Kids and Backpacks

Life Support on the Moon...

I can’t help but wonder what young kids carry in their back packs these days.  When I attended Prince Phillip Public School I walked to school and can vividly recall not carrying anything, no lunch, no bag, no back packs.  I came home for lunch, also by walking, and had no need to carry a lunch.

Now when I watch kids getting off school buses, or my own grand kids coming or going to school I see them with back packs about half the mass and size of their own bodies designed for three nights of survival training. What, I thought, is inside those back packs that is so important these kids lug them about at the risk of back disfigurement and personal injury?  I had to know.

I took the opportunity to see the contents of my grand daughters back pack, as she searched for her agenda book.  First I found the remains of several lunches which included an array of numerous shapes and sizes of multi-coloured plastic containers each with remnants of fruit, sandwiches, macaroni and cheese and other food groups in various stages of decomposition.  I discovered back packs were a good source of composting.





I also found a complete change of clothing.  Is this now an over night bag? Socks, shoes, pants, raincoat, shoes, and a small retractable umbrella.  I kept looking to see if there was any formal wear, both relieved and disappointed I discovered no dresses tiara, or glass slippers.

In a secret side pocket was a section for notes to parents that dated back several months and probably could add about a pound of material to the recycle bin.

At the very bottom of the bag, in a separate grocery bag, was what looked like a load of gravel, possibly ballast, but was in fact a valuable mineral collection probably weighing in at about 2.2 pounds.

 There were of course books, many books, for her reading program.  There were toys for either play time at recess and/or show and tell.  This included one doll who also had several changes of clothes including dresses, a Tiara and shoes.  There was a talking teddy bear along with various writing materials including pencils, aromatic markers and a box of 64 crayons. In my deprived childhood only eight colours had been invented.

 My childhood was very much a more black and white world.  We now live in a much more colourful world of choice, variety and weight according to the contents of what may likely be a typical back pack belonging to a six year old girl.  Although I never had the opportunity to weigh the back and its contents I place the approximate weight at about 37 pounds, which I think may be about half my grand daughters total body weight when fully dressed in winter gear.




I didn’t get my first back pack until I was an adult and even then I didn’t know what to put in it.  I think I may have a learning disability.  However, I continue to watch kids barely able to ascend the steps of a school bus wearing their life support systems like little astronauts setting foot on the moon... one giant step for childhood.

Marty Rempel