to be absolutely furious to receive a letter from the LA informing me my daughter is overweight

[fuckadoodledo]

They were all weighed at school a few weeks ago,I thought for a confidential survey, but I've received a useless patronising letter informing me cheerily she is in the overweight group, with a ridiculous flyer asking "Hands up who wants healthy kids??"
My daughter is TEN, her body is in complete changeover from puberty she's solidly built but not fat, and I already spend too much time reassuring her she is NOT fat.
My DS in London's son has also been weighed, How many millions must this pointless exercise have cost? And to what purpose???
She would be absolutely devastated to be told she is officially overweight....

I make her BMI 21.24 - in the healthy range.

Actually 7 stone and 4'9" is in the healthy BMO range of 21.2 - so they shouldn't be telling you she is overweight actually

Just seen you've posted the details - 7 stone seems OK for 4ft 9 on a chart I just quickly googled.

have sent you a pm quaintessentialshadows

BMI

Was it an adult chart or child one? Can make a difference.

Her BMI is 21.2 which puts her squarely in the healthy range.

Chuck the letter in the bin.

Hopefully she doesn't actually have a BMI of 94! Presumably you mean that her BMI is on the 94th percentile?

Oh, and I have no intention of showing her the letter of course!!
But what if some parents do? she's ten and a half and already far too aware of her body shape, which is changing almost daily!

BMIs mean different things for kids compared to adults.

The letter is for you. She does not have to know about it. Evidence shows that as our society becomes fatter, our estimation of what is normal weight grows to include higher weight which is in fact an unhealthy weight and we do not then recognise that our children are overweight.

Surely the letter is a useful warning in case you fall into that category? If you do not and your daughter is not fat, then ignore it. If you are not sure, ask your family clinic.

My eldest teenage daughter was weighed and found to be underweight. She eats plenty though has a naturally slight figure, but was quizzed on her diet. I am grateful that the sensible eating message is given by qualified adults and not just me. I have not yet known a child of normal weight receive one of these letters (though am sure it's possible there are exceptions of which your little girl might be one)

Don't tell her.

But she is ten, how do you encourage healthy eating? By suggesting she has less pudding, or offer fruit for pudding? Have you enrolled her for any sports? Or are you just suggesting she does something?

In my opinion, the schools and government take over the "parenting" because they realize that the parents dont.

In my sons school, they have lunch at 10. (school starts between 8 and 9) Why so early? Because so many children are not given breakfast at home, and cannot go until lunchtime before they eat. The school doesnt have a choice. Either have disruptive, hungry children, or let the kids eat early and restore the calm.
They are also doing after school homework class, as so many children dont get any help with their homework. Students doing teacher training are helping out. The school had to start provide sandwiches, when they realized that the kids came to the after school homework session without the sandwich they had been asked to bring.

Whereas most children dont need the school to do the parenting, sadly, the fact is that a lot of children need this. Not saying that your child needs this, fuckadoodle.

That's a good point that caughtinthenet has made. That if you are reassurring your dd that she isn't overweight (and assuming she doesn't have body issues and a distorted perception of her own body) then she probably is a bit overweight. Don't let this go on until adulthood when it will just be harder for her to make changes.

Obviously when you look at your dd you think she is beautiful (which we all do with our own) and perfect but you need to think about it more impartially. Her actual size isn't so important, but, when she has her clothes off does she have quite a bit of fat over her bones?

And I don't agree that if she thinks she is fat, then that is a sign there might be a weight problem - my tiny little 24 year old, 7 stone, children's clothes, sister thinks she is fat. When I was 10, I thought I was fat, and when I look at the pictures I can't for the life of me imagine why.

To be on the 94th percentile is actually quite significantly overweight. Ignore it if you want on the basis that you don't want to upset her, but overweight children often grow into overweight adults at risk of serious health problems.

Well I have had the opposite letter - one telling me my DS1 (9) is underweight. Its suggest speaking to my GP and asking for a referal to a dietician, a service my DS is already under! It also doesnt take into account he is very small for his age.

HV also weighed my DS2 at preschool (surestart run) and left a message asking me to call them. When I did they told me that DS2 is overweight (he isnt at all). When I queried this it transpired that they hadnt taken off his weighted vest (which he wears for SPD). They apologised and agreed he was probably just below normal (which I knew)

The point of the exercise is for public health purposes.

The results from schools all over the country are complied and used to measure obesity levels in children.

This is then used to inform commissioners where services may be needed ie. healthy eating schemes, exercise for health programmes etc.

Also all PCTs have targets to achieve re: % of obese children - if they have a higher prevalence of overweight / obese children in their area then they SHOULD do something about it.

Parents are informed of the results because parents may be otherwise unaware that their children may be developing a weight problem.

I don't understand why you are so angry about it. Surely it's good to be aware of these things so you can do something about it if you want. You don't need to tell your DD if you don't want (I personally wouldn't).

I had exactly the same - my 5 year old dd is 3 foot 10 and weighs 3stone 12 apparently. She is this on the 96th centile which puts her two points below 'clinically obese'. This is absolutley ridiculous, as she is very very solid, perfectly proportioned and the tallest in her class! I was desperatley upset to start with but to be honest have let it go now. She hates sweets, eats vegetables and fruit with a passion, goes swimming at least twice a week and runs around our garden daily! It's madness. Our son who is 10 was on the 80th centile and he was a tubster when he was little!

I thought the year six weigh ins didn't take height into account (even though they measure height), which is why children who don't seem overweight are getting these letters. On previous threads people have said that overweight children also tend to grow in height fast.

It doesn't make sense to me, as some people have tall parents are are likely to be taller as children.

Perhaps all this is not the case though.

the 94 bit must mean on the 94th centile surely?

we had one of these letters when DS was weighed in reception - he is tall and has bug feet, but is skinny as anything - long thin fingers and legs and can see every rib clearly

we shrugged and ignored the letter

It's not a BMI of 94 but a BMI on the 94th centile, so for every 100 children born on the same date as your childre there will be 6 children with a higher BMI and 93 with a lower bmi.

I suspected that this kind of thing might happen when a couple of years or so ago I was asked to sign for permission for DD2 to go with her class to another school to be weighed, do exercises, have their height measured and so on.

I returned the form declining my permission.

YANBU.

they took our sons height into consideration - he's in year six. He's 4 foot 10 and 6 stone 2!