More weightage for less weight !!!

Dear friends,

I have extracted the below points from one of the famous health magazines. Hope this is of help to you and your children.


Does carrying a heavy school bag have a long term effect on your child?

English, Maths, Social Studies, science, language, history, GK, Art, Homework, Workbooks, Projects etc.

That's a brief list of what young children study and carry books to and from school a,lost every day in Bahrain. Most of the time the number of books is more than double their age. And the books get heavier each year. It is not just that text books have become heavier, but the number of note books per subject has increased because of the expanding curriculum. In addition to books they also need to carry their snack boxes water bottles and geometric instruments, library, art & craft work. Often they carry all the books because they are afraid of being penalized for not having the right one. Many mornings as we drive down we see these children with heavy burdens on their small backs, some walking a long way and this results in a back ache.

Parents, teachers, health professionals and students of all levels have complained of the considerable discomfort they experience daily from this burden.

As a result of improper use of the backpack can result in changes of both posture and gait.

Heavy back pack not only leads to bad posture but in the long run might develop abnormal curves of the spine and incorrect postures at school adds to this. Children who experience back pain are at increased risk of having back pain as adults. It is not only the spine which takes the strain of the heavy back pack but the restrictive effect on lung volumes when a school bag load is heavier than 10% of a child's body weight. A similar study states that double strap back pack causes less stress when compared with a bag with single strap.

Most of the experts say that a child is supposed to carry 10 - 15% of his / body weight.

The supreme court of India had enforced that children school bags should not exceed 10% of the child's body weight and toddlers must not carry school bag at all.

As parents what is our role?

Until the school take the steps we can help the children by the following steps.

1. Buying the right back pack - with padded shoulder straps that fit in the
middle of their back.

2. Make sure that the children use both straps for carrying the bags so
that the weight is distributed

3. Ensure that they don't carry unwanted items to school

4. Advice the children to put the bag down while waiting for the school
bus

5. Teach them to bend at the knees with a straight back while lifting the
school bag.


Prevention is indeed better than cure.

Dear sharadha,
You have exactly described the scenario.
Often they carry all the books because they are afraid of being penalized for not having the right one.

The above lines are really true.Even now many children fail to express their views,suffer from unwanted burdens just to escape from the fear of punishments.I feel only very few schools from the whole state/country are liberal and casual.Otherwise they insist tough curriculum,expect the children to carry heavy loads of books/note books.Not only that if there are totally five subjects ,home work was given to students for all such subjects.Really the students face tough days during the entire duration in school.It is very horrible to look at.Unless when there is a strict rule from the government penalising for punishments and other difficulties the students face,we can never come to a conclusion.

Thanks for sharing...
BC

Hi Bhargavi,

Thanks a heap for your comments.

Originally Posted by BhargaviChakravarthy

Dear sharadha,
You have exactly described the scenario.
Often they carry all the books because they are afraid of being penalized for not having the right one.

The above lines are really true.Even now many children fail to express their views,suffer from unwanted burdens just to escape from the fear of punishments.I feel only very few schools from the whole state/country are liberal and casual.Otherwise they insist tough curriculum,expect the children to carry heavy loads of books/note books.Not only that if there are totally five subjects ,home work was given to students for all such subjects.Really the students face tough days during the entire duration in school.It is very horrible to look at.Unless when there is a strict rule from the government penalising for punishments and other difficulties the students face,we can never come to a conclusion.

Thanks for sharing...
BC

Very good advice Sharada...Immediately I noticed how my children do with the backpacks....
The bags are double-shoulder straps...
Hope they don't carry unnecessary items..have to check that too...even the children have lockers in school, don't know why they carry so much weightage...
Best advice--bend on knees to get the backpack----must be enforced....at my house...

thanks for those tips....

sriniketan

Hi Sriniketan,

Thanks a lot for stepping in and posting your comments.

We give importance to few things only when its been proved medically.

Even if they have lockers in school, the children are forced to bring the text books back home. Bringing the note book alone doesn't serve the purpose when they have to refer the text book for some notes given on the text book by the teacher.

The children can write it down in their note books but again there is time constraint. They hardly have any time.

Lets all discuss more about this and try to arrive at some solution favorable to our children.

Originally Posted by Sriniketan

Very good advice Sharada...Immediately I noticed how my children do with the backpacks....
The bags are double-shoulder straps...
Hope they don't carry unnecessary items..have to check that too...even the children have lockers in school, don't know why they carry so much weightage...
Best advice--bend on knees to get the backpack----must be enforced....at my house...

thanks for those tips....

sriniketan

Ok how about this for a solution? Books are made like files. So only the pages that the student is studying that day need be carried. In just one file

The the student carries one file which has the relevant pages for all classes that day. The last 5 minutes of each period is spent telling students which pages to put in the single 'all purpose' file for tomorrow and the student files away the pages of yesterday back into the relevant files. (They will be required only during exam time again)

Santosh
no need to carry pages that are not required for that day

Dint like the idea?

Santosh

Originally Posted by uncannybal

Ok how about this for a solution? Books are made like files. So only the pages that the student is studying that day need be carried. In just one file

The the student carries one file which has the relevant pages for all classes that day. The last 5 minutes of each period is spent telling students which pages to put in the single 'all purpose' file for tomorrow and the student files away the pages of yesterday back into the relevant files. (They will be required only during exam time again)

Santosh
no need to carry pages that are not required for that day

Hi Santhosh,

Thanks for stepping in and posting.
Sounds like a good . But will the school / teacher's give it a thought? If so our children would be benefited and in turn so are we.

Hi Sharadha,

I would join in to give a voice to less weight. I was thinking about this today morning. just now saw your thread.

This morning one of the news channel also carried a item on the hamperings.

No school heeds. when science is mentioned as a period for the kids above 6th. they are forced to take chemistry,biology and physics along with the text books. When the child asks what subject will be taught they are asked to bring all the five books. so for a single subject five books. imagine the weight.

The solution that was shown was ridiculous according to me...strolley bags.
The general public and parents are not giving much thnking towards the problems of having strolley..what if it gets stuck while roling it out on the steps. the child could fall....the same when on a road.

Though we buy padded ones and tell them to take according to time tables still the weight is the same. atleast when in gulf they did not have the added luggage of their lunch bag..

I know a school bag vendor, who asks you two question before he shows you bags to select, which school, which class...

I wish the schools will find a way to reduce the burden on the kids....

Originally Posted by uncannybal

Ok how about this for a solution? Books are made like files. So only the pages that the student is studying that day need be carried. In just one file

The the student carries one file which has the relevant pages for all classes that day. The last 5 minutes of each period is spent telling students which pages to put in the single 'all purpose' file for tomorrow and the student files away the pages of yesterday back into the relevant files. (They will be required only during exam time again)

Santosh
no need to carry pages that are not required for that day

Santhosh,

Liked the idea that you are giving. I know children who leave their text books at school/class carelessly...what will be the plight of papers...the success of the filing depends on the student...what if there are kids who are disorganised like my DS..

I feel the school should come out with better ideas. of asking the kids to leave the books that need not be taken home at school and locked. if the student were gives desks with storage, may be it would help. there are some schools which have that facility.

I would go one step further, why should the kids take the text books to school.???

Any good solution is welcome...and if the school takes it it will definitely be sone pe suhaga....

From a parent who has two kids taking heavy school bags....