It is important to choose the correct back pack for your toddler or you may find that you end up carrying it! Firstly the backpack must not be too long. You do not want to have the backpack pulling down or getting in the way on the slide (you may find that your child is not always willing to take off their new back pack once you get to the park!).



Secondly it is important that you cannot fit too much in their back pack. There will be days when your toddler will want to take their entire car or doll collection out with them, if the back pack is fairly small then they will realize that not everything will fit into it ? and hence will learn to limit their park toys.

Keeping it practical is an important part of everything to do with a toddler. You can guarantee that your toddler will want to carry their own picnic snacks ? so make sure that your toddlers backpack is easy to clean. It needs to be lined so you can just wipe out the inside. It is also probably a good idea to avoid the fabric outer layered ones as these get wet and waterlogged, and the mud sticks firmly to them.

Now comes the really difficult choice ? what should your toddlers backpack have on it? Well, be warned that if you go for a recognized children's character such as Noddy or Spiderman there is the chance that you child will decide that they no longer like this character and then they will want a new backpack! If you choose something more general such as a fireman bag, or a bag which is quite plain and you can pretend it is whatever you want it to be; one day it can be Dora the Explorers bag, the next day it can be Diego's backpack; it can be a doctors bag, whatever you child thinks of, you can pretend it is.

Finally you need to make sure that you don't end up carrying your toddler's bag. Toddlers learn all the time from copying, so the more respect you give an item the more respect your child will give it. It might be a fun idea to give your toddler an old mobile phone which is no longer in use (remember to take out the battery for safety), and a key ring with an old key on it. Then when you are leaving home you can run through a check list; my bag, my keys, my phone; your bag, your keys, your phone. By doing this together he will see how important your bag is and will hopefully place a similar importance on his own bag.

Now you are ready to head out together. If you are going on a long bus or train journey, I found it useful to sometimes hide a little present in the bottom of the bag, so just when it is all getting boring and the other passengers are starting to stare, you can get your toddler to delve into their bag and find a special treat ? if this is wrapped up, it will take up even more of the journey while they open it!