Heavy schoolbags. Why can't the school be more helpful?

[nighbynight]

All 3 of my school age children suffer from backache.
Dd's schoolbag weighs in at 20% of her body weight.

We have been through all the easy reasons -
She only brings the books she needs for homework and tests.
She does not bring extra stuff.
She can't have a spare set of books at home, because she isnt allowed back into her own classroom to leave the books, after she has been at her homework class.
She has an ergonomic schoolbag.
She doesnt want a pull along one because other children will laugh at her.
The school on the one hand, issues leaflets saying in big letters that your child's schoolbag shouldnt be more than 10% of body weight. Simultaneously, they scold children who don't do all the homework, or don't have every book there in the lessons, and they issue homework with more books than 10% of the child's weight.

We live in an age of Kindles, iPads, data sticks, and my childrens quality of life is crap because they are in constant pain. They dont want to do sport, and dont sleep well.
Everything on the internet says sanctimoniously that to solve the problem you must ensure that the school bag is not more than 10% of the childs weight. HOW?

Why cant schools take this problem seriously, and help find a proper solution, instead of just issuing orders that their own practices ensure cant be kept to?

I sympathise, Nighbynight. We have exactly the same thing. On some days the bags are almost too heavy for me and dd especially complains of backache.

There are 2 possibilities. You have to invest in one of those bags on wheels like this or all the parents have to push for double lessons only. This will start at my dc's school after Easter so the'll only ever have 3 sets of books to carry.

However, you do know how change is a dirty word in Bavarian school system!

By the way my 2 don't want a bag on wheels either but I have noticed that more and more dc do have one so they might be going up on the coolness factor!

Add in sports kit, clarinet and cooking stuff and a 1 mile walk either end of the train station! Dd3 nearly went on strike yesterday. I sympathised with her and told her to unload half her school bag into another bag to balance herself but she wouldn't. They get used to it.

well, we have just got back from a shopping trip in Munich, where we were looking at the same trolley that you linked to admylin! in a shop.
We didnt realise that it has back straps, as they are hidden away!
It is very heavy with nothing inside it, and also I was worried about how strong it is. The aluminium handle is quite wobbly, and I was worried that it would break after a few weeks, especially with the weight of books that dd has to carry.
I see that it has got good reviews on amazon though.

In the shop where we looked, they weren't being sold as school bags, they were in the luggage section. That also made me wonder about how strong they are.
There was 1 schulranzen with wheels, and it was a subdued sort of pink colour, but not really big enough for secondary school.

We havent made up our minds, really.

hocus, it has gone beyond what we can get used to in our household. I dont see why my children should spend their teenage years suffering constant back ache.

didn't have that problem since ours weren't regular German schools, the books were left at school and there was no homework.

I can only think of two things:

1. how strong are their back muscles generally? More sport an option, swimming club 3x week, something like that?

2. They need to carry less. How about the bag on the back of a bicycle, is that feasible? So they just need to lug their bags into the school building and back out to the bikes.

actually maybe this is a reason why fewer dc are walking to school these days. It is always commented on here on MN but when the bags are way too heavy to carry, no wonder people drive their kids around.

hi ZZ
sport is a good point - ds does 1 sport period per week in the school. Pathetic. He is supposed to make up the difference outside the school.
He isnt interested, I have tried to urge him to take up a sport, but he refuses. As he suffers so much pain, Im not surprised.

I will put it to him again, with the back strengthening argument.

I ahve teh feeling, that it is lifting teh bags that does the harm, which would be the same whether they walk 10 yards or 1000. They lift and twist at the same time, despite instructions.

I found this problem from India, the US, Australia and Hong Kong on the internet.

"he suffers so much pain"

wow that sounds bad NN. Massage to get the cramps sorted? And then sign them up for a swimming club maybe whether they like it or not. Won't hurt their backs in the water whilst they train, bending over a ball or swinging a racquet one-sided might.

Sport at school is very limited. By the time they get to the gym, get changed, get out equipment and keeping in mind they need to put away the equipment and get changed again afterwards, a 40 minute session (?) end ups 20 minutes if you're lucky.

When I was at school, books stayed in desks which you visited at least 2x a day, at registration. You stocked up only on what was needed for the coming lessons, and only took homework books home. Same is possible with lockers. Bags were sometmies heavy but not unmanageable.

Now it seems many schools expect kids to keep all books at home, and carry in what they need for the whole day, carry it around all day, then home again at the end. Why on earth?

that's a point

Do they have lockers at school NN or do they need to carry the day's books about with them from class to class?

Does your school have a school council? This is where form reps can discuss issues with senior management and actually get changes made. This is an ideal school council topic.

I see the heavy school bag issue from the both parent and teacher point of view.

When my DS had a hideously heavy school bag, his teachers scolded him and insisted that he kept more books in his desk/locker. The result was that he never had what he needed for lessons or prep, and was scolded again. He just didn't possess the power of organisation to be able to deal with having the right books at the right time, so his strategy was to carry everything.

I am a Year 7 form tutor, and I work really hard for the first half-term to ensure that my pupils are organised after school. This means going through the homework timetable with them each day and helping them to select just what they need. They don't need all their books for hw, eg they don't often need their atlas for geography (and even if they did, they probably have one at home, or can use an online one). Ditto their bible for RS, and dictionary for English.

We have school uniform backpacks, and at the initiative of the school council, introduced roller bags this year for pupils who have a long walk. There is no need to feel embarrassed about using a roller bag.

MmeBlueberry - which roller bags are you using? are they available on the internet?

What you describe is exactly our problem, with the organising.

They've got desks, but as MB and Planet said, they carry everything around. Also, just the homework/revising for tests books make dd's rucksack up to 20% of her body weight.
She's the smallest in her class.

MB - we are in germany. there are 2 class rep parents. Here, everyone talks like anything. If I go the class rep route, they will probably book a meeting where we can talk about it in teh school, which will of course, be at 12.00 noon, so that I will have to miss a whole day#s work, and the meeting will last for an hour, at the end of which they will make another one for the same time next wee´k...

I am mulling it over. Think I may do an analysis of the schoolbag, with the weight of each book and copy it to the teacher and the class reps. We cant be teh only family suffering like this.

We've had this problem too. The worst I ever weighed for DD1 was nearly 5 kg, at a point where she weighed 30. It's better now they have their own lockers and don't have to bring everything home every night. With DD2 it's even more extreme - she's very petite and still weighs less that 20 kgs in the second class. I bought her the lightest bag around - the 800 gram thing from DerDieDas - but with just a few light books and her breakfast snack we're over 2kgs already. It's not a problem for the larger kids in the class, though, and the teachers have put a lot of work into making things lighter for the younger ones. That's important for us now the two of them go home on the bus most afternoons.

I considered the roller trolley for both of them, but read several pieces of advice from 'experts' that they were just as bad, firstly because they encourage a bad position with the shoulder pulled backwards, which leads to backache in itself, and secondly because the bags are heavier and less ergonomic when they have to be carried up and down stairs. Pity I can't find any of those articles now to give a link.

what solution would you like to see the school adopt NN?

Our roller bags are basically the type you use for an airline carry-on. I think they may also have a set of shoulder straps, so can be used as a regular backpack.

You are not alone - it is a big problem, but usually solvable through organisation. Not just organisation at the kid level, but also in the homework timetable, which is set by the school.

I remember when I was at school 30 years ago, my bag was really heavy. I thought my arm must be getting stretched. We didn't have backpacks in those days - I basically had a hessian shopping bag. I loved my schooldays, but one of my bad memories was of my bag!

I read those two articles as well I think, BlauerEngel. That is another reason why we didn't buy the trolley that we saw yesterday.
Aarghh!

ZZ, well if you are asking.... I'd have the children on sensible hours at school, ie with a canteen, and there til 3pm, with massively reduced homework, and correspondingly fewer books. Thats 2ndary school.
Grundschule, I would have longer hours and absolutely no homework at all. Ever.

One thing the school could do, is to let the homework class back into their classroom to leave their books.
Another solution, as soon as the books are available electronically, would be to allow Kindles or iPads in the school.
A third solution, also requiring electronic books, would be to copy stuff onto data sticks, to be read on a PC at home.
Anyway, I feel that they must come up with a solution, because they are the ones causing the problem, making dd carry all these books, and scolding her if she doesnt, and also turning a blind eye to the weight of the books!

MmeB - my main concern about airline type things is if they are strong enough. I read some doubts about this on teh internet too.
My chilrens schoolbags really do get a pasting, every day. Would have to be the type of lluggage used by people who travel all teh time, I think. Wonder what pilots and cabin crew use?

tbh I am not optimistic about the e-books etc however one thing you could definitely speak to the parent reps about (are they any good?) is the homework class going back into the classroom to return the books. I should think that is possible from the point of view of the school. It doesn't involve a major reorganisation on their part

I suspect the attitude ofthe school might be that this is indeed difficult for pupils, however it is difficult for all the pupils and therefore it is just one of those things, your dc will have to manage. I understand your reasoning but I think the head will reason differently.

Surely the point of having parent representatives is that they bring up matters concerning the whole class on behalf of the dp so that your presence at a meeting would not necessarily be required?

You have to be careful about being reliant on computers at home. Some children just don't have access at home.

Even when they do, their printers are constantly out of ink, and their work is on their memory stick, which they have 'lost'.

Can you ask the school if they could provide a bookshelf for students who do their homework in school? I can understand why they might not be allowed back into their classroom if much of the school is already locked up for the night, or the issue of providing adequate supervision as they wander around the school.

You know your school, nbn - apart from the electronic solution, can you think of anything else that might work?

dd is the smallest in her class, so she is more affected than the others, some of whom are twice her size!

MmeB, I thought about that, but why should dd carry on suffering back ache, because some people in her class dont have a computer at home? At least those who do, could have lighter schoolbags!

I will have to speak to the school, but I know that it will eat into my time, and end up with me having to have time off work.

My DS had terrible back problems when he was in Yr8 (I was on here worrying all the time).

I refused to let him take ANY text books in his bag. He shared at school, and photographed (with document viewer on his camerea phone) any pages he needed for homework and viewed them on his PC at home.

He is now back to carrying everything BUT the school has since converted to double lessons, and if his bag IS too much then I make him leave one and he shares. No teacher has complained (but he was VERY ill and they remember that, was so drugged he couldn't function and had short days at school).

Very impressed by the camera solution!!

dd1 & ds1 have handys with very high res cameras, we might try that.
They have both missed school, mainly for osteopath appointments, which help a bit.

get them an iphone and some applications they can use for school. they should be able to do nearly everything including maths lessons with it. students are far more likely to practise things they dislike such as maths if they have a very engaging medium.

its one of the things i am looking into for our college.

Moocow, if the school is like either of the ones my DCs attend, phones are banned in lessons. And rightly so.