With the new school year around the corner, is your son shopping for a new backpack?  Raising Boys World crunches some numbers and takes a look at how overloaded backpacks can really weigh down on your son’s health.

In 2008, Consumer Reports conducted a study in Amityville, NY with children in second grade, fourth grade, and sixth grade from three different schools, and these were the findings:
As expected, the sixth grade kids had, on average, the heaviest backpacks at 18.4 pounds, followed by the second graders at 5.3 pounds, then the fourth graders at 4.6 pounds.

The American Academy of Pediatrics agree that the backpack a child carries should weight no more than 10% to 20% of the child’s weight.  Looking back at our sample, the sixth graders were, on average, carrying 17.2% of their weight, the second graders - 8.6%, and the fourth graders - 5.6%.  The second and fourth grade children did not seem to be at risk, but the sixth grade children’s average backpack weight are pretty close to the 20% mark.

In addition, many of these sixth grade children had only three chances to visit their lockers - in the morning, lunch, then at the end of the day (a common scenario in many middle schools), which means that they had to carry almost everything they needed that day in their backpacks.  Heavy backpacks adds stress on the spine and shoulders, causing muscle strain, fatigue, and bad posture (a bad habit that can cause other back problems in the future), and in some cases, medical attention does become necessary.

Here are some good tips to remember when shopping for a new backpack with your son:

• The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons recommends a backpack that hangs two inches above the waist.  The lower the backpack hangs below the waist, the more strain it puts on the shoulders.
• Look for wide, padded shoulder strap and remind your son to wear both straps.  Carrying the backpack by only one strap puts the entire weight of it on one side of the back, which increases the risk for lower back pain.
• A hip strap can help distribute the weight between the back and the hips.
• align: baseline;">Have your son pack the heaviest items close to the back.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Raising Boys Family Travel Report visits Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa in New Mexico.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Buffalo, NY - Cool Stuff Every Kid Should Know

by Kate Boehm Jerome
Arcadia Publishing

Arcadia Publishing has just launched Arcadia Kids which is a new series of fun, colorful, easy-to-read books for children ages 7-11. Raising Boys World was invited to review the Buffalo, NY book. I'm familiar with Buffalo so this was a perfect book to review.

It's fantastic! I would highly recommend it.

For starters, the pictures are great. Both local and state perspectives are interesting and informative. The facts about the area kept my children (and me) interested and the lists with websites were helpful and appropriate. I like the conversational style of writing, the images of landmarks and geography are really well done.

It's one thing for a parent to enjoy a book and another story when both parent and child agree. In this case, everyone enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it.

RBW gives Buffalo, NY - Cool Stuff Every Kid Should Know 5 out of 5 stars.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

In The Way of Boys: Raising Healthy Boys in a Challenging and Complex World, Dr. Anthony Rao explores and explains a wide variety of challenges that face both boys and parents in today’s social and emotional arenas.  Dr. Rao uses actual examples from his practice to help us sort through many of the issues we tackle as parents and how to help our boys survive our world’s expectations.  Throughout the pages he reiterates the disparity of society’s view on how a boy is supposed to be versus how he is actually wired to be.  He does a fabulous job of providing parents with ways to deal with behavioral and social issues as well as providing us with a litany of things to do and research before committing to medicating a child with special needs or diagnoses.  This is a book you will read cover to cover and definitely refer to as you look for answers and suggestions for raising your young boy.  You will appreciate Dr. Rao’s use of everyday language as he addresses everyday issues.  Any parent could make great use of his ideas for tacking specific issues as well as his general advice for steering our boys in and acceptable ands appropriate direction.  Note: I especially enjoyed how Dr. Rao provided us with follow up information on how his clients grew up.  It’s interesting to read what his former young male clients and their parents have to say after years of using his help.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

With all the marvelous texting, emailing, posting, and blogging we have nowadays, do our children even know what a written letter is?  Remember?  The act of putting pen to paper then having it delivered (not instantly) to the patient recipient on the other side?  This dying art is actually a great way to encourage and improve your son's reading and writing skills.  Try this fun idea: set up a mini-mailing system at home where you can slip each other short letters and notes!

Step One:
Make this a crafting project too.  Use shoe boxes or any other receptacle that may work (e.g. tupperware, flower pot, etc.), and decorate/personalize it.  You can also help your son cut a slit in the box to resemble a mail slot.  It's also fun to write each person's name and address on their mailboxes. 

Step Two:
Place the mailbox in an obvious place, like outside their room or designate a spot in the family room as the 'family mail center'. 

Step Three:
Write your son short notes and letters and encourage a response with it.  You can do this once a day, once a week, whatever suits your family's pace.  Some good times to jot something down for him - before you leave for work, before you leave for the night and he'll be with a babysitter, before he goes to bed, after he goes to bed so he may get the letter in the morning. 

Here is an example:

"Dear Owen,
How was your day at school?  What did you do at recess today?  Did you like the book Mrs. C. read you this afternoon?  Jane will be here to babysit you until dinner; I hope you have fun hanging out with her and I will see you at dinner.  I thought we can play a fun board game tonight before you go to bed!  I'm thinking Snakes and Ladders!
Love, Mom"

Try to keep the language simple, but don't worry about the vocabulary too much.  Your son will understand the gist of the letter even when he is not familiar with a few words in it.  You, other family members, or a babysitter can also help him with the harder words.

This activity is really great because it only takes a few minutes to write a short letter, but it it can also be a very effective way to engage your son while making reading and writing fun for him.  It makes reading and writing a part of everyday life and can hold his interest because it's an outlet for expressing his thoughts.  Some boys have a difficult time processing events and thoughts into cohesive, written sentences so this is good practice (and you can help guide him by asking questions).  He might also really enjoy this special communication with you; it is a little harder for boys to verbalize their feelings and emotions and writing these letters can also help him understand and communicate these feelings. 

Other tips:
It can be fun to encourage siblings to write each other short letters too.

You can also slip short notes or letters into your son's lunch box. 

He might become interested in writing letters to other people like teachers, friends, and relatives.  You can use this opportunity to teach him about the mailing system and bring him along on your next trip to the post office. 

Encourage him to also draw pictures for the mailbox if he is ever having trouble finding something to write about.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites