Text book weight harmful to children

AMONG all the discussion of gridlock caused by the school run, and of growing obesity rates among the young, there is no mention of the weight of school bags.

I recently weighed our 15-year-old son’s schoolbag. When he had removed all the books he thought he might be able to manage without, the bag weighed 21lbs. He weighs 140lbs and should carry no more than 10% of his own body weight — that is, 14lbs. His bag regularly weighs between 19lbs and 26lbs — and he suffers from intermittent back pain.

Walking or cycling any distance with such weights is dangerous. Every parent or guardian knows that books nowadays are extremely heavy and, at secondary level, each book often contains three years of coursework. The result is that every text book and associated workbook are now the weight of the sort of reference book which years ago would have reposed in a library.