Rowan’s Backpack
Wondering what to buy and how to prepare? I found this on one of my first back to school shopping trips this summer at Staples. I wasn’t looking for it but Rowan really wanted to buy “something” (can you hear the exasperated, demanding three year old voice there?). She was randomly picking up a sample of everything we passed, throwing highlighters, staples, and composition books into my cart to seemingly fulfill her shopping need. I didn’t let her see the entire selection of backpacks, she’s still young enough that I could pick the perfect bag, but when she saw it she let out a shriek of excitement. Then I directed her to the enormous selection of thermoses and let her pick to her hearts desire.
Here’s why I think this backpack is great:
1. It has a huge opening at the top for her to pack her all of her artwork and papers at school, by herself. At the end of every school day we show and practice with students how to check their cubbies and load their backpacks by themselves. The bigger the opening, the easier it is to pack in all the treasures from the day.
2. It has a pocket on the front for the matching lunchbox, that she can get in and out all by herself, and hopefully notice if it is missing. This last point is a direct jab at her two older brothers who wouldn’t know if their pants were missing. I’m pinning a lot of hopes on this last child!
3. And, even though everyone in our family who has seen it has commented on how big it is (implying to the mother who picked it out that she doesn’t have a clue as to what she is doing…sigh), she can put it on and take it off, all by herself.
Notice the theme? This is the age for children to either want to do things by themselves (everything, as in Rowan’s case) and the age for us to find ways for them to learn how to do things by themselves. Making it easier for kids helps them transition into being able to do for themselves. It makes them more confident and really, really proud of themselves.
The other necessities here are:
1. Her name, it’s plastered inside the bag and lunchbox. Not all kids recognize their stuff, especially when it is new! The teachers work hard at training students to be self-sufficient but at the beginning of the year if a lunch bag is left on a table and the owner goes to throw away trash and never returns we won’t know who it belongs to either! There’s usually another student who is very observant and can identify exactly which bag/jacket/hat belongs to everyone, but to avoid tapping that student all the time, finding a name will help the adults in the room!
2. A bag with an extra, full change of clothes, labeled with her name. I actually wrote her name on all the clothes too, you never know if she decides to show someone at school some day! I don’t anticipate her having an accident, but I’d hate for her to run around in wet clothes waiting for me to get out of market basket to bring her something clean and dry. Besides, the side effect of all the “doing” in the preschool classroom is that kids can get wet and messy!