25 Pound Backpacks

It's ridiculous the way children carry backpacks that are half their sizes. I saw a kid on the train lugging and dragging a super packed heavy backpack with very thin shoulder straps across the floor. He attempts to lift it up and wear it as a backpack should be worn, but that was a failed attempt. It was obviously too heavy for the child and it just made me feel very sad for him. The mom was leading him but wasn't helping him out at all. All she was carrying was her small purse over her shoulder.

Why is it that teachers require students to have a different binder, folder, textbook to be brought to class everyday? For elementary, middle and high school classes; kids are enrolled in at least 5 classes per day. That means they have to carry all the supplies needed for all 5 classes through out the day. Yes, they have lockers but they will still need to lug their books and binders back home everyday to complete their homework and then bring it back to school the following day. I remember exactly how this felt like in middle school when my backpack could barely zip up. I looked like a turtle and if I didn't stand up straight, I felt that I would fall to the floor at any moment with my backpack.

Kids are averaging a backpack that's weighing in at 25% of their total body weight. Heavy backpacks can lead to back pain, shoulder pain and also bad posture. In high school, for the longest time, wearing a backpack down past the butt and near one's thighs was a fashion statement. Then there was the one shoulder backpacks fashion craze. The GAP sling backpacks, you know which one I'm talking about! That solves the problem of why my shoulders were always hurting. Good thing these are no longer trendy, I think? Also, luckily I've been seeing a lot of rolling backpacks around for the fortunate kids, but not everyone is well off enough to buy a new backpack with fancy features.

Then the other fashion "trend" that I could never get over was the whole Spider-Man or Dora The Explorer plastic backpacks that I remember having in Kindergarten. Except the people wearing them are not elementary kids! They're high school kids! What the hell?! Who decided that was cool? To carry around plastic kid backpacks that look light as hell on their backs. There probably isn't more than a pen and a few pieces of paper in their backpack. For damn sure the kids I see with those backpacks are not the studious ones. I see them around during school hours outside of school. So why the hell do they carry around an empty backpack if they're not even going to school?

Confused,
Cindy