School/NHS obese child

[BillieGoatie]

* I'm not intending to intervene in any way but I am concerned about a child *

There is a 6 year old girl in DC's class. The child is clinically obese with visible breasts etc. My DC says she is a lovely girl but she gets teary and sad a lot. I don't think that she is actively being bullied though. My DC also says that she does not join in games at lunch time as she cannot keep up.

My sibling was bullied for weight at school and it impacted their life forever. In hindsight my parents should have done more. School should also have intervened but this was another era.

Would school be supporting this child?

I very much doubt it. All they do is weigh them in reception and year 6 and give advice to parents. And that's if they consent to the checks.

Tbh it's up to parents to sort their kids' weight out, even though I think it's neglect to let them get so fat.

No and nor should they. Poor kid. This is crappy parenting.

In what way would the school support her?

If she is being bullied, yes, they should. For her weight, no they wont.

How sad for such a young girl that she can’t join in playground games. However, I suppose it could be more complicated than it appears, maybe it is a health problem that is causing it.

School’s do make provisions to support children with various health problems, some schools do.

And maybe it isn't. When I taught primary, one of my colleagues asked her reception class what they'd had for breakfast. One little girl, similarly obese, told her, "We had trifle because we didn't finish it last night."

It is not the schools that do the measuring and advice-giving.

Schools are simply the venue for the NHS paediatric survey (which has been running continuously since the 1940s under one name or another, and which gives extremely important longitudinal data - right back to the introductions of milk/cod liver oil/orange juice in schools when underweight and malnutrition were the concerns.

The school would be alert to the DC's inability to meet normal age-related expectations, which do include physical skills (though these aren't always given the same prominence as academic type learning). And if the DC was behind then they might talk to the parents about that. Ditto if they picked up on persistent social difficulties.

You can help by talking to your DD about how she can help this girl feel included at lunchtimes. The other DC will of course continue with more vigorous games - but perhaps explore if it needs to be the same sort of play every break, every day; are there other games that people like that she can join it and could they be played a little more often? Does the playground have a friendship bench? What do the other quiet ones do?

I agree all you can do is encourage your child to be kind and include this little girl. There could be many underlying reasons.

I feel terrible for her but I am biased from my sibling's experience. Mother is also big but not as bad as the little girl.

There is something off but I can't put my finger on it. There is nothing I can do anyway.

I think 100% it's down to the parenting and the food. I really think SS should intervene and check if it's the obesity is that bad.

I asked my child to be kind. Another child is also actively looking out to make her feel included. It's just sad though.