MayoClinic.orgAre backpacks hurting your students’ backs?
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Many kids get excited about picking out a backpack for the school year; it lets them put style and personality into a basic school necessity. But picking a stylish backpack doesn’t always mean it’s the best for their health. Mayo Clinic found that many students’ backpacks weigh more than 15 percent of their body weight, which has led to some school-age children complaining of back pain. But not to worry, there are several things that can help ease the stress a backpack can put on your child’s body, like clearing out the clutter and eliminating unnecessary books that add too much weight. Now you can help them be book-smart, in more way than one!
Just purchased four national brand backpacks, two with a lifetime warranty — lightweight, semi-waterproof — at a discount big box store — and two more, trendier label, but heavier, more water proof — at a national store, but their off -price partner. The second store started in Seattle, and I purchased the red and black plaid backpacks for 75% off — and the first two are a well known northwest brand, and were purchased from a corporation that has three stores including a “home” store. Hope that you know where I bought these products, and their brands, and that they were not off-brand, merely off-price.
The lifetime warranty on the backpacks — from large and chic international carry-on to neon orange and smaller back to school bag — have zippers that will be repaired FOREVER. And while the backpack is being repaired, it will be “at camp”. Your child will receive regular updates on the repair and return date. My children are still in their twenties, but not for long — and we still use these backpacks.
The national brand with a lifetime warranty is for me — black on black — I took it to Europe as a carry-on bag with a laptop compartment. I could have carried it to the opera. The neo orange is a gift for a grandchild — lifetime warranty, also lightweight, same brand but bright enough to keep a car at bay. The other two were vinyl, red and black plaid, from a national store — national brand — 75% discount — both may end up in my boat — one as a first aid kit and the other as a carrier of paper products.
Backpacks rock — even if you do not carry books — encourage your school district to provide all children with a laptop or e=reader and purchase software licenses for books — there is no reason to burden our children’s backs.