Features

Backpacks and back to school

ESCANABA -- We've got this back-to-school stuff "in the bag"!

Backpacks, lunch bags, gym tote bags, laptop cases, trombone case and cell phone, kids are carrying a hefty load of essentials back and forth to school these days

Cute kiddie backpacks have dinosaurs or unicorns on them. Nifty backpacks that go to middle school feature lots of pockets and compartments for books, paper, phone charger, electronics and pens

For somewhere between 15 to 40 dollars parents can buy a backpack of any color, style, or size. Straps, plastic buckles, many zippers and Velcro keep together school supplies. Almost every grade school prints a list of supplies each student must bring to the first day of school.

Binders, notebooks, colored pencils, hand sanitizer, and rulers need to be stuffed into backpacks along with and million glue sticks.

I think I still have some glue sticks at my house unopened from the days when my kids were in grade school!

Every parent wants to set their son or daughter up for success in school with the best backpack and school supplies to encourage learning.

Kids from preschool to graduate school carry backpacks these days. A great variety of items are used in classroom education today.

Dry erase boards and pens have replaced chalk and chalk boards. Computers have replaced calculators. The internet has made encyclopedias obsolete. And those horrible glue sticks have made good old-fashioned paste a thing of the past.

Kindergarten was such a big thing back in the 1960's. Fat color crayons, a painting apron and a resting mat were the main items hauled to school on the first day.

My brothers and I walked or biked to St. Thomas Grade School back in the day. We wore blue uniforms, knee socks, and neck ties for the boys and we had to have cartridge pens for our cursive penmanship. We made book covers out of brown paper bags and carried everything back and forth to school.

My Dad was handy with his sewing machine after doing reupholstering work. He made school bags with handles for most of us kids.

The first day of school has changed a lot over the decades. Back in Mom's day she cried every time one of her babies started school and she cried even more when they went off to college. Today most kids are in daycare or preschool before they are five years old. Some parents do home schooling now too.

But whatever the case, there are always going to be backpacks filled with teaching tools. Have a great school year!