Parents delight in telling their children how much harder it was to go to school when they were young: walking five miles in a snow storm with only thick woolen socks on their feet (and with holes in ‘em at that!).

But we can pretty much agree that we never
carried the heft and the weight of what goes into a child’s backpack.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety commission, overloaded backpacks send about 5,000 school-aged kids to the emergency department every year.

Here are some ways to prevent injury:

• Choose a backpack with wide, padded shoulder straps. Narrow straps can dig into shoulders which ca cause pain and restrict circulation.

• Use both shoulder straps. A single shoulder strap can’t distribute weigh evenly.
• When packing put the heaviest items closest to the back.

•Haves nothing worse that a four-function calculator jabbing into you as you walk.

• Tighten the straps so that the pack is close to the body. It should be carried about two inches above the waist.

• A backpack’s total weight should never weigh more than 10 to 20 percent of a child’s total body weight.

•Lighten the load. Only carry essentials during the day. Leave as much as you can in a school locker. Stop at your locker often to trade books.

• When bending while wearing a backpack, bend at the knees rather than at the waist.

Follow these few simple guidelines and homework should be the only burden that your children carry this year.