Schoolbag meltdown

[BlueF1nTuna]

I'm having a schoolbag melt down and am wondering if I'm losing my mind or if anyone else has the same frustrations.

My dd has just started school this year (P1/reception) so I bought her a neat little rucksack during the summer that was big enough to hold a book and a lunchbox. Then, we had our 'introduction evening' at the school when the head told us that the Schoolbags needed to be big enough to hold an A4 plastic folder. So I sent DH to town to get something bigger. The problem now is that the bag (another rucksack) is way too big for her and keeps sliding off dd's shoulders and causing lots of tears - I can't always carry it for her as I have my hands full with my ds and my work stuff and his nursery bag and coats and ....(you get the picture). It's a 15min walk from our house. However, it seems that all the other P1/reception kids at the school gates have similar oversized schoolbags, but I feel like I'm the only one struggling with it.

Tell me please that I am not losing my mind and that lots of you out there have similar frustrations???

Oh ours had a book bag (A4 folder size) and a back pack for packed lunch and reading book.

Like this

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/School-Book-Bag-Kids-Childrens-childs-Library-School-Bag-BACK-TO-SCHOOL-Music-/130927475146?pt=UK_Girls_Accessories&var=&hash=item1e7be2b9ca

You need one with a clip across the chest to stop the sliding. DD has a Lands End one which was £££ even with money off codes but is practical and has her name embroidered on so hopefully wont disapear

Does she have an A4 folder in there? If not just use the original bag.

Large rucksacks are the bane of our lives at school. We only have small cloakrooms, with piddling hooks that can just about take one thinnish coat (as long as it has a loop to hook onto the peg) and a drawstring PE bag. Kids are meant to only have an A4 bookbag.

However, they all ignore these rules and bring in whacking great things that wouldn't be out-of-place on a DofE trip. They then can't fit them on the peg, so dump them on the floor where everybody else treads on them/trips over them.

I know other schools have those book bags, but our school said they need schoolbags with backpack straps to hang over the backs of their chairs to keep all their stuff together.

can you put it on yourself? that is how I deal with the bag issue. in the morning I make them carry their own but in the afternoon I take them off them to check for all the vital things that ought to be in there but are probably still in the classroom. I then put them on, one on each shoulder leaving my hands free to hold their hands. if you have an across the body bag for your stuff/your son's nursery stuff and pack as much in her bag as possible before leaving school and then put it on that might work. if she has stuff that doesn't fit in then she has to carry it herself and now it is winter she will probably have her coat on.

I've heard of those Lands End bags littleducks, but will have to wait until after Xmas before I would consider buying another bag!! Why do the rucksacks all have to be so big? Are there neater A4 rucksacks out there? Honestly, I could use my dd' rucksack to go on a long weekend trip!

out of curiosity what do they send home in an A4 plastic folder?

Thanks Periwinkle007, I think that's what I'll have to do. Onlyroblem is that my dd really wants to carry her bag herself...she's very independent!

They put her reading books and her homework book in the plastic folder. Think it's to protect them from potential lunch spillages!

Just noticed that there is a conversation going here with a clam, periwinkle and a blue fin tuna....what's with the fishy theme. Lol!

ah I see. in ours it just all gets chucked in. to be fair most of the reading books are so old it is a bit irrelevant now what happens to them. I have been tempted to start putting DD1's reading stuff in a plastic folder of some sort because she takes in her own books and I don't really want them all getting tatty in her bag.

Perhaps you could give her responsibility to carry something else of vital importance?

....and a little duck!

lol - I hadn't noticed that

Source a strap to add to your current bag? I'm sure there will be something out there that's easy to use/attach?

Something like this? www.systemslink.co.uk/images2013/SL_882.jpg

Thanks weeping vipers. Must check that out.

But does anyone else have the same frustrations? I'm just trying to figure out if I'm being overly fussy about this?

I have one of them in a drawer somewhere!!! I knew it would come in handy for something. Must go dig it out. Thanks for that

I would go back to the first little rucksack & she can carry the sodding A4 size in her hands. They can take a flying leap if they don't like. Stupid school requirements.

What on earth are some of these schools expecting their children to transport in these bags?
They need shorts, a Tshirt and gymshoes in a drawstring bag on their peg, kept in school all week. A thin book bag for reading book and log.
What else?

Yesyesyes to lljkk. Use the proper and entirely suitable bag you already have and (gasp) fold any a4 stuff in half. She's not going to be bringing encyclopedias home this young, and the school readers are mostly A5 or smaller. Worksheets, school letters begging for money etc. can fold up or toddle off.

You're not being overly fussy - who needs this additional nonsense in the mornings?