August 6th, 2008
Time to buy your child another backpack for school?
It’s August, so in many countries, that’s back to school time - or at least preparation for back to school. One of the major purchases is a backpack to hold the students’ heavy load of books, papers, and goodness knows whatever else the teachers want them to bring back and forth from school.
When my kids were in elementary school, I was one of the moms who bought the cheaper backpacks, figuring I couldn’t afford the more expensive ones. Surely enough, every year, I needed to buy a new backpack - if theirs lasted the school year.
When my oldest started grade 7, high school here, a friend in the US offered to buy him a LL Bean backpack as a gift for getting into the school he wanted to attend. This offer was extended to my daughter two years later and my youngest son two years after that. I have to tell you - I regret each and every cheap backpack I ever bought. Those LL Bean backpacs are *still* usable, despite five years of abuse. Actually, my youngest son’s broke when he finished grade 10, and we sent it back for a totally new replacement because they have a lifetime warranty. Those backpacks, all three of them, have not only been to school, but to Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, France, DisneyWorld, Vancouver, San Francisco….
Now, the point of this post isn’t to go on about the virtues of the LL Bean backpacks, but to show you that quality counts. Those backpacks were not only long-lasting, they were very ergonomically correct and made it easier for my gang to transport all their things from here to there.
Kids today are really carrying much heavier loads on their backs than we did - there’s no doubt about that. The trick is ensuring that they are able to use their backpacks properly to reduce the risk of back injury. The Cincinatti Children’s Hospital Medical Center has issued this release, Parents Should Make Sure They Help Their Child Select a Good Backpack When Returning to School, which discusses backpack safety.
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Tags: chronic pain blog, pain blog, back pain, children and backpacks, good backpacks for school, LL Bean backpacks, reduce the risk of back injury, backpacks for school
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