Before you know it the school bell will be ringing again. As summer comes to an end parents are frequenting stores readying their children for the coming year and making sure that they have the essential back to school item — the backpack.
It is making me think. I don’t recall ever having a backpack – grade school through college. In fact I don’t even remember having enough of anything to need a backpack! I know I had a big notebook with a zippered pouch inside for pencils and erasers and I had some books. Evidently I just stuck them under my arms and started walking. Later in middle school and high school we had to bring athletic shoes which we weren’t allowed to wear to class along with a pair of shorts, a T-shirt ,and a towel for gym class. We must have had a bag for that.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not knocking backpacks because it is a great convenience and kids today have a lot more to carry back and forth to school than I ever did. All students need backpacks today. Education is a lot more complex and there are more books and accessories needed in addition to supplies that schools no longer provide.
Power to the backpack! I just never had one or can remember how I managed without. What did we do before backpacks and when did they emerge on the scene as the must have item for school? And for those who are wondering…. yes, there was a time before backpacks.