Buying for kids can be difficult for several reasons. Firstly, although their opinion is important is it not always logical or reliable. One day everything will need to be Spiderman based and within twenty four hours it will change to Batman! Secondly, they do no often think of the practicality of their choice.

I have 3 basic rules which I stick by when choosing my kids back packs – so far they have always worked, each time producing something they will wear and I think is suitable.

1. Think About The Colors – Plain back packs are the best. They can be decorated to suit your child’s latest fad, and they can then be changed easily when the trend has moved on. Personalizing a bag with patches, stickers or key rings is a great project for a new bag, and also makes your easy to distinguish. As well as finding a great use for the badges and key rings which they seem to accumulate.

2. Choose The Size Carefully – If you get a bag which is too small your child will feel short changed compared to their friends. Small back packs also cause valuable work to be damaged on the way to or from school and this can lead to serious tears. Equally a bag which is too big will get too heavy and your child will whine all the way home or until you succumb and carry it for them!

3. Cost – It is important not to spend too much money on a bag. Firstly, it may get lost. Secondly, once they are in school, bags get so battered that they will need a new one each year. They will also have different requirements each year.

In a perfect world I would also suggest that you only bought washable bags – unfortunately these are very hard to find, so if you go, congratulations, but don’t worry too much about this requirement.

One last word of advice, it may be best if your child doesn’t come shopping with you. If you take your kid to the shop there is a chance that they will see something you don’t think is suitable and the whole thing will turn into a nightmare. Buying it in advance and then giving it as a gift for achieving something may be more successful.

Good luck and happy shopping.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 10:53 am and is filed under Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.