can’t be upright and it lays down it also leaks even though it’s supposably a leak proof design. Not fit for purpose except for fitting into a tray.

Book bags fit in a big tub or individual drawers in the classroom and then just coats and pe bags in the cloak room or hooks outside. I've never carried any book bag. I tool a friends dc to school and they passed me their book bags to carry and I just pointed out I had my own bag and they carry their own. They looked quite perplexed but did it
It stops them bringing toys etc in. Mine still manage to fit a jumper in and 1000 drawings
Only problem is because they are all identical they add keyrings etc which get tangled

@notanothertakeaway

If you're talking about tote bags filled with books, which all children receive in my LA, then YABU

Fantastic to encourage children to read, inclusive to give to everyone, best not to exclude people who don't see the value or don't want to be singled out, most of the books are passed on when children grow out of them

This is a book bag. It's a small thin bag used often by infant school children who don't need to take much to and from school.

It's not the scheme you mean.

We're not allowed any bags because of Covid. On her worst day my daughter has to carry
Lunch bag
Water bottle
Fruit snack
Library book
Reading book
Key word card

We were supposed to send her in with £1 the other day as well which just tipped us over the edge 🙈

Yanbu. They barely went over my wrist, I needed a bag I could sling over my shoulder.

I refused to use then after a term and swopped to backpack. It was a nightmare trying to herd a small child while carrying my work bags and a book bag.

They are useless. They don’t go in trays in my daughter’s school - they all go in a container and the TA sorts everything out that needs to go in them. By Y2 most of them use normal bags!

I agree they’re a pain to carry and I am sure there must be a better method but not sure what.
Reading books need a bit more protection than they’d get squished in a backpack.
Teachers usually check the book bags during their lunch break and just don’t have time to find and root through 30 backpacks hanging on pegs or in the dining room / yard with the children, to find the books and check them. If they take just minute per child, that’s at least half of their break gone - and some only get half an hour lunch.

Don't buy one just buy a rucksack?

The water bottle leaking would be the same in any bag. DD's always had a strap for her water bottle so it could be carried. Or it was emptied before being put into a bag.

No show and tell here since Covid when we stopped things being brought into school. It's all done digitally via the learning platform, as are reading records. We decided to keep this going when we re opened - so much better than children bringing in, and then losing, toys etc.