The Dangers of Big Backpacks for Little Kids

Here's a CNN American Morning segment I did with my daughters and CNN's Heidi Collins in 2007.

Let me know your ideas for making heavy backpacks lighter!

COLLINS: We're talking back to school. New backpacks and a clean slate and fresh start for your kids' health. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is here with a back-to-school checklist.

You know there really is a lot to think about, not just for the kids but for the parents, too, when you're talking about a new school year.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So many things, what are they going to eat. How much sleeping they're getting. We'll focus today on backpacks because when you go shopping there are some things you should really look for and people don't realize that thousands of kids have back injuries because of their backpacks. COLLINS: If you take a look at them they are absolutely huge and stuffed to the gills it seems!

COHEN: Exactly. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons say there are so many injuries what you want to remember is the backpack should weigh no more than 20 percent of what your child weighs.

COLLINS: Ah, OK.

COHEN: Let's say you have a ninth grader who weighs a 100 pounds the backpack should weigh no more than 20 pounds. So that's sort of a rule of thumb to go by.

COLLINS: As I look at these backpacks here. I mean, how do you know which one is the best one for your child? And how do you know they're not overstuffing them? Where do we start with choosing one?

COHEN: We'll start with two beautiful children right here!

COLLINS: Look at that. They are beautiful.

COHEN: I am biased. I am their mother. These are my two daughters, Taub (ph) and Mary. They are here to demonstrate backpack dos and don'ts. Because there is a very specific thing you should look for. Taub, my older daughter, Taub turn around so everybody can see.

You'll see this backpack rests sort of at her hips. You can see her rear-end. That's a good thing. You should be able to see it. It shouldn't be dragging.

Now, Mary, you turn around. Mary is a backpack don't! You see how that sags? It is too big for her!

COLLINS: It looks like it would hurt your shoulders immediately. What are the alternatives? You see some of these roller ones. A lot of them, kids are going with those now. Is that true?

COHEN: Right.

COLLINS: It looks safer, anyway.

COHEN: It is. I've heard some kids say they are a little bit -- nerdy.

COLLINS: Really?

COHEN: But they're much better.

COLLINS: Why?

COHEN: I don't know.

COLLINS: It looks like luggage.

COHEN: It looks like luggage, I guess. But you can drag these around. Here's another example, pink for girls. That can be an alternative.

COLLINS: These can also be regular old backpacks if you want?

COHEN: Right, you can switch them out.

COLLINS: Mary, do you think the rolling ones are kind of geeky? Or could you make them cool? Especially if you had a pink one like that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they're not geeky at all.

COLLINS: Good!

COHEN: Good.

COLLINS: Mom is saying right answer!

COHEN: Good job.

These are actually their backpacks. These are ones that we bought as props. I think maybe -- I'll borrow these, and use them for real.

COLLINS: Yes, definitely. You can start the trend and make sure that everybody else knows they're not geeky.

Thanks so much, CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, and children. Thanks so much, guys.

How Short is Too Short?

The Reda family gave their son daily shots of human growth hormone so he'd grow up to be 5'8" instead of 5'5".

After you read this, let me know: what do you think about giving children human growth hormone in this kind of situation?

Here's the transcript of the story I did in 2006.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is Dustin Hoffman sick? Does Martin Scorsese have an illness? And is something ailing Robert Reich, President Clinton's Secretary of Labor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your head.

COHEN: Well, shortness is now being treated as a disease. Tens of thousands of parents injecting their children every day in the hopes that they can make their kids taller. It often costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for one child. How old is Michael here?

JENNIFER REDA, SON TOOK GROWTH HORMONE: I think he was 3 here.

COHEN: And little boy next to him?

J. REDA: Same exact age.

COHEN: What do kids say to you?

MICHAEL REDA, TOOK GROWTH HORMONE: They told -- they call me small fry, shrimp, anything they can think of. And I just hated that.

COHEN: Michael's preschool teacher called him petite.

J. REDA: I melted. You know, it's a word you just don't want associated with your son.

COHEN: Why would you want to take something that would help?

M. REDA: Just to get taller, and so everyone would be nice to me. And all of bad stuff would go away.

COHEN: When Michael Reda was 7, his parents started him on human growth hormone.

So you got a shot with that needle?

M. REDA: Once a day, yes.

COHEN: Once a day. Wow, did it hurt?

M. REDA: Yes, I got used to it.

J. REDA: I thought he would be more challenged in the business world and even maybe in searching for a spouse.

COHEN: You think short men have a harder time?

J. REDA: I do. I just think we want to think of men as being a little bit larger and capable.

COHEN: So when Michael first came to see you, he wasn't even on the chart?

DR. FUAD ZEI (ph): That's right.

COHEN: Dr. Fuad Zei predicted Michael would grow up to be around 5'5". After taking growth hormone for two-and-a-half years, Michael grew an extra three inches. Now instead of being 5'5" when he grows up, he will be around 5'8".

Did you grow as much as you'd hoped? .

M. REDA: I grew more than I hoped.

COHEN: But bioethicists like Lori Andrews worry is it right to use a drug to make your children look a certain way?

LORI ANDREWS, BIOETHICIST: This is part of a slippery slope of parents trying to design their children. And we're starting to see it even at very early stages.

COHEN: After all, Michael wasn't sick, he was just short.

ANDREWS: Nowhere else in medicine do we take healthy children and give them an injection of something that might cause them harm.

COHEN: The vast majority of children do just fine on growth hormone. But some do suffer scoliosis, muscle pains and headaches.

J. REDA: We entered into it very cautiously. There was a lot of thought process and decisionmaking prior to giving it to him.

COHEN: Growth hormone isn't cheap. How expensive is it? One inch of growth costs more than $50,000. Want your child to grow four inches? That'll be $200,000, please. And the results are not guaranteed. Insurance paid for Michael's growth hormone. And the Redas couldn't be more pleased with the results. What do you think those three inches have done for him?

J. REDA: I know they've made him a lot happier.

ANDREWS: If the idea is to give your child self-esteem, you should be doing that through your parenting, not through drugs.

COHEN: That's nonsense, according to Steve Horowitz. At 5'3", he says he suffers every day because of his height.

STEVE HOROWITZ, FINANCIAL ADVISOR: I'm a financial adviser. I see people for a living. People judge you by your height. I would still give anything to put on a couple of inches. Even at this stage of the game, I would have done anything and I would still do anything.

COHEN: This drug wasn't around when Steve was a kid, but he did put his son Ira on it. Ten years of daily injections, and now Ira's 5'9". And Steve's thrilled his son doesn't have to go through life a very short man.

HOROWITZ: It is an extra hurdle to overcome. And why overcome that hurdle if you don't have to, if you can have it removed?

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Chicago.