Choosing the best bags for school is a crucial decision for your kid’s life. Are you wondering, how? Well, carrying a backpack during the whole school life shapes your growing child’s back and defines his stance. Therefore, choosing a backpack that’ll provide your child the perfect posture, shoulder, neck, and spine growth and all the functions they need to have an ideal school life isn’t an easy decision for any parent. Remember that the backpack you’re going to choose for your kid leaves with your kid in the morning and remains with him until he gets home.
Furthermore, it carries all the important materials your child needs daily in school, such as books, tablets, folders, lunch, etc. Therefore, the school bag you choose for your kid must have to be functional. However, it’s no wonder that children tend to choose backpacks that show off their personalities, depict favorite themed characters, and enhance possibilities to get compliments on their backpacks. For that reason, you also need to get a color or design your child loves because the bag depicts a child’s personality. Are you thinking about how you’re going to choose the best school bag for your kid? No worries; whenever you’re trying to purchase a new backpack, find all these main features outlined in this article to pick one so that your kid will enjoy having the bag, and you’ll be happy to spend the money on the right backpack for your child.
Overview
How to Choose Best Backpack for School
Backpacks need to be designed, picked, and changed correctly and periodically as your child develops. Here are the most important factors to consider when choosing a school backpack for your child. Let’s have a look.
01. Right Size
To ensure that the backpack is the right size for your kid, you need to pick am ergonomic backpack that should not be bigger than the back of your child. To make it easier, take two dimensions of your child’s back and consider the measurement for full the backpack’s height and width. It would guarantee the correct design of the backpack for the child’s body. The length/height of the backpack can be 2 inches extra below the waist-line. According to school students’ age, the chart below for the average backpack sizes would help you choose the right school bag for you or your kid.
| Age of School Students | Backpack’s Height | Backpack’s Width |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Years Old | 10 inch | 5 inch |
| 5-6 Years Old | 12-12.5 inch | 6-6.5 inch |
| 7-8 Years Old | 13-14 inch | 7-7.5 inch |
| 9-10 Years Old | 14.5-15 inch | 8 inch |
| 11-12 Years Old | 15.5 inch | 8-8.5 inch |
| 13-14 Years Old | 16-17 inch | 9 inch |
| 15-16 Years Old | 17.5-18 inch | 9 inch |
| 17-18 Years Old | 19 inch | 9.5 inch |
02. Quality and Sturdiness
To ensure the backpack’s best quality, you need to avoid loose, faulty, irregular, or sloppy stitching, which can quickly be removed. You also need to check for damaged or frayed edges of the backpack’s cloth that may break easily. Beside of avoiding backpacks with such flaws, you also have to pay extra attention to its sturdiness, so that your kid can use it for years or pass it on to a younger brother/sister, give it to a local orphanage, or offer it on the Equipment Swap or online auction pages. Either way, it’d be always keeping you safe from the hassle of buying new bags in the middle of the school year.
03. Lightweight
School children have a ton of items to bring to school, starting from lunches to laptops, so it’s really crucial to keep an eye on the bag so that it doesn’t become overweight on shoulders. A huge bag may be enticing to some so that they can over-pack with loads of things, but that’ll just weigh them down. Children in their school should not hold more than 10–15 percent of their body weight. Therefore, it is necessary to choose a lightweight backpack. It’s more crucial, especially when you’re choosing backpacks kids. However, for older children, the weight of both the backpack and its contents do not amount to more than 20 percent of that person’s weight. Therefore, you should always pick a lightweight backpack so that it doesn’t become a burden on school children’s shoulders.
04. Materials
You need to choose the Materials or Fabric of the backpack according to your requirements and preference. Each backpack material has its own unique features, such as Cordura (water-resistant fabric), Nylon (waterproof and robust), Cotton Canvas (Eco-friendly and comfortable), PVC, Oxford Fabric, and so on. If you choose synthetic fabrics, such as nylon or polyester, they are more water-resistant but less eco-friendly than natural fibers. When you think about environmental protection, and your little one isn’t too susceptible to water spills on bags, you can aim for a backpack constructed from natural fibers. Therefore, you must know about Bag’s Materials and choose accordingly, keeping the materials in mind.
05. Spaciousness
You’ll always see school-going children with full bags. Your kids will have up to 8 textbooks in their school cart when kids reach high school. Be sure you have a backpack that’s large enough to accommodate all the back to school essentials, along with their pencil case, books, lunchbox, ruler, snack, water bottle, and any other important things that they may use every day. Therefore, don’t forget to pick one with ample spaciousness for your kid’s school.
06. Child’s Personal Style and Color Choice
Every day your child wears his backpack to and from school. While the main things parents search in backpacks are proper fit and high quality, beauty, styles, and themes, according to your kid’s favorite cartoon, show, or movie, are also important factors to remember. You’d be happy to know that your children are really fond of the backpack they’re going to use the whole year.
If your child chooses an average quality backpack because it has a popular cartoon or film character splashed all over it, you can go for it if you already know you’re going to pick another one within a year. So, giving your kid’s choice, the first priority is not a bad idea at all. In fact, you’ll see your kid’s happy face, and nothing can be more valuable than that.
However, if you don’t want to change the schoolbag before completing the school year and want to keep your kid’s personal choice as well, you can always negotiate using some clever strategy. For example, you can look for vivid colors on top-quality backpacks and stylish prints or use some stickers, pom pom, or attach other backpack decoration accessories to turn their backpack’s look into the one they want.
07. Easy to Clean
Choose those school bags to clean, which you just need to soak it in warm water and soap in a bucket and using a cloth or sponge, clean some ground-in mud, and rinse it and hang it to dry. If you are okay with hand wash, choose those bags that you need to scrub with wipes or damp cloth. If you prefer easier cleaning than that, choose the Denim or Jeans backpack that you can put entirely in the washing machine and hang to dry until you take it out for another complete operation day. Therefore, the ways of cleaning you are comfortable with is also a vital factor to take into consideration.
08. Comfy Padding
Don’t underestimate the comfort factor when you’re looking for the best backpacks for school students. In ensuring comfort, padding plays a mention-worthy role. So, meticulously check the comfortable padding in back and shoulders so that your child feels quite easy and cozy while carrying the backpack.
09. Two Adjustable Wide Shoulder Straps
Shoulder Straps are essential in providing greater support and securing the shoulders against undue strain. It is crucial that both straps are wide so that while carrying accessories, they spread the backpack’s weight equally. The usage of one brace just applies additional pressure on the one shoulder. Furthermore, Adjustable shoulder straps are useful not just for correct fit but even for proper placement. You need to adjust the straps in such a length that the backpack will rest slightly below the waist-line, and both straps will stay entirely on shoulders without dropping off. This way, instead of placing unnecessary pressure on their neck, those would be perfect for spreading the weight around your child’s whole body.
10. Sternum Strap or Waist Strap
Some school backpacks come with chest or waist belts, specially designed to help in weight distribution. A chest brace should be used fittingly to hold the shoulder braces together so that the sternum or chest strap can lessen some weight on shoulders. Sometimes, when a chest strap doesn’t fit correctly on your child, those won’t help transfer weight and can also create discomfort. In that case, you can skip using it. A waist belt should be fitted over your child’s hips and is really helpful in dividing the backpack’s load.
11. Sturdy and Smooth Zippers and Velcro Closure
You should move on to those zippers that can be exposed to any open weather, rain, or snow and still work perfectly. Furthermore, you can choose school backpacks with zippers that have cloth flaps under them to keep the zippers out of the backpack’s fabric and avoid tangling with other components. Smooth zippers that zip effortlessly and don’t catch on fabric always last longer. If you want fast opening and closing, you can go for Velcro closure as well. However, Velcro Closure is usually not as durable as a well-made zipper.
12. Compartments and Pockets
In addition to using all the features mentioned above and ensuring that the pack rests at the correct height, the next most important factor is to find backpacks providing compartments, front pockets, and dividers for better spreading of excess weight equally on shoulders. Suggest your child that all heavier objects will be put within the main compartment that will reside closer to the body’s back. Lighter small accessories can be kept farther out of the body in the additional pockets.
13. Stylish Look to Use Out of Classroom
Just because you’re looking for a functional school bag, it doesn’t mean your child will have a boring backpack that cannot be used out of classrooms. Make sure to choose a bag matching your child’s perfect stylish look and complement their uniform, personality, and attitude. So go for those that are classically trendy backpacks and also function amazingly in reality. If you choose one to go with casual daily wear, pick a brightly colored backpack so that your child can go for camping, hiking, picnics, travels, sleepovers, in short, can use the backpack out of the classroom. Also, your kid can attach key chains and fobs to highlight his/her personal preferences. You can stitch patches or customize from a design shop too. Just keep in mind that your child needs to have a peace of mind with his/her school backpacks besides practical use.
14. Handy Features
- Elastic Water Bottle Pockets: Look for backpacks with side elastic water bottle pockets to carry water bottles, umbrella, mitts, drinks, or gloves. These side pockets will come to be very useful in keeping your kid hydrated the whole day.
- USB Port: Having USB charging Port in the school bag is one of the most amazing features now. As students need to carry phones with them, they can charge it one the go and use headphones while walking and keeping the phone inside the bag.
- Key Clip: If you choose a school bag with Key Clip, it’ll prove to be really handy because kids won’t forget their house keys or go crazy of trying to unload all the accessories in the bag to the bottom to retrieve their keys.
- Reflective Material: Another type of handy add-ons that will improve your kid’s protection is including reflectors and protective tape in school bags. If your child waits for the school bus alongside a path or walks to school, you can pick a backpack with reflective items. Many backpacks come with reflective paneling for extra security against vehicles and bicycles in the evening and at night. If you’ve set your eyes on a backpack that doesn’t come with a reflector, you can also customize it to your kid’s backpack. Small reflective material tapes are available in sporting goods shops. And also, stores of stitching and crafts are strong suppliers of reflective tape.
- Nametag Spot: Having a nametag spot is a cool and useful addition, as your kid won’t face the hassle of misplacement of backpacks and also be happy with his name on the bag. You’ll find the nametag spot somewhere inside the bag, where you can label your kid’s name on the bag to avoid mix-ups.
- Personalized Name: Some school bag manufacturers offer a personalized name to be printed on the front of the backpack. It looks so unique; children love it. So you can try those backpacks as well if your kid prefers.
15. Special Features in School Bag
- Rolling Backpack: A roller bag could be a reasonable choice to lighten the load, as wheels ensure that children don’t bear all the book and essentials’ weight on their shoulders. The ease of rolling bags also comes with two caveats wheel backpack. However, your little one must be big enough to tote the rolling backpack up a flight of stairs, if there are no elevators in the school, and also push it across snowy weather. Furthermore, you should search for a strong handle that’s easy to stretch and smooth, soundless wheels that roll easily.
- Waterproof Backpack: In normal rain and snowy weather, consider choosing a waterproof backpack that will hold things safe from water. Water-resistant fabrics won’t make a bag flood-resistant, so unless you’re preparing to submerge your backpack in water, purchasing a water-resistant backpack would be a good choice.
- Laptop Backpack: If your child needs to carry a laptop or tablet to school for computer lab or presentations, you need a laptop backpack with padded sleeves protection. If students need to carry electronics, you must check the specifications and dimensions to make sure they fit their laptops or tablets.
- Clear Backpack: Many school want students to carry Clear Backpacks to school; in that case, you can pick a clear backpack for your kid. Also, for outings in snowy weather or in the rain, tour on a beach holiday, or passing the airport of concert security quickly, having a Transparent Backpack would be the best choice.
- Bookbag: When carrying the books is the main purpose, without having many pockets for additional accessories, in that case, you should pick a book-sized Book Bag. Not much hassle, stay simple and carry your books for classes or casual use in Book Bag.
16. Warranty
If you’re looking for inexpensive backpacks for kids, and you realize that your child may pass on to another cartoon figure or trendy themed school bag next year, then the warranty may not matter to you that much. However, while looking for high-quality school backpacks, first read the warranty service to see if it is a decent deal for the money. Some schoolbags offer lifelong warranty or provide repair service within one year of usage, and all these warranty services are important to look at.
Conclusion
When you send your kid to school, packing all the backpack essentials in it, you also pack a few hopes and dreams that your kid would grow to the most amazing and successful person in life. For making your dream come true, choosing the best backpack for school is one of the most important decisions in your child’s life because the right school bags would guarantee safe development diminishing the possibilities of back and neck pain and later life complications. We suggest backpacks with large belts for students to carry a lot of books. Also, keep in mind that Backpacks must be carried correctly and shouldn’t be too heavy and pick the one that will last for many years.
