School bag for teenager

WNBRich

Hi,

My 14 year old son, who's 6ft 1 in, has developed back pain through carrying loads of books to school. It's not helped by him insisting on lengthening the straps so that the bag , which is an ordinary sports backpack, hangs low on his back/waist area. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better bag, bearing in mind that we are dealing with a teenager, who will refuse to have anything that is nerdy or is likely to get him teased ?

Thanks for any suggestions.:T

Nile

WNBRich wrote:

Hi,

My 14 year old son, who's 6ft 1 in, has developed back pain through carrying loads of books to school. It's not helped by him insisting on lengthening the straps so that the bag , which is an ordinary sports backpack, hangs low on his back/waist area. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better bag, bearing in mind that we are dealing with a teenager, who will refuse to have anything that is nerdy or is likely to get him teased ?

Thanks for any suggestions.:T

Hello WNBRich

Teenagers eh?:D

I would suggest that you save your money and help his back at the same time..............so the next time he complains about a painful back, tell him that you can stop the pain for him.

Then simply shorten the straps on his backpack and hand it back to him with the explanation that if he tries it for a week and his back pain doesn't improve, you'll look at adjusting the strap length again.

As this thread will be better suited to the 'Marriages, Relationships & Families' board, I'll move it across for you.

Good luck

Nile

victory

I just got a string gym bag from ebay of LFC which is what the kids have these days and my 13yr old loves it, basically it is hand held really, it is too uncool to have a back-pack these day or so he tells me!!! xxx

mookiandco

my younger brother is 14 and suffers from back pain. When he moved to his new school this year the school recommended the rucksacks and bags from these people. Not that cheap but wouldnt put a price on my little brothers health!

http://www.caringtouch.co.uk/

Look under active backcare backpacks.

The bags are plain and not at all nerdy!

filigree_2

mookiandco wrote:

my younger brother is 14 and suffers from back pain. When he moved to his new school this year the school recommended the rucksacks and bags from these people. Not that cheap but wouldnt put a price on my little brothers health!

http://www.caringtouch.co.uk/

Look under active backcare backpacks.

The bags are plain and not at all nerdy!

I got one of these for my son and the quality was rubbish! It fell apart after a few weeks. I complained to the company by email and they said I'd have to send it back "for examination" and wouldn't pay for the postage :mad: I didn't pursue the complaint although I should have. I got him a much nicer backpack from Argos, cheaper and better made.

I applaud the principle of the Backcare designs but until they improve the quality I wouldn't buy one.

Mics_chick

Does your son take all his booksfolder to school everyday or does he just take the ones that he needs?

If he does the first one couldn't you suggest that he only takes the books/folders that he needs that day according to his timetable so that it will lighten his load?

If it's the second and they only use folders could you suggest he only takes one folder with spare paper in and any work that he might need to complete that day? Then he can transfer work to folders he keep at home for each subject.

A bit of organisation might save him alot of back pain no matter how he carries his bag...

rolpaula

Our 12 yr old has a locker at school so he doesnt have to carry so much around.............is there not that option at your childs school?........this way our lad just uses a drawstring sports back which are cheap as chips....:D

ps we remember having to use supermarket carrier bags to carry our books around in..............we had kwiksaves ones and if you managed to get your hands on a marks and spencers one you was in :A heaven

Smashing

He should definitely only be taking in what he needs that day and I think you should get onto the school about providing lockers for the students.

I take it he is also one of those who carries his bag on one shoulder instead of spreading the load across two? In this case, I would firmly agree with the person above who said he should shorten the straps, distribute the load and get organised so he's not carrying half a tree around with him all day.