Backpack basics

• Don’t buy the backpack on your own. Kids need a say in choosing their bag. Let her decorate it with markers, buttons, stickers or key-chain trinkets. Not only will this help you both identify it when it’s buried in a musty lump with 50 others on the gym floor, but it will help your daughter bond with the backpack. That said, steer her toward ones with these features:

• Not too many pockets. Pockets equal more places to lose things, according to Martin Kutscher and Marcella Moran, coauthors of Organizing the Disorganized Child. Plus, students need a large open space to store their textbooks, folders and binder.

• Ergonomic. Kids shouldn’t tote more than 10 to 20 percent of their body weight, advises Donna Goldberg, author of The Organized Student. “But that guideline is never followed. Kids these days often carry half their weight.” So look for a bag that takes the pressure off the shoulders and back, and distributes it between the hips. Extra padding on the back panel is good, so that the sharp edges of your daughter’s geometry book don’t poke her in the shoulder blades. Kutscher and Moran rave about AirPack bags ($36–$57; coreproducts.com). Once you’ve selected a backpack, establish the ground rules:

• The backpack must have a home. Each day when your child gets home from school, the first thing he should do is deposit the bag in the same spot and unpack necessary items, says Sharon Lowenheim, a Manhattan mom and the owner of Organizing Goddess, a company that helps NYC apartment-dwellers make the most of their space. Preferably, that spot is near the front door, she says. But since most of us don’t have grand foyers, make The Spot wherever your child typically dumps the bag, even if you’re not happy with the aesthetics. Lowenheim’s own daughter used to plop her book bag down in the middle of the living room and spread her papers all over the floor. “I couldn’t fight it, so I cleared out a cabinet shelf there to create a place for her to tuck the bag. Organization has to feel instinctual for kids.”

• Clean it out once a week. On Sunday nights, remind your child to take everything out of his bag, retrieve lost MetroCards from the bottom, make sure there’s nothing he forgot to do or give you (memos about parent-teacher conferences and picture days), and repack the whole thing.