Writing names on backpacks?

[Hrhpd]

Kids should be instructed never to go with anyone who says "Mom sent me to pick you up," even if they address the kid by name, no matter what the person tells them has happened. But I get why they don't want names on backpacks or clothing, and I don't think the teacher should have written on the kids' backpacks, even if there was a requirement that the kids' belongings be labeled. Use a sticker, then tell the parent they need some sort of label.

I agree. When our kids were young, we always had a safeword. If I absolutely had to send a neighbor or somebody they weren't quite familiar with, the person would tell them the safe word and they would know it was ok to go with them.

If somebody said "Hey Johnny, your mom sent me to pick you up" and did not say the safe word, the kids knew that they were never to go with that person.

As for teachers writing with sharpies on personal belongings -NO NO NO. Send a note and ask the parent to put the name on the backpack. As for the wallet incident, again, NO NO NO. If the parent does not put the name on it and it is lost, their fault. But the teacher should never permanently mark a personal item without the parent's permission.

I worked in a kindergarten for years. The kids had hooks with their names on it. The teacher could easily find a child's backpack. No need to deface personal property. If the teacher absolutely needs the names on it, the suggestion of masking tape and the name easily solves the problem. That is what our football coaches do to helmets and pads.

I would be asking the school to replace the backpack.

 

[Phatoomch]

I understand why you are upset, but from the teacher's point of view, the names need to be on the outside where the teacher can easily see who the backpack belongs to. With 22 kindergarteners in the class, the teacher doesn't have the time to open 22 back packs to look for names. You might be surprised how many kids can't remember which pack is theirs.

Many years ago when I taught 1st grade, I had a student bring a Velcro wallet to school as that was a popular thing at that time. His wallet was plain blue with no identifying marks. I wrote the kids name on the inside of the wallet with a Sharpie so that when he lost it on the playground someone might be more likely to return it. Guess what happened? That afternoon, the parent called the principal to complain and I had to attend a meeting with the parent and the principal all because the parent didn't label the kids belongings as she was supposed to do, but whose's fault was it? Mine of course. In private the principal agreed that I didn't do anything wrong, but in front of the parent, it was all me.

That single incident really changed how I viewed teaching in public school.

Our teachers use the wide masking tape and write the names on that - nothing worse than a bunch of kids who all have the same backpack, thats when mistakes happen and wrong ones go home .... there was absolutely NO reason to write it in a sharpie - that sounds bitter to me

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I would be furious! We use our Bean backpacks on vacation so we don't have names printed on them. What's next, sharpie on the gloves, coats and lunch bags? Someone blamed OP for not putting the name on... This was the first day of kindergarten. The teacher should have sent home a note that saying "please have your child's backpack labeled with their name for tomorrow" and left it up to the parent on how to label it (luggage tag, sharpie, etc...).

When my DD started kindergarten last year the supply list said "backpack or bookbag with no wheels, labeled with you child's & teacher's name". I let DD pick out a cute luggage tag and printed the info in big letters on the computer. Worked out fine all school year and at camp.

 

[daisyduck123]

No, I would not be mad. But then again, i would have never sent my kids off to school on the first day without their names already being ON their backpacks (or their lunchboxes for that matter).

I teach 1st grade, & on the school supply lists we send home over the summer, we write in HUGE font, "LABEL ALL ITEMS WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME".

If parents have not done it by Back to School Night (a week after school starts), I remind them that it needs to be done. At my school, lunch boxes are esp. important because after recess, when it's time to line up on the playground, we've got 100 1st graders running to grab their lunch boxes from the blacktop.

 

[luvmy3]

Maybe there are several kids in the class with the same backpack. Why didn't you put her name on it. Then there would have been no problem

Seriously? The problem is the fact that the teacher took it upon herself to write the names on the backpacks, it wasn't her place to do that. She should have sent a note home to the OP asking her to do it, or do something else so that the backpacks could be easily identified.
And BTW, I have 3 kids ranging from elementary school to HS and never have we put names on the outside of their backpacks, its not something that needs to be done. The teacher had no right to do that.
OP, I'd be POed too and I'd be calling her and the Principal about it.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

Also agree that the no names on the backpack as a security thing is overrated. A stranger could as easily hear another kid on the playground call out his name and ergo know your child's name.

That said, I would be livid if a teacher took a Sharpie to my child's backpack- for reasons of handmedown/resale/general tackiness.

FYI you can remove Sharpie from a backpack from straight rubbing alcohol. Just did it recently with a bag from a yard sale. Put the bag in the sink. Pour the alcohol on, and have a cloth handy to blot out the Sharpie as it "melts". (Don't let it soak in or dry, or you will end up with a big black blob.) Repeat with fresh alcohol/blotting until the name is gone.

I would be certain that the bag had some external ID (if you don't want to do names outside, you could do an unusual key chain/bag tag. You child knows the bag with the purple turtle is hers- whatever. Make sure the name is inside.) I would simply let the teacher know you prefer her name not be on the bag, and this is the ID system you have put in place.

 

[luvmy3]

no, i would not be mad. But then again, i would have never sent my kids off to school on the first day without their names already being on their backpacks (or their lunchboxes for that matter).

I teach 1st grade, & on the school supply lists we send home over the summer, we write in huge font, "label all items with your child's name".

If parents have not done it by back to school night (a week after school starts), i remind them that it needs to be done. At my school, lunch boxes are esp. Important because after recess, when it's time to line up on the playground, we've got 100 1st graders running to grab their lunch boxes from the blacktop.

you can label items on the inside

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

And for those that don't know, LL Bean stands behind their backpacks. My Dsis used one in college. Towards the end the zipper broke. She brought it home and stuffed it in her closet. Then she went to work as a probation officer and one of her probationers, a young mother, was starting school at the local county college. Dsis was exicted for her and remembered that backpack. She took it out, cleaned it up and sent it to LL Bean for repair. They fixed it and she gifted it to the new college student. She said the woman was ecstatic with her gift.
Good thing she didn't write on it with a Sharpie.

I agree with you OP. It was the first day of KINDERGARTEN!! New parents definitely. She could have sent home a note. They owe you money for 2 new ones or at least a friggin' apology.

 

[happygirl]

Seriously? The problem is the fact that the teacher took it upon herself to write the names on the backpacks, it wasn't her place to do that. She should have sent a note home to the OP asking her to do it, or do something else so that the backpacks could be easily identified.
And BTW, I have 3 kids ranging from elementary school to HS and never have we put names on the outside of their backpacks, its not something that needs to be done. The teacher had no right to do that.
OP, I'd be POed too and I'd be calling her and the Principal about it.

We will just have to agree to disagree.

 

[richmo]

I don't want to get into the issue on the safety of names on backpacks, and I understand the need of the teacher to be able to identify the owner of each backpack. However, writing on someone's property with a Sharpie is defacing it. If it was important for the teacher to ID the backpack on the first day, she could have written the name on tape and sent a note home indicating that the bag needs to be easily identifiable. That way its up to the parents to label it.

I get what the teacher is trying to accomplish, but it was done the wrong way. The school should be responsible.

 

[mad madam mim78]

Thank you for all your opinions. It helps to know I'm not going crazy. I don't want everyone thinking I'm a worrier that someone is going to steal my kids. I do teach them about going with strangers. I'm just shocked that the teacher took this step. Actually I'm more upset with how the backpacks look now.

I'm sad because I want the school to thrive. I collect box tops, I use my grocery card so they get a portion of the sales and now I want to ask them to replace the backpacks. It's just not fair.

I will work to remove it, but from what I've read it's going to be hard if not impossible to completely remove it.

 

[luvmy3]

We will just have to agree to disagree.

Sure we can agree to disagree, but I can't believe anyone is okay with a teacher taking it upon herself to do something like that.

 

[daisyduck123]

you can label items on the inside

No, I won't look inside. With 100-110 1st graders on the playground, we don't have time to unzip backpacks or lunchboxes & check the inside. (And I saw a teacher do that once, and when she opened it, an open juice box spilled all over her). After all the kids have lined up from recess, we hold up any unclaimed lunchboxes. The ones with names on the outside are easy to return to the owner. The ones without names...well, we ask all the classes (while the kids are lined up on the blacktop), "Who does these belong to?"

You would be surprised how often NO ONE claims his/her lunchbox. Any unclaimed ones go straight to our school's LOST & FOUND. With over 700 students at our school, it gets a lot of items. The parents can then go there & retrieve anything they are missing.

The same goes for unnamed backpacks found lying in the hallways.

 

[HM]

I hope the principal at your school has a discretionary fund that he can reimburse from. I would be mad. That teacher obviously wasn't thinking that day.

I have two kids (senior in high school and college sophomore). I never wrote their names on the outside of their backpacks. They were labeled on the inside, as were their jackets once those were needed, and usually just our last name so that the oldest's things could be passed down to the youngest. The only thing that I labeled on the outside was the lunch boxes and notebooks.

 

[luvmy3]

Thank you for all your opinions. It helps to know I'm not going crazy. I don't want everyone thinking I'm a worrier that someone is going to steal my kids. I do teach them about going with strangers. I'm just shocked that the teacher took this step. Actually I'm more upset with how the backpacks look now.

I'm sad because I want the school to thrive. I collect box tops, I use my grocery card so they get a portion of the sales and now I want to ask them to replace the backpacks. It's just not fair.

I will work to remove it, but from what I've read it's going to be hard if not impossible to completely remove it.

You aren't crazy, and you don't have to justify your reasons for not wanting your kids names on their backpacks, because none of that matters. The teacher had no right to do what she did without asking you first.

I had this stuff called Grandma's Secret (or something like that), I got it at the craft store and on the bottle it claimed to remove pretty much everything. I don't know if it work with Sharpie.

 

[luvmy3]

No, I won't look inside.

Then that is your issue, but the fact remains that you can label things on the inside. In fact most if not all backpacks even have their very own tag in there for that purpose

As a teacher if you want names on the front, I would expect you to notify the parents and let them decide how they want to do that. I would have a problem with you doing it yourself. That is the issue here, not that they need to be labeled.

 

[marcyinPA]

I teach preschool- and we ask for everything to be labeled before school starts. You'd be surprised how many parents don't label backpacks, lunchboxes and coats. We usually have about a half dozen princess and Cars backpacks every year, and we never know whose is whose if they aren't labeled. So- I label them myself. BUT- and this is a biggie- I use masking tape. I put it on the front outside so I can see it easily. I don't have time to rummage through a bag looking for a name. Good thing is that masking tape is removable.

I would be highly irritated if a teacher wrote directly on my child's backpack or lunch box in Sharpie. Not very smart, in my opinion.

I also agree with the poster who said that kids don't recognize their backpacks sometimes. I say this every year. Some are very attached to their personal belongings and know which coat/backpack/etc. is theirs. But there are always a few who are completely clueless. I can't keep track of little Johnny's coat wardrobe or his four different backpacks that he brings to school. Label them. Make a teacher's life a little easier!

 

[mad madam mim78]

No, I won't look inside. With 100-110 1st graders on the playground, we don't have time to unzip backpacks or lunchboxes & check the inside. (And I saw a teacher do that once, and when she opened it, an open juice box spilled all over her). After all the kids have lined up from recess, we hold up any unclaimed lunchboxes. The ones with names on the outside are easy to return to the owner. The ones without names...well, we ask all the classes (while the kids are lined up on the blacktop), "Who does these belong to?"

You would be surprised how often NO ONE claims his/her lunchbox. Any unclaimed ones go straight to our school's LOST & FOUND. With over 700 students at our school, it gets a lot of items. The parents can then go there & retrieve anything they are missing.

The same goes for unnamed backpacks found lying in the hallways.

Washable marker? Maybe?

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I would be angry if this happened...at myself. Obviously, its my job to label all my kids stuff before they go off to school, and I would have done it in a more attractive manner. Of course, I probably would have bought cheap backpacks for my kindergartners anyways, because I know the darn things are just going to get destroyed, so I wouldn't care so much about their defacement. Similarly, its my job to teach my kids not to go off with strangers, even if they use my kids' names.

 

[mad madam mim78]

I would be angry if this happened...at myself. Obviously, its my job to label all my kids stuff before they go off to school, and I would have done it in a more attractive manner. Of course, I probably would have bought cheap backpacks for my kindergartners anyways, because I know the darn things are just going to get destroyed, so I wouldn't care so much about their defacement. Similarly, its my job to teach my kids not to go off with strangers, even if they use my kids' names.

Again my son is still using his LL Bean backpack from kindergarten (now in 4th grade) and it is in PERFECT shape. Not a string or rip or tear anywhere. So yeah I'd say investing 40-50 bucks for 6-7 years of use is pretty good.