What lies in the portfolio of each student? Notebooks, a diary, textbooks, a pencil case - everything that would study well and diligently. The total weight of the briefcase, combined with the supplies for the lessons for the day, can adversely affect the health of the child.

It has already been proven that about 80% of children carry very heavy briefcases to school. I agree that very often parents buy briefcases for their children, which in net weight can already reach up to 1-1.5 kg. They are not selected for quality and lightness, with the presence of an orthopedic back, but mainly for design. Also, sometimes the choice of children stops at briefcases with one harness, which is very bad for the spine. The other side of such purchases may also be in the pricing policy, which is also quite important for the average family at the moment. Not everyone can buy an expensive and branded school bag.

Good portfolio

The briefcase should look like a backpack and have two harnesses to distribute the total weight over the child's two shoulders. Mandatory presence of a dense orthopedic back. Shoulder straps should also be padded. Such a briefcase will correctly distribute the total weight over the entire back area, and not just on the shoulders. Make sure it's light enough.

heavy briefcase

For every child who goes to school, the weight of the portfolio exceeds the norm, according to the legislation of Ukraine. Regardless of which grade the child goes to, the total weight of a schoolbag reaches from 6 to 9.5 kg. It has been proven that the heaviest schoolbags are worn by middle school students. school age. Slightly better things are primary school. Their schoolbags are simply carried by their parents.

What is the weight of the school bag

The weight of the briefcase must not exceed 10% of the total weight of the child. Looking at a schoolboy who goes to school in a half-bent state, we understand that this norm is far from the truth.

How to lighten a heavy load

• First of all, together with your child, review the presence of a portfolio. Sometimes children carry a lot of unnecessary items for lessons. Sometimes they just forget to post something.
• A possible option is to agree with a neighbor on the desk, on mutual assistance. The number of school textbooks can be divided by two.
• There is also an expensive option. Buy another set of textbooks that your child will use at home and leave the library copies at school. (I agree, not for everyone).
• Now it is possible to download all textbooks in electronic form. If you have a tablet and you are not afraid to give it to your child during the lessons, you can download all the textbooks and in this case, your child's portfolio will definitely lose a couple of kilograms.
• There is another option for parent meeting write a general statement addressed to the director about revising the schedule for the children of the class. Now you can do paired lessons in one day, as a result of which, your child will not carry 6 books, but only 3. Alternatively, you can try, the main thing is your desire and perseverance.

Carrying a briefcase that exceeds the allowable norms, affects the spinal column and internal organs, besides, the child is physically tired, walking.

In the near future, this will lead to back pain, spinal curvature, spoil posture and gait, and can cause sciatica and other diseases.

In addition to all of the above, omission of internal organs is possible, this can be especially difficult for the health of our girls - expectant mothers. That is why it is so important to comply with the requirements established by SanPiN.

The excess weight of the backpack increases the risk of diseases of the joints of the hands. Children who carry weights all the time may develop flat feet. A heavy backpack, like any other unbearable load, increases the risk of injury, fatigue has a bad effect on working capacity: a tired child cannot immediately get involved in work, academic performance suffers.

The problem of school bag weight is acute in many countries of the world.

4. Experience of foreign countries in solving the problem of portfolio weight reduction

This problem is not only in our country. For example, in August 1996 the Ministry of Education Austria decided to limit the maximum weight of schoolbags and backpacks to 10% of the student's body weight.

in Taiwan have already created a 10-inch tablet PC that weighs just over a kilogram.

The Malaysian authorities also announced their intention to replace textbooks with laptops a couple of years ago. They suggested that computer companies develop a cheap and virtually weightless computer, costing no more than $50, that students could use from elementary school to college. You load the desired disk into it - and you read the textbook, you don’t even need a keyboard.

In America have long found a way out in a double set of training kit. In schools, each is assigned a personal box in which the student can put everything that is needed in the classroom. Very convenient - one set at home, the other at school.

School bags, without which it is impossible to imagine modern Russian students, are prohibited in many states of America. California law provides for decent amounts of fines to parents and schools for carrying briefcases that can provoke a curvature of the spine.

Schoolchildren there must use only bags on wheels. Russian doctors are not so categorical, it is believed that a properly selected portfolio will not only not spoil, but, on the contrary, will form a good posture.

In Europe lighten the weight of portfolios in their own way - in the classroom, children are given sheets with a disclosed topic of the lesson and provide photocopies of the pages of the same textbook. They go to school light, and at home they file a school lecture in a folder.

In Russia also thinking about replacing textbooks with technology. The option of dividing the textbook into quarters is being considered. This decision has its supporters and opponents.

The weight of the portfolio will become lighter, but the implementation of this idea will require more funds, and it will be difficult for the student to look into the material that has already been passed or has yet to be passed (if you do not carry all four parts of the textbook with you).

It's no secret that children's briefcases are a heavy burden. "Real" backpacks, with a vaunted orthopedic back, even empty ones already weigh a lot. It is only in photographs on the Internet that the schoolboy looks touching and cute with a briefcase on his shoulders. On real school days, the knapsack swells to immense proportions: textbooks (most A4 in size), anthologies, workbooks, paints (gouache of at least 9 colors), oilcloth for the table, if drawing, a form for physical education, a three-story pencil case (otherwise the neighbor has such than I'm worse), notebooks, a folder for notebooks, a folder for work, a folder for music and a bunch of everything else they ask to bring.

Even before my child went to school, I paid attention to how children go to school. Dad walks in front: hands in pockets, and the child trudges behind bent three deaths from the briefcase. Dad also "encourages": "Come on faster, we're late."

Even then I decided that the briefcase for my daughter primary school I will wear it myself, and no arguments from other parents, such as it is necessary to educate independence, to wear something all my life, it’s already big, it’s his (her) duty, the portfolio is orthopedic - they won’t convince me. The child's health is more important, the portfolio is indeed a very serious burden on the child's fragile spine, even if it is 10 times orthopedic and costs ... eleven thousand. The child still sits at the desk for several hours, and then at home for lessons. I see that by the end of the year, many have an incorrect posture, their backs are stooped. But for some reason, parents do not see a threat in the school bag. Moreover, even some doctors claim that "correct wearing is perfectly safe." It may be safe for some, but children are different. Someone is weak muscular system, someone has a lack of vitamins D and calcium (hello to the inhabitants of the northern regions), someone has too fast growth provokes stoop, why add an unfavorable factor? Yes, someday the child will carry the entire "load of knowledge" on his own, but by this time he will grow up and get stronger.

In Europe, most schoolchildren carry briefcases with a special trolley.

We were given this. We used it twice when we had to turn in all the books. Our roads are not European, but the most ordinary, Russian ones with potholes. At the school, ramps at the entrance were put up only this year, and both the briefcase and the trolley had to be dragged to the third floor, since neither the elevator nor the ramps had ever been thought of. When we went home, half the class ran after us, they looked at the cart like at an elephant. A handy thing, I really liked the trolley, but there are no conditions at our school and the roads are bad, so we don't use it.

Not all parents are so carefree. This spring, I noticed how a car drove up to the school, a man got out of it, walked around the car, opened the door and gave his hand to his daughter-student, helped her out, took her briefcase, went to the entrance, opened the door, let her daughter go ahead, waited for her to change clothes shoes, helped her put on her briefcase, kissed her on the forehead and wished her a good day. I myself wanted to have such a dad. One mother at school also carried her son's briefcase all the time, talking with other parents, I casually praised her, they say, to take care of the health of her child. I was told that her child had problems with the spine, and it was the children's orthopedist who forbade him to carry weights, including a briefcase.

When I chose a briefcase for my daughter, one of the main conditions was its weight. Therefore, I even paid attention to the "dogs" of the locks, in some models they are metal and weighty, why, I ask the extra load. When my daughter got older, I began to look at the backpacks of high school students, and I liked them more than these "skins" of first graders. They are much lighter and simpler, and even cheaper. In the same Sportmaster you can buy them on sale at a big discount.

This year my daughter went to the 4th grade, today I myself carried her portfolio to school. She would still have to drag him to the third floor. I usually throw it on my shoulder, it’s more convenient, although it’s an adult, it’s also heavy for me. She asked her daughter what the girls were saying in the class, were they teasing? The daughter answered, on the contrary, almost envy: "You feel good, mom helps." It is necessary to protect children's health even from an orthopedic portfolio.

The school year has already begun and the first troubles, most likely, are behind us. You can sit down and calmly think. For example, about lightening the bag with which the child goes to school every day. Students will also find some of these tips helpful.

1. First of all, worth look at the portfolio(or a satchel or even a backpack - everyone calls it in their own way). It should not be too heavy, as a heavy satchel negatively affects the child's back and can cause pain as well as various problems that have the potential to become chronic.

3. Myself backpack also should not be too big and must be adjusted to height, buying it "for growth" is a bad idea. In particular, its lower part should not be more than 12 centimeters below the waist.

4. The straps should be adjusted so that the satchel fits snugly against the back., and its lower part rested on the lower back. The best straps are wide and padded. Variants with waist belts are rare, but very good for the health of the student's back.

5. The weight of the backpack is also affected by its own weight (surprise!), so give preference to relatively simple models and limit the desire of the child to hang it with trinkets. 15 grams there, 50 grams here - a solid weight is gained.

6. Weight should also be taken into account when purchasing school supplies.. A massive pencil case full of unnecessary pens - is it really necessary for a child every day? In addition, notebooks with spirals, especially plastic ones, are often lighter than bulky, stapled or glued notebooks.

7. Definitely worth it make sure that the child does not take extra school subjects to school. In many cases, a child's portfolio can easily be lightened by a third, simply by removing unnecessary textbooks, notebooks and albums. Many children take them "just in case" - this is bad both in terms of the extra weight of the portfolio, and based on the child's general ability to organize.

8. As you collect your portfolio, teach your child that the heaviest textbooks and things should be as close to the back as possible. The closer to the outside, the lighter they should be.

9. If the school has the opportunity to leave some especially heavy textbooks (and teachers do not mind), it makes sense buy a copy of the textbook home with your own money and don't wear it to school at all. Your child's back health is worth much more than a couple of tens of euros!

10. Finally, the weight of the satchel, sometimes significantly, can be reduced if the child is accustomed to what he do not take foreign objects to school. Toys, a camera, often even portable game consoles (what children just don’t carry to school) - all this can and should be left at home. Even a phone. Although no, we do not touch the phone.

My son is going to first grade this year. He already has a backpack. How much it cost, I do not know: it was given to us as a gift. It is black with a picture of a racing car. The child likes it very much.

But choose the main attribute school life need carefully.

at the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Belgorod region specialist in the department of hygiene of children and adolescents Andrey Tovsty told which satchel can be considered correct. And ours, alas, did not fall into this category.

“This is a bad backpack,” the doctor concluded, turning it around in his hands. - There are technical regulations for children's products, sanitary rules. And there is no reference to their compliance - there is no EAC marking (from the English Eurasian Conformity - a sign of product compliance with the requirements of the technical regulations of the EurAsEC Customs Union - ed.)».

Of the advantages, Andrey Igorevich noted only a relatively light weight and the presence of reflective elements on the body of the satchel. And all other characteristics were questioned:

“The back, though firm, is very weak. Most likely just cardboard. And it should be tougher, made of polymer, so that the bending of the child's spine in the lumbar region does not change under load.

Photo by Vadim Zablotsky

The upper fabric is water-repellent in appearance, but its quality also raised questions from the specialist. As well as the internal device of the backpack:

“This indicator is not standardized with us, but it is still recommended that there be two departments inside.”

According to Andrei Igorevich, the right backpack should be light and durable, with a shape-stable back, made of fabric that has water-repellent properties. The combination of these qualities, in his experience, will pull at least 4 thousand rubles.

Choose, sample

“Some parents buy soft backpacks for elementary school students, but this is wrong. The back of a child at this age is not yet accustomed to stress, scoliosis can easily develop, ”warned the senior salesman of the OPTimist stationery store. Yana Ezhova.

According to her, for a first-grader, it is better to choose an ergonomic backpack that evenly distributes weight. For thin children, a T-shirt backpack is more convenient, in which the top is narrower in shape than the bottom. And it’s good if there are two sections in the backpack: for books and notebooks.

Photo by Vadim Zablotsky

There are backpacks in which the straps are adjustable not only from below, but also from above: these can be perfectly adjusted to any physique. Some backpacks have special loops on the back wall that allow you to tighten the straps according to the height of the child. This parameter is especially important for rapidly growing or, conversely, too small students.

According to the seller's observations, Belgorod parents are more often interested in the anatomical back and choose such a style of the satchel that it would be convenient for the child to open it. They look to have reliable locks, pockets for small accessories and water bottles. They also pay attention to the color of the backpack: so that it is not easily soiled and easy to clean. More often they take cost-effective three-in-one sets: a backpack - a pencil case - a change bag.

“It is desirable to choose a satchel together with the child. Come to the store, try on: to fit well, to be comfortable with him. In addition, the child himself will be able to choose a backpack with a picture he likes. With such a knapsack, he will go to school more willingly, ”advised Yana Aleksandrovna.

Unhealthy economy

The right backpack for a junior high school student is a fundamental point, the pediatrician is convinced and sports doctor Regional Center for Medical Prevention Olga Ilyadis.

"IN primary school about a third of children with impaired posture. To prevent curvature of the spine, it is necessary not only to ensure that the child does not stoop when walking and sits straight at the study table, but also to provide him with a hard mattress for sleeping and the right satchel with an orthopedic back. The elastic lining in the back wall of the backpack prevents its deformation and protects the lumbosacral spine,” explained Olga Valerievna.

Infographics by Lyubov Turbina

You also need to monitor the fit of the backpack on the back of the child: the upper edge of the satchel should be at shoulder level, the bottom - at the level of the pelvis. The bottom should also be rigid so that it does not sag under the weight of books, the straps should be wide, 4–6 cm, and with soft shock-absorbing pads that will not rub your shoulders. It is also important that the backpack has reflective elements.

“The weight of the backpack together with the contents should not exceed 10-12% of the weight of the child,” Olga Valerievna emphasized.

heavy burden

According to SanPiN, the weight of an empty satchel is no more than 700 g, and a daily set of textbooks and writing materials is no more than 2 kg.

“Norms for weight are far from reality,” said a primary school teacher at school No. 47 Irina Krechneva.

Some textbooks can weigh more than the normative 300 g. As a result, even a daily set: two or three textbooks, a couple of workbooks, thin notebooks and copybooks, a pencil case and a shift - pull 2.5–3 kg. Plus, once or twice a week, a student needs to add a form for physical education, materials for technology, music and drawing to this set. But the children manage to shove a couple more toys into the backpack.

“Textbooks are given free of charge at the school. There will be no purchase of two sets for each student. And even if parents decide to purchase a second set at their own expense, where to store them in the classroom, these 25-30 sets of textbooks?” - Irina Lvovna noted.

Photo by Vadim Zablotsky

Wearing half of the textbooks, having agreed with a desk mate, according to the teacher, is also not an option:

“This is inconvenient: one child works faster, he already needs to turn the page, the other does not. Naturally, for some tasks, work in pairs and groups is required - children learn to communicate, share. But textbooks, I think, everyone should have their own.

It is impossible to radically solve the problem until the school has switched from paper to electronic textbooks. The knapsack can only be slightly unloaded by abandoning heavy pencil cases and persuading the child not to drag all his favorite toys to school at once.

“First-graders often have their parents bring satchels. And grandmothers meet after school, regret. But I believe that a child should carry his own satchel. Moreover, if it is orthopedic, it is even useful: the child will even straighten his back after several hours of studying at the desk, ”concluded the teacher.

Tamara Akinshina

About how it should be workplace student, Nelly Kalieva.