To think it's sad to see little girls carrying handbags as school bags instead of practical rucksacks.

[Sophiehoney]

Does anyone else feel like little girls are being dressed as mini versions of their mums far too early?

At my daughter's primary school I'm seeing more and more often that the girls from about year 4 onwards are carrying big heavy handbags on one shoulder. The type that an adult woman might carry. They often struggle to carry them as the weight is all on one shoulder and they are bigger bags designed for adults. They look like they would be much comfier with a proper school rucksack.

I've also noticed a lot of them are starting to have heels on their school shoes and very short school skirts. In primary school.

This isn't just my daughter's school as I also work opposite a primary school and see the same there, and see kids going to other schools on my way to work.

AIBU to think it's all a bit sad?

The primary schools near me all have book bags with the school logo on it so you don’t see young girls carrying handbags but when they move to high school they do seem to carry different bags.

YANBU, normally I'd say it's not an issue, kids have always liked to ape adults. But this could actually have ramifications for their health and set them up with back issues when they're too young to understand the risks. I know lots of kids sling a rucksack over one shoulder anyway but at least there's the option to spread the weight evenly with both straps if they start to feel pain.

Concentrate on your own kids

The school I work at (secondary although it has a junior dept) has banned oversized handbags from next academic year across the board.
If the kids refuse they will have to use the school issue bag.
And yes, in primary what you describe is ridiculous.

Yeah that’s nuts

I've never seen a primary child with a bag like this.

secondsry yes. I think it's highly impractical, but 💁🏻‍♀️

im 57, I had a 'proper' back pack school bag & it was heavy! Lots of text books & no locker!

I remember the many rows with my Dad as I'd only sling it over one shoulder & not be 'nerdy' & wear it 'properly' 🙄🙄🤣

you can be 'sad' I suppose, but it's not going to change anything.

This was fashionable last year but most of the girls seem to have realised how stupid it is and have gone back to backpacks.

I can't say much though because I spent most of the 90s thinking my black record bag (bonus points if it was an official CAT bag) was THE THING even though it meant shoulder and neck pain as the books dragged you towards the pavement.

Wow.

All the primaries (and the large secondary) around here have compulsory school branded rucksacks so I’ve not seen this.

I went to school in the nineties.

everyone had a rucksack but no-one wore both straps. It wasn’t done. One strap only.

and yes the adults moaned incessantly about it giving us back issues.

(what the hell are they carrying to primary that means they have a heavy bag?)

Good lord, I was doing the same back in the 1980s. Not a new thing!

Surely primary school kids aren't carrying around that much stuff that they're struggling? Isn't it just a reading book and maybe some spellings?

Children want to be like adults
if you want children to dress sensibly and carry sensible bags, set the example

Thank you :-)

I'm 64 and remember taking a vanity case to school, it was just the (very strange) fashion at the time. It was shortly followed by those wide wicker shopping baskets with the cotton cover. After that it was a shopping bag with The Wombles on it. Fashions come and go, even in school bags!

My DD is 25.
From the age of about 14 she had a series of river island handbags. It was hideously heavy without anything in it.

If they all have iPads in these protective cases, it's surprisingly heavy alongside a water bottle and a packed lunch.

YABU about the bags. One shoulder satchels have been a thing for decades. There's another thread where someone's 11 year old is wearing makeup to school and posters are like "nothing to see here" and pretending that they don't understand that this will draw the wrong attention from adult males because that's not her intent. The world has gone mad.

I'd forgotten the wide wicker basket with a gingham cotton cover! (Mine was red) and my plastic carrier bag had a big yellow smiley face

Thanks for the memory

People following fashion almost blindly in general is sad, whatever age it starts at.

Oh fun, a mum-bashing thread!

Funny you thunk they are "being dressed as mini versions of their mums" whilst having entirely missed that handbags are completely out of fashion for women and most women wouldnt be seen dead eith one, especially on the school run. Its all buggy bags and changing bags for little ones.

stop sexualising handbags and little girls. Focus on why you're even worried about that. Because you think MEN will perve on them.

Have you just landed from Mars? School girls have always done this.
That's why high schools have such strict rules on what they can and can't wear.

Nothing new!

When I was in primary school, these were all the rage! About as impractical as you could get.

At secondary school the fashion was to carry a doctor-type tapestry handbag with your books in a plastic carrier, the plastic carrier had to be a fashionable one ideally. I used one from Sherrat & Hughes bookshop.

I have no opinion on bags but, I well remember how much I loved a heel on a shoe as a child.
Even better if it had a metal tipped sole.
It was the clip clop sound I loved rather than the aesthetics.
Unless the kids are turning up in 6 inch stilettos, no problem IMHO.

My school bag was a tote bag for a couple of years, then an Adidas sports bag, then a Haversack bait bag. None of which were remotely practical because of size. That was 40 years ago so nothing much changes.