If you want to be cool, you have to suffer, especially if your school bag is too heavy or incorrectly fitted. Three-quarters of all elementary school students have to lug around heavier school supplies than is advisable for their age and weight. Find out what parents and students should watch out for here.
Heed the body’s warning signs
“An unsuitable school bag can overload a child’s spine,” explains orthopedist Dr. Claus Carstens of Heidelberg University Hospital. “This can lead to muscle tension and pain.” Adults often no longer heed their bodies’ warning signals. Children, on the other hand, instinctively react correctly when they feel uncomfortable or in pain: They then simply don’t want to go on.
Misalignments of a child’s spine should not be taken lightly
Properly packed are the school supplies in a satchel that complies with DIN 58124 and on which the GS mark for tested safety may not be missing. Well adjusted, the satchel closes at the top with the shoulder line and lies close to the back. Under no circumstances should the lower edge of the satchel rest on the sacrum. The shoulder straps should be at least four centimeters wide, well padded and easily adjustable in length. In this way, the weight is distributed evenly. When testing the satchel before buying it, parents should make sure that the child’s freedom of movement is not restricted by the satchel. An ill-fitting satchel significantly increases the risk of accidents. Wearing the satchel correctly is also an important consideration. Slinging the satchel over one shoulder may look “cool,” but it puts just as much strain on the child’s skeleton as an unsuitable shoulder bag. The child compensates for the one-sided strain by falling into a hollow back (lordosis) and bending lengthwise (scoliosis). Muscle tension and posture problems are the result. According to the Institute for Sports Orthopedics at the German Sports University in Cologne, half of all school children already exhibit postural weaknesses and damage. However, the reason for this is not only the wrong load. “Our children don’t move enough,” explains Dr. Carstens. “Compensatory exercise is immensely important, especially when children prefer to spend their free time in front of the TV or computer.” Whether it’s gymnastics, dancing or soccer, it should be fun and strengthen the abdominal and back muscles. Most sports also train the sense of balance, which becomes heavily challenged with the start of school and carrying the satchel.
Important: a daily school bag check!
Parents should make sure that their child only carries to school what he or she really needs. For many years now, health insurance companies and pediatric associations have regularly conducted so-called weighing campaigns in schools to check the weight of school bags. The result is always the same: the weight of most school bags is too high. High school students in the eleventh grade lug around up to twelve kilograms, a student in the final year of secondary school still eight kilograms. “Most children carry too heavily,” confirms physician Dr. Kirsten Reinhard. A packed satchel should not weigh more than 10 to 12.5 percent of the child’s own body weight. For a first-grader weighing 20 kilograms, that means no more than two to a maximum of two and a half kilograms. A daily satchel check is therefore essential. Children should learn to pack their own satchels at an early age. Simply stuffing everything into it that is needed in the course of the week is extremely convenient for many a little lazy person. But this is exactly the point at which parents should intervene and explain to their child why a satchel that is as light as possible is important for their health. Many books are not used every day, and heavy atlases are best left in the classroom after consultation with the teacher. Electronic toys such as MP3 players and Gameboys add weight and have no place in the satchel.
Harmful substances in the school satchel
For children of primary school age, plastic satchels are suitable, which should not weigh more than 1200 grams when empty. Leather satchels, on the other hand, not only have too high a tare weight. Also in terms of waterproofness, most leather models leave much to be desired. In addition, the magazine Ökotest found residues of the toxic chemical PCP (pentachlorophenol) in the leather of all leather satchels tested just three years ago.But even the plastic satchels were not free of harmful substances in many parts.
Satchel checklist:
- Choose bright, bright colors; look for the GS mark and DIN 58124, it guarantees enough reflectors and thus better protection of the child in traffic.
- The packed school bag should not exceed 10 percent of the body weight. Pack in the evening for the next day, leave out unnecessary ballast.
- Deposit heavy books and notebooks in the school if possible.
- The filled satchel should fit snugly against the back, the back section must be well padded and ideally shaped to fit the body. With a proper fit, the satchel closes at the top with the shoulder line and does not slip when walking.
- Rather “uncool” than sick: explain to your child why wearing the school bag correctly is important.
- Backpacks and shoulder bags are unsuitable as school bags, especially at primary school age. Here too, health comes before fashion sense.
