Back-to-school shopping is in full swing for pens, highlighters and notebooks, but some parents are picking up backpacks that come with bulletproof inserts in an effort to protect their children against school shootings.

While the pricey backpacks – available at many retail outlets – are only able to block bullets from handguns and not assault weapons, they are a logical retail development for a nation reeling from the effects of multiple mass shootings. But, Dr. Laura Saunders, a clinical coordinator in young adult services with Hartford HealthCare’s Institute of Living, said they will likely not achieve the desired effect.

“This is not reassurance for the children,” she said. “It is reassurance for the parents. Many children might find it scarier to know that they have a backpack to protect  themselves. It is not, in my opinion, the way to go.”

Parents can actually increase anxiety and fear levels in their children by buying the backpacks instead of helping them be prepared in an emergency, she explained. Giving a child such a protection – one that in most classrooms is kept far away in a coat closet or cubby – without training them properly to react in such situations is ill-advised.

“Think about it. Our military and first responders train for years to face danger and fight the urge to flee,” she said. “Our children do not have the capacity to use a backpack to protect themselves. They do not have the mental capacity to get the backpack in an emergency. It takes maturity and years of training.”

She also said prepping a child to shield bullets with a backpack in September will not help if an emergency happens midwinter. Children will never remember the instructions.

She advised that parents and schools continue to talk with children about how to react if a shooter enters their school. Trainings, much like the fire drills everyone has participated in through the decades, are constant reminders of the plans and the need to take situations seriously.

“Lockdown drills keep an important level of consciousness about the danger being posed in their minds,” Saunders said. “The more we can do to address this problem in a preventative way will be more beneficial than trying to let them think they can stop a deranged person from shooting at them with a backpack. That is just not the way to go.”

For more information on young adult services at Hartford HealthCare’s Institute of Living, click here.