Looking For Bag Recomendation

Hello all,

I've got a beautiful 3 1/2 year old boy at home who inherited his dad's bag addiction at a young age.

We got him a kids north face backpack as soon as he could walk... And have had him carry all of his own stuff since (toys, change of clothes, snack, everything)... Not that a toddler in a minimalist family needs much... But he LOVES it!

Every where we go he wants his bag and he puts one toy in it, we get him a change of clothes in case of an accident, and he even has a kids sized platypus style water bottle in there.

We figure it's a good way to teach him about only taking what he needs... Since he carries his stuff. Not mom and dad.

Anyway, the north face backpack is really tiny. It is definitely a great size for a young toddler. But he's only gonna be a small young toddler for another 6 months... Then he'll be 4 and ready for pre school.

I'd like to get him a real backpack. And by real, I mean a Tom Bihn... Cause all other bags pale in comparison. I'd like to get him bag that will last him a lifetime... Or until he has the cash to invest in his own inherited Tom Bihn syndrome.

But it seems that all of the Tom Bihn backpacks are too large for my boy right now.

Just curious if anyone here has gotten a Tom Bihn for their young kids?

My kids are all past toddling but I would still think the Synapse would be a great choice...

All of my kids have TB bags, though only my daughter was in the category of very small when she started to carry them. Zuri is an extremely petite 5 year 1 month old. She has and regularly carries a Medium Cafe Bag with Ultrasuede strap wrap, Field Journal Notebook, Side Effect and Ruck's Sack (discontinued backpack that preceded the Synapse). No claims to minimalism here o.O
My 8 year old has a Brain Bag for travel and an Imago that he uses like a book bag.
My 9 year old has a Ristretto IPad original version and a Synapse that he uses as a pool bag. We will be replacing his eBags weekender with a brain bag this summer or next summer.

My conclusion at this stage of trying to give Zuri bags that will last her lifetime is that she is still too small and weak to wield many bags that would hold a reasonable number of things for an adult. The same is true with my 8 year old and his Brain Bag. When it is fully loaded, they are in danger of tipping backwards. They can and do manage the bags just fine when not fully loaded though.

I put an ISO request on the forums for a Ruck's Sack for Z. Maybe if that is a bag that you like for your son, someone will have one that they can offer to you? It's a great little pack, and it would hold the items your son carries around. Having two Synapses, I would say they make great backpacks for elementary ages and up. I would not think a Toddler could comfortably carry one. The Synapse straps connect only 1" lower than the Ruck's Straps do, but the back of the Ruck's Sack measures 13.5" whereas the Synapse is over 17". This added length means the Synapse has a tendency to have the center of weight below the child's hips for a toddler.

An alternative, if your son can handle a messenger is to consider the Cafe bags or Co-pilot, though I think they can balance more weight with a backpack vs. cross body carry. I know I can.

I have a four year old (nearly five) and a six year old boy and they each have a Synapse (and Aeronauts but that's OT). The six year old is of average height and the four year old is tall for his age. Like you we have always had them carry their own bags and they are quite used to this.

Their Synapses are slightly too big for them at present but they love them and insist on using them! They have a lot of fun deciding what to put in each of the pockets - these bags could almost have been designed with a child's imagination in mind. :)

Synapse seems like a "No-Brainer" to me?

I have a 3 and a half year old son also. I had him try out my Synapse with a water bottle, change of clothes, and a toy. (He also put in his blankie). I had to shorten the straps way up, but it definitely wasn't too heavy for him nor too unwieldy. I mean it was obviously large-ish but not so large as to be unuseable/comical. I'd encourage you to empty out that new Synapse of yours and have him try it out. You might be surprised.

The biggest bummer of this experiment: guess who wants to keep the Synapse?!!

My 8-year-old son received a Synapse two years ago. Admittedly, he is tall for his age, but he carries his Synapse to school daily and uses it on family trips and has no problem carrying it. He loves all the pockets (and the additional pouches in various colors that he has attached)!