A Load Off My Back
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128824)
Gainesville, Florida
March 12, 2016 12:20pm CST
Actually, it's a load on my back! My son and I are going on a camping trip next week, doing some backpacking and primitive camping in the Ocala National Forest. In preparation for next weekend, we decided this morning to fully load up our backpacks with everything we plan on taking camping so that we can make sure the weight load is not too great, and so we can lighten the load somewhat if necessary.
After packing and unpacking several times, both my son and I got our packs to what we felt were tolerable weights for miles of backpacking. I felt that both of our packs were a little on the heavy side, but nothing too strenuous. Besides, as we eat food and drink water on the camping trip, the load will lighten.
Anyway, just as I made a comment about our packs being slightly heavy, my 16-year old daughter walked into the room, lifted up my pack, and told me my backpack was nothing compared to what she had to carry around at school everyday!
Thinking she was kidding, I had her go and get her school backpack. When I lifted it up and put it on my back, I couldn't believe it...it IS heavier than my fully-packed camping backpack! I can't believe she has to carry around that much weight in her backpack every day at school! She doesn't have time to go to her locker between classes, so she must carry all of her books with her throughout the day.
I feel horrible that she has to carry that much weight every day! I wish there was a way to lighten her load, as her backpack is super heavy!
Have any of you with kids experienced something similar with their backpacks?
9 people like this
9 responses
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
12 Mar 16
The students at our school don't have to carry such heavy packs because our district hasn't bought new books in ten years so the surviving books are barely enough to allow each student to have one to use in class and there's not enough to send any home.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
13 Mar 16
@moffittjc Are there digital versions of the books she could access on a computer or tablet from home, or maybe on a DVD? It seems ridiculous that her teachers would require her to lug all those books home every day without offering some digital alternative.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Mar 16
@DWDavis From what I understand, there are no digital copies. But of course this is my daughter telling me this. I haven't actually looked into it personally. Maybe she's just too lazy to ask her teacher about digital copies.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 16
What makes it worse for my daughter is that she in the Cambridge program, so are her classes use college text books. Every one of her books is like 800 pages thick!
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
12 Mar 16
My kids had time to get to their lockers between classes, but they were in a small school. She must be in a huge school not to have time.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 16
It is a huge school. The other problem is how much her classrooms are spread out. She literally has to walk from one side of campus to the other between every class, and she only has 5 minutes to make the long walk. Last year, all her classes were all adjacent to each other, so she didn't have to hardly walk anywhere at all. No such luck this year!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Mar 16
@fishtiger58 You know what bothers me about college? The professors make the students buy these textbooks that are like 800 pages long, and cost about $400 each, and then they never use them. But the professors make it mandatory, because the book publishers give the professors a percentage of every book sold. It's all a big scam to make money at the expense of the poor college kids.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
13 Mar 16
@moffittjc I'm not sure about high school but those college books are huge and weigh a ton. I think for kids like you daughter who have so far to go between classes they should be given enough time to go to their lockers and make it to class on time.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
12 Mar 16
Oh yes Jeff, my daughter's bag and books are very heavy too and she still has to walk from the gate of the school and climb the stairs to the second floor, so I always teach her the proper posture and always keep her back straight to prevent injuries. Same is true for my boys but at least they are stronger.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 16
I always remind my daughter of proper posture as well. There are so many documented incidences of kids having back problems from carrying backpacks that were too heavy.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
13 Mar 16
@moffittjc I think all this would be over soon, there are now schools here that no longer use books, everything is in the kid's tablet and computer, my Nephew's school is like that, bookless.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Mar 16
@louievill There are a lot of schools here that have switched over to online books, but there are still many who haven't. I wish it was standardized so that all schools would make the switch, and just eliminate the need for schoolbooks altogether.
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
12 Mar 16
It was like that when my daughter was in high school too. For a while they were not even allowed lockers due to contraband being stored there. Then the next year they got lockers but no time to stop and change things out.
Have a great trip. Are there pythons in that area? I am sure the bird life there will be amazing.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Mar 16
Too far north for pythons. Lots of bear and deer, but no pythons!
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
12 Mar 16
@moffittjc that is a good thing!
1 person likes this
@cintol (11261)
• United States
21 Apr 16
I notice some of the kids around here have backpacks with wheels. They pull them like a little tote you would take on the plane. I think its crazy that they make the kids carry so many books and such around all day. Not doing much for their backs in the future.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Apr 16
The elementary school that my kids went to actually banned the ones with the wheels on them. Don't know the reason why, but I remember scratching my head on that one, wondering why they would do such a thing!
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Mar 16
Yes, they tried to do the same thing here, but it never really caught on. The kids still carry their backpacks over one shoulder, and as a result end up having a lot of back issues. I make my daughter wear hers the correct way, with both shoulders carrying the load, so that she doesn't have additional back problems. She already has a slight case of scoliosis, so we she doesn't want to do anything to make it any worse.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Mar 16
@JudyEv She had the mild case of scoliosis before school and the heavy backpacks. I'm pretty sure she doesn't carry her backpack correctly the entire time. You know how kids are...it's more about looking "cool" than ensuring proper posture!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
14 Mar 16
@moffittjc And the scoliosis wasn't a result of carrying the bag on one shoulder? And do you think she always carries her bag correctly? No second agendas here - just curious. :)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 Mar 16
Well, if I look on the bright side of things, both of my kids are used to carrying heavy loads on their backs, so when I take them camping and backpacking, they won't be able to complain about having to carry all their gear in a backpack, because they'll be used to it already!
@JESSY3236 (22199)
• United States
18 Mar 16
My backpack was like that when I was going to school. I remember our biology book was very thick and heavy.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 Mar 16
I had my daughter pull out all her books so I could look at them. Every one of them was thick and heavy! They were all 500 pages or more! One of them is over 800 pages thick!
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
21 Apr 16
I can only speak for myself but yeah, in high school, the weight of our backpacks were friggen ridiculous. I remember my dad lifting my bag thinking I added things in there I didn't need but it was all school books. My friends and I often complained about it.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Apr 16
I guess its a universal problem that every student in the world goes through! lol
1 person likes this
