Backpack The best

Too big? Too small? What you need to know before buying a new bag

If anything can lessen the blow of back-to-school for kids, it’s a cool new backpack.

But balancing practicality and coolness factor can be a challenge for parents, especially when children end up carrying their weight in homework, spare clothes and lunch.

“I just see tons of kids wearing bags that are way too big,” said Cynthia Chan, a chiropractor at King West Chiropractic Health Centre. “I think that parents probably overestimate it.”

Chan said the key problems she sees are children carrying bags that are too heavy for them and children wearing backpacks incorrectly.

“The straps are really long — that’s the first thing that’s a red flag for me,” she said, explaining that top of the backpack should reach the base of the neck or the top of the shoulders and the bag should sit flush against the back.

As for weight, children should carry no more than10 to15 per cent of their own body weight, according to the Ontario Chiropractic Association. Despite guidelines, it can be challenging for parents of small children to choose the right sized bag.

“Teachers actually want them to bring a full sized backpack because their lunch will go in there, books, extra clothes go in there,” said Narmin Pirani, director of the YMCA’s extended day and school age programs in Scarborough. When shown the backpacks the Star is featuring, Pirani said that while the bags fit 5 and 6-year-olds, they wouldn’t be good for school.

“Those bags would just maybe fit their clothes and they would have to bring an extra bag for lunch,” she said. So what’s a parent to do?

York Region teacher Kylie Needler suggests parents wait until a few days after school starts before investing in a brand new backpack, giving them a chance to understand what their child will be lugging to and fro each day.

“Every teacher’s different,” said Needler, adding that she usually only sent her Grade 3 students with materials the size of a magazine.

“It’s all relative to what grade you’re in, what your teacher’s teaching style is and if your child is the type of kid that never unpacks their backpack.”

MICHELLE SIU FOR THE TORONTO STAR

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