Refusing NHS NCMP weigh in?

[CrossingItAll]

Anyone else opting out?

I understand maintaining a healthy weight in children is important but if a child was in a position where their health was being affected by their weight, over or under the recommended, it would be very obvious to the eye without weighing. If you need to weigh them to see if they 'hit the right numbers' then it can't be thelat obvious /bad.

I still remember getting weighed in high school in from of the class for science

My child is a healthy weight and I just don't think it's necessary, at 11, to be making the scales part of their lives.

I don't know. Am I being OTT.

You are being OTT

Just don't consent?

Until my DC started school I had thought this was madness but I have now had too much experience of being told that my 90th centimetres height, 50th centimetres weight DC are ‘far too skinny’ by people who are also asking where to buy ‘relaxed fit’ school uniform for their 8 year olds. I’m afraid it is far from obvious to most parents if their DC are overweight.

Centile obviously.

Yes that's what Im asking. Has anyone else opted out for similar reasons?

You could just as easily argue that thermometers or BP cuffs aren't part of normal life, but are used occasionally to obtain a measurement.
I don't understand what specifically is to be gained from actively avoiding something.

They don’t weigh them in front of others and shout the numbers out.

If it’s going to make your child anxious opt out but I have seen far far too many parents who are in denial about their child’s weight. I think in our society we have lost our perspective on what is overweight.

I am thinking of opting out because we have had the opposite experiences previously, being told DS in underweight (he isn't, he is at the lower end of the centiles for weight but is tall, and it is genetic as his dad is like this too). I think it is potentially damaging to focus on weight / strength rather than health.

The problem is that there are many parents who are in denial about their children's weight and we have no idea whether your child is a healthy weight or they're not a healthy weight and you're in denial about it.

It's such a tough balance to strike with children- yes 100% everyone should love the skin they're in etc but my young primary age children have friends who don't have medical issues who are beginning to struggle with running, climbing etc because of their weight.

I opted out for all of mine. Many friends were opposed out too.

That was it. No follow up etc. Saldly mine were quite well known to GP/hospital due to various medical conditions where they were frequently weighed, and it was never mentioned.

I opted out due to on paper DS being v overweight. He was 75th centime at birth and then out on a pound a week for 4 months straight, he was off the chart for both weight and height.

When he was 5 I asked GP about it, he weighed DS, looked at his red book and said he was still plotting the same curve since both and thus no cause for concern. He's now 16 and v tall/broad but not overweight so opting out has five nothing other than save stress.

My kid got followed up for a year via a very low key meeting and second weigh-in with a visiting school nurse.
It was fine for us but I can appreciate not everyone thinks that way.

(It certainly won't be a science experiment with them all plotting their measurements! I still remember having the lowest lung capacity in my secondary biology class, ugh!)

I opted out for my Ds as his weight was already been monitored due to medication. He was on the low side of normal.

I do think many parents are in denial though.

Given about a quarter of Y6 children are obese and another 15% overweight I think it’s worth doing/knowing, unless there are particular reasons why it would upset your dc.

Every year its the same...
People get a letter saying their child is overweight (its about 40% for Yr6 I believe)
Everyone else says... its just numbers, they look skinny, BMI is nonsense, my child was like that and is now a supermodel etc

And nothing actually gets done.

It could be the charts are wrong... there are children in DDs class who are well into puberty and are starting to get their adult shape. I'm 5'7 and some are taller than me. Others like DD are definitely still children.

Maybe they should add fitness tests in as well...

it would be very obvious to the eye without weighing

Only in cases where a child is very over/under. If they are starting to increase weight this would be a good way of understanding that to avoid going into the overweight category, for example.

Unless there’s a specific reason not sure what the issue is.

I didn't consent to my daughter being weighed at school.

I don't remember any of mine being weighed at school (5 DC, youngest 12, oldest 30).
My DC were, and still are, all tall and skinny or at least very slim, so I wouldn't want them being weighed, and for me to be told they needed to fed more, or suggested that they're undernourished. They didn't and they weren't. They're all sporty and eat like horses.

Children - people - are all different sizes and shapes.

Also, as per a PP, there are some ages, like e.g. 11-12 for girl where there are enormous variations. Some will be quite grown up and well into puberty; others still like little girls.

I find this thread odd and not representative. Of course there is huge variation in shapes/sizes - do you think nurses who do this for living with all their training don’t know that. In reality how many nurses have seen a very tall but slim child, taken their measurement and blindly gone - yep, overweight. My guess is VERY few occasions that’s happened. Its the classic MN line “BMI is all wrong, my child is 6 ft, 10 year old weightlifter who is very slim but weighs 10st and as such BMI is absolute nonsense”. Maybe they’re measuring waist to height or something else?

Fact is a huge number of children are overweight/obese and so is the nation at large which causes long term physically and mental health problems for people affected.

But that’s exactly what this campaign does. If computer says overweight regardless of how it presents you get flagged/followed up.

there is no room for nuance

Even still - what’s the issue if there’s nothing to be worried about - since apparently 99% of MN have near athlete level fitness children without an ounce of fat on them. Given that, no idea how so many children are statistically overweight and obese, the entire reason the program started… at a guess.

I used to work in a school office and coordinate these tests with the school nurses, fetching children from classes etc.
In my experience children enjoyed going to be weighed, laughing with your mates in the queues etc.
The children whose parents had refused permission had to stay in the classroom with the teacher and do some work which they were generally miffed about.

My friend said she wishes she didnt consent. Her at the time just 4 year old was weighed in reception. Weighed just under 5.5 stone. Child is very obviously over weight. Wears age 11 trousers and has to be taken up masses.
The nurse called her. And she blamed it on lockdown.! Not the fact her child only eats take away, crisps, cake, chocolate and a large share bag of jelly sweets everyday at school pick up.
She was raging as the nurse expressed concerns, she said well myself and husband are overweight. ( shes morbidly obese, hes obese) it was just so sad. Some parents dont see it

And im not saying im perfect my 2nd born will come up as over weight, very tall and stocky. But eats healthy although I do allow treats more than i should i guess but i wouldnt be raging for a fact im told.

My 3rd born eats probably more and is a bean pole.

1st born eats the least and definitely larger

I still have my whole class photo from primary school circa 1970 when I was about 10. There was one obviously fat kid, and all (and I mean ALL) the rest of us were slim. We all ran about a lot, played outside after school and at weekends, and we all walked to and from school every day.

People these days have absolutely no idea what the ideal weight for a child looks like any more, and it's not around the 50th centile either. All the centile does is show the average weight for that age group. Not the ideal weight.

Totally up to you but fwiw my dd was pretty clueless about it and they don’t tell them numbers when they weigh them or publicise it