National School Backpack Awareness Day is Sept. 19
YES, there seems there is a "NATIONAL DAY" for just about everything!
But seriously, backpacks are endangering the health and well-being of our childen! Those of you out there with school age children, please take pause and think about this. In a recent article I read on The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc's website it said that "overloaded school backpacks are accounting for more and more injuries in kids and more trips to the emergency rooms." I found this news alarming that this younger generation is being injured because of the school books they need to carry.
To add to that, the cause and affect factor can kick in years later. How many young adults now are having back surgeries because they injured their back from using those back backs during their school days.
The article concluded with the following guidelines:
- "the back pack should not weigh more than 10% of the child’s weight,
- the back pack should have two thick straps
- the back pack should be carried over both shoulders at all times"
Oh, by the way, you’ll want to check with your child’s school before you purchase a pack on wheels. Many schools have disallowed them as dangerous. Understandable! In some cases, the kids almost have to run to make it from one class to the next. The wheels would create a trip hazard for them.
One suggested solution was to have two sets of books; one for at school and one for at home. I foresee that as being a huge added expense. Have you checked the price of school books lately? Also, parents can check the packs to assure that only necessary items are in the back pack, not any extra stuff that would add weight.
Another suggestion that just came to me is to add an extra couple minutes between classes giving the students time to go to their lockers to get the books for the next class so they don't have to carry books for several classes at one time.
When I was in school we all carried our books in our arms. No backpacks, no school bags. A kid would have been laughed out of the school by his/her peers if any kind of book bag were used. Now the kids don’t go to school without one.
I don’t know what the solution is. I do know that something needs to change for the health and well-being of our younger generation. Perhaps if parents all contact their children’s school or the local schools or PTAs on the 19th as a group effort it might have an impact on the people in charge and perhaps they will begin to formulate a solution to this situation.
Randy1949
10:02 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
It's been fifty years, but I remember having to carry tall, heavy stacks of books between classes because there was simply not time to get back to my locker and to my next classroom except at lunch. That was harder on the back than a well-balanced backpack.
This is in the news because of another article on Patch about the banning of backpacks during the day at Waukesha West. I have no direct experience in the matter, but drugs can fit in a pocket just as well as a backpack. Books can't.
Darcie Koreen
1:10 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Randy, This is not in the news because of another article on Patch regarding something at Waukesha West. Totally unrelated!! If you would google NATIONAL SCHOOL BACKBACK AWARENESS DAY you will find that it is indeed a NATIONAL DAY that has been in existance for years. It was formed by THE AMERICAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION's in an effort to keep the public and professionals aware of the ever growing health concerns. You can also google THE AMERICAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION and check out the forum that anyoe can join: BACKPACK FORUM ON OT CONNECTIONS. National School Backpack Awareness Day is observed each year on the 3rd Wednesday of September. It's a special day to be more aware of our children's health.
Randy1949
1:21 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
So what exactly should we be aware of? Too much weight on young bodies? I agree. Children are asked to carry too much in the way of school materials.
Having carried heavy weights (books) in my arms and heavy weights (lithography stones for a college art course) in a backpack, I know that a backpack is a better way of carrying a load.
Talk to school administrators about lightening the loads. Michael Henke's solution of e-readers is a very good one.
Michael Henke
4:03 pm on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
I think the solution to backpacks with heavy books is E-books like kindle.
Randy1949
7:00 pm on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Excellent idea, there. There's an initial expense with an e-reader, but e-books are less expensive than printed books, for obvious reasons. It's also much easier to look up and find information in digital form.
Darcie Koreen
1:17 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Michael, What an excellant idea! That would be a almost perfect solution to the problem. I would think that the companies that handle E-books may even contribute some of them to the schools. Good PR!! A tax write-of!!!
GearHead
1:24 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
@Randy: who would pay for the e-readers?!
I was a kid once. How many times can you drop these things before they no longer work? Hmmmmm? Especially if we let the nannies ban backpacks. God forbid we end up with a generation of hunchbacks.
Randy1949
1:31 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
@Gearhead -- I don't know how many times you can drop them -- probably as many times as a cell-phone, which many kids have. Who pays for the printed books now? Either the parents or the school district. Epub files are less expensive than the print books, enough to pay for the e-reader in the first year. But why are you asking me this rather than Michael Henke, whose idea this was?
I think banning backpacks is -- I can't say stupid, that would be un-PC -- a knee-jerk reaction to perceived problems. It will just cause other problems.
Jim Price
1:52 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Wauwatosa School District last year bought 1,000 iPads and distributed them to students in selected classes at both the high schools and middle schools. In the first week, I interviewed a math teacher and a social studies teacher at Tosa East who had both been able to buy licensed digital versions of their textbooks. They also were wirelessly sending and receiving assignments, giving feedback and grading, all paper-free. My son did not get a school iPad last year at Longfellow; this year, entering East, he has his own and has been given permission to use it. Online classes are also increasing, with all-online materials. The backpack will grow lighter and lighter, sooner than later.
GearHead
2:17 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
@Randy: I'm all for the e-reader once our kids understand math, reading and writing. We've got a long way to go yet. Until then, chalk is still pretty cheap (unless it is manufactured in a union factory).
H.E. Pennypacker
2:41 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Obama's stash will pay for e readers.
Avenging Angel
3:18 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Can Darcy cite some numbers? Just how many injuries/year are DIRECTLY attributable to backpacks? I, for one, have never heard of a backpack caused trip to the ER.
H.E. Pennypacker
3:21 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
"tax write off" she must be a liberal and tax illiterate.
Darcie Koreen
1:00 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Enough is enough! I sincerely believe the children that have been injurged and the parents of those children do not appreciate the jokes and applied finger-pointing. There may not be many people aware of this special day but it is one to be taken serious. I am ending my part of this discussion by saying this; please stop the jokes, take a few moments to look into the web site and find out for your self what has truly been happening for the past several years. The web site is part of THE AMERICAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION, INC. and it is as follows: www.aota.org/Awarness/School-Backpack-Awareness.aspx
Randy1949
1:05 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Unfortunately, that link led to a "Page Not Found". I'll have to try Google.
Randy1949
1:08 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Let's try this: http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/Awareness/School-Backpack-Awareness.aspx
Lyle Ruble
2:07 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
having had to buy textbooks for the last 40+ years, an e-reader and digital texts is the perfect solution. We had a major problem with backpacks in our community where kids in middle school were getting back injuries because of the heavy weights. Part of the solution was to change how homework was assigned, but the problem persisted. Universities are beginning to use more digitized texts and most libraries have a great deal of their reference libraries digitized.
I have looked into the reasons why we haven't moved to digitized texts and readers. The conclusion that I have come to is that text book publishers are resisting the move. They stand to lose a huge money stream if schools move to digitized texts.
The savings to school districts, parents and students would be phenomenal and the costs could be recouped in one year. It is time to use technology to our advantage and move to readers and e-texts.
Bob McBride
3:55 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
I wonder what the reaction is going to be when Siri Rel. 16 starts teaching classes. Talk about a phenomenal savings to school districts...
Darcie Koreen
5:05 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
ALAS! A sound of reasoning! Horray! I have grown weary of all the negativity and jokes that have been made on such a serious subject concerning our young people and their health. Unfortunately, to get 'the powers that be' to do the right thing without regard to the almighty dollar close to impossible. It will take the masses to get serious and stop the joking around in order to get this accomplished. Parents need to take action -- speak to there school officials and start demanding chance for the health and well-being of their children. Thank you for wise words.