Backpack station

What It Means

A backpack station is one fixed place in the home, usually by the door the family uses most, where each child's school bag is hung or stored when they get home and picked up on the way out. It often includes a hook per child, a shelf or bin for lunchboxes and shoes, and somewhere for papers that need a parent's attention. Because the bag always goes back to the same spot, nobody has to hunt for it in the morning.

How It Sounds at Home

• "Bag on the hook, not the floor."
• "Is your folder in your backpack for tomorrow?"
• "Check the station before you ask me where it is."

The Breakdown

How to set one up (Buhata's own suggestion)

1. Pick the door everyone uses to come and go, often a side door, garage entry or mudroom.
2. Put up one sturdy hook per child, at a height they can reach. IKEA's hallway advice notes that lower hooks make kids more likely to hang up their own bags.
3. Add a shelf, cubby or bin for shoes, lunchboxes and sports gear.
4. Give school papers a place: a folder or tray where forms needing a signature go as soon as the bag comes off.
5. Make it part of the after-school routineAfter-school routineThe same set of steps a child follows between getting home from school and dinner, usually a snack, active play, some downtime and homework. See more: bag on the hook, lunchbox to the sink, papers in the tray.
6. Repack at night so the morning is only "grab and go."

Try it today. Clear a spot by the door, put one hook per child at their shoulder height, and tell everyone that's where bags live from now on.

What goes where

Good to Know

While the bag is on the hook, check the fit. HealthyChildren.org, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, suggests broad, adjustable straps and wearing both of them, and its School Backpack Safety page says a backpack shouldn't weigh more than 15% of your child's body weight, so no more than 15 pounds for a 100-pound child. Weigh a full bag now and then. A backpack station can sit beside a family command centerFamily command centerOne central spot at home, often a wall by the entry or in the kitchen, where the family keeps its shared calendar, papers, lists and everyday items. See more, the calendar and paper spot Buhata covers on its own page.

Related Terms and Categories

• Family command center

  One central spot at home, often a wall by the entry or in the kitchen, where the family keeps its shared calendar, papers, lists and everyday items.

• Kids morning routine

  The same short list of steps a child follows each school or child care morning, such as dressing, breakfast, brushing teeth and grabbing a backpack.

• Homework station

  One set spot at home for schoolwork, stocked with the supplies a child needs, so homework starts in the same quiet place each day.

• Back-to-school prep

  The jobs a family does in the weeks before school starts, from checkups and forms to supplies, a budget and shifting bedtime earlier.

• After-school routine

  The same set of steps a child follows between getting home from school and dinner, usually a snack, active play, some downtime and homework.

Family organization and routines