Ah, summer. That means no jam-packed backpacks in my house. No lunches stuffed into packs with all the other gear necessary for school. No bags sent home overflowing with folders and papers and all sorts of things, like library books, we try so hard not to lose. Nope, my kids' backpacks are sitting on a shelf in our laundry room in all of their sedentary glory. Before long, though -- about six weeks here in my city -- school will begin again, which means the backpacks will be out in full force.

Don't pack them until they're heavy, says the U.S. National Safety Council. Loaded backpacks can strain young backs and shoulders, causing pain and injury. Instead, check your child's bag each day and remove any items that aren't needed -- that would be rocks for my guys who like to collect and store them in hidden compartments. Also, make sure your kids use both straps to distribute the load evenly. Not sure you're doing everything the right way? Here are five warning signs your kids' packs are too heavy.

• A difference in posture when wearing the backpack.
• Significant difficulty in putting the backpack on or taking it off.
• Complaints of pain or discomfort when the backpack is on.
• Red marks on the skin from the backpack straps.
• Feelings of numbness or a tingling sensation, especially in the back or shoulders.

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The United States is two to three years behind most Western countries in terms of life expectancy -- it ranks 29th among all United Nations' member nations. Highest is Andorra, with an average life expectancy of 83. The U.S. magical age is 78. Still, we're making some progress in the life expectancy arena.

• Babies born in 2006 have an average life expectancy about four months greater than babies born in 2005.
  
  

• The male-female difference has declined over the past 15 years, from eight years to five years.
  
  

• Blacks have been gaining on whites.
  
  
• Flu and pneumonia deaths are dropping -- there were 22,000 fewer deaths between 2005 and 2006.
  
  
• Infant mortality rates are dropping.
  
  

• Deaths from stroke, lower respiratory diseases, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes are on the decline.
  
  

While it's too soon to tell if some of these occurrences are caused by statistical fluke or real trends, there's a possibility the drop in diabetes deaths is the biggest researchers have seen in a long time. And that, my friends, would be some pretty good news.

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Are U.S teenagers a happy go lucky bunch these days? According to a new federal report, not so much. An average day in the life of a U.S. teen involves smoking, drinking and some illegal drug use by many.

No, that's not really an "average" day for many, but it is for some. Here's the explanation from the report: on an average day, nearly 1.2 million teenagers smoked cigarettes, 631,000 drank and 586,000 used marijuana. Those are pretty large numbers, right?

Even further, nearly 50,000 used inhalants, 27,000 used hallucinogens, 13,000 used cocaine and 3,800 used heroin. Those numbers may sound small out of the millions of teenagers in the U.S., but they are not at all. As the report concluded, "In the United States in 2006, one-third of adolescents aged 12 to 17 drank alcohol in the past year, one-fifth used an illicit drug and one-sixth smoked."

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