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....

If the skyrocketing problem of obesity is slowed down money will be saved in health care.

Putting kids on a set of scales and sending out computer generated letters is not actually very expensive. Imagine the cost of treating a couple of people with heart disease, or paying benefits to a family whose father has died due to his weight.

these letters may actually save thousands of people from an early death.

Yes we are in recession and a time of major cuts. Therefore we need to be looking at the most important problems. Obesity is one of them. It has so many later life repercussions

This is a box ticking exercise. What evidence base is there to show that writing to parents detailing centiles (an approach not everybody grasps anyway) will improve outcomes for children? What evidence is there to show that weighing children will make any difference to the outcome?

There is ample anecdotal evidence to show though, that issues with food are endemic in the population. Issues about food and body size are almost universally held in the young female population (though we shouldn't underestimate the effect on boys too). Low self esteem, poor life choices and lifelong ill health will result from this. So do you really think all of you so happy saying 'your child is FAT, deal with it' - do you really think you're helping that child? Or any child. Why is thin ok - in fact desirable and fat despicable?

fat is not desirable because of the health problems that occur because of it. The increase in diabetes, heart disease, stroke.. Northern lurker do you really not understand that??

get with the program

What about the health problems associated with being underweight? (Including mental ill health.)

You simply cannot say that thin is healthier. Maybe we could consider to the paradox that whilst apparently the population is heavier than ever before life expectancy has also risen? I don't dispute that some obese people are at serous risk of some complications. What I contest is that that circumstance justifies the villifying of the overweight population that takes place.

This obsession with weight as the only health indicator drives me mad.My ds1 was for several years a little "solid" despite doing lots of sport and having a healthy diet.It dropped off naturally as he grew with no real change in diet or behaviour,he is now a strapping 6 foot who is slightly on the thin side .

One of his "friends "used to never tire of pointing out his weight,he lived on a diet of ,and I kid you not,jam or ketchup sandwiches,lemonade and dry weetabix.He is now 16 and has added very little to his diet,he wouldn't have known a football if it hit him in the face!He however was classed as "healthy" my son was "overweight" and therefore unhealthy

Northernlurker: Fat isn't "despicable" - don't think anyone has said this.

Being significantly overweight is associated with serious health problems. Being significantly underweight is also associated with health problems but it is the former rather than the latter which is endemic in our society.

Having been fat I will also say that it wasn't much fun and I much prefer being a normal weight. It makes you slow and unwieldy and it's hard to keep up with others in any kind of activity. You also tend to sweat more. It's hard as a teenager to find trendy clothes in the right size. There's not much to be said for it really IMO. When my DD is older, I will make sure that she's active and eating healthily and I will talk to her about her weight if it passes significantly beyond the range of normal.

You may be right about the lack of evidence base for the overall approach. Influencing behaviour at the society level isn't straightforward, there hasn't traditionally been a lot of expertise in this area across government and I don't think there's a set "right" answer in a book somewhere for how to do it yet.

The letter approach may work or may not but it's probably better than nothing. Hopefully the success of the scheme will be assessed in a few years time and we can see whether it has had any effect.

I think it's interesting all these ideas about fat children grow up to be fat adults. I'm sure it has changed, there does seem to be more overweight children about now, but of the people I knew at school, the fat children haven't grown into the fat adults, almost the opposite. Especially amongst the boys, the ones I have remembered as being chubby grew up to be 6ft something skinny things.

I think year 6 is an odd age to do these sorts of comparisons as there is such a huge range of where children are in relation to puberty. I know a couple of girls had started periods at this age in my class.

BMI is such a blunt tool, I'd ignore it if you are confident that your daughter is not overweight. And I'd disagree with those who say solid = fat. I weight 10 stone 7 and would describe myself as solid but not fat my bust/waist/hips are 32/26/34,

i have a friend who has a fat 12 year old daughter, she has been fat since about 5years old and my friend amusingly uses terms like that..'heavy boned','solid'..anything rather than accept thate she IS overweight. I see what she is allowed to eat and it's no coincidence. She eats too much she is fat and why deny it.

Things are too PC these day..nobody had a problem telling me I was skinny as a child, but god forbid if we call someone fat. It annoys me. I teach, and whenever I have to approach healthy eating/bmi issues that fat kids who eat lots and don't excersise get all huffy like it shouldn't be mentioned!

I think that it is the norm for children to be larger now, and we have got used to this. My DS is quite thin and when I take him swimming I can't believe how large most the children are. Not fat, but just large - the girls all seem to have large chunky legs and big bellies. When I look at photos of when I was a child in the 1970's all the children were thin as rakes(Although this has not stopped us becoming overweight as we have got older!)

Of course being underweight can indicate a problem as well - but I'm pretty sure they send out similar letters to the parents of children who measure very low BMI...

I don't know how effective the letters are in terms of improving outcomes, but at least it makes parents aware of a potential problem and encourages them to think about helping their child maintain a healthy weight. Again, those who were already aware and taking any necessary steps can just ignore the letters, no need to be angry or offended.

Glasgowkiss has a point about things being too PC nowadays.

I suspect that "Back in the day", a fat kid being teased in the playground was more likely to want to lose weight, helped by the fact we were far more active in those days.

Now, if someone's child comes home and says "The other children are calling me fat" the mother (probably fat herself) waddles off to the school and the teasers are excluded for bullying, while the fat kid is consoled with a cake.

Just another point: fat does not = inactive actually.

I don't think we want to go too far back in the other direction though, bullying a child for their weight is not at all acceptable, especially as at that age it's really the parents to blame.

And that sort of bullying can be counter-productive, leading to comfort eating and further weight gain, it's really not much of a strategy....

Fat doesn't always = inactive, but it certainly = "more calorie intake than daily activities burn off".

Northernlurker are you fat by any chance?

BMI is useless for children. (It's not great in adults either, but esp in teens, taking into account height isn't enough - need to look at stage of puberty, estimated final height (calculated by paediatricians from parental height and a few other bits) etc.)

Think back to the red book growth charts for babies - height and weight and head size - there's more going on than just BMI. Even body fat % calculated separately can be a help in such a varied group.

I'd advise to ignore the letter (write and withdraw consent for further measurements if you like) and keep an eye on weight as you would anyway. So much is going to change in her body over the next 2-3 years, a one off blunderbuss of a BMI is pretty much irrelevant.

glasgowkiss, how old are you as I am 33 and being called 'skinny' was infinitely better than 'fat' at school! Equally, if you are a teacher at secondary level I hope your frustrations with the overweight children, when nutrition us talked about, are not that apparent. If so I think that it is highly irresponsible of you as no doubt anybody who is slightly bigger built in your classes probably get a load of jibes/hassle about it anyway, without the teachers joining in!

Life expectancy is getting longer - but this is for people who were born in the 20s 30s and 40s - ie. during times of rationing when food was a lot more scarce than it is now, and people walked everywhere.

It's entirely possible that our generation and that of our children have a lower life expectancy due to the obesity epidemic.

The prevalence of diabetes for instance is growing at a massive rate - it's predicted that 1 in 10 adults will have diabetes in 20 years time. Type 2 diabetes is largely caused by being overweight.

Fat is a risk factor in many things independent of the level of activity of the individual. You can be fat and fitter than an inactive thin person but you cannot be fat and not put your body under more preasure than a thin person. Inactivity is also not healthy but you can't say I'm fat and active so I have no probs anymore than you can say I smoke but I'm not overweight so I'm ok.

Whilst sending a letter home may not be the best way of dealing with weight issues- do we know what are? It would appear to be one of the biggest health crises facing our country and has huge financial repercussions. Something has to be done. I find the size of some of the kids I see at dds school really sad because they are too young to blame, and are being set up for a life time of health issues and self loathing by their parents.

Does anyone know exactly how weight is linked to diabetes? I am concerned that I might be increasing my risk of diabetes because I eat a lot of sugary foods, even though I am not overweight. Is it more linked to sugar intake or obesity?

Milly R google that question. There are loads of articles, with new research all the time. There is too much to write here

You can become diabetic without being overweight MillyR. Your your risk of diabetes is dependant on many things: genetic susceptibility, ethnicity, diet, lack of exercise are some. But being overweight is one of the biggest risk factors.

I think the link to obesity is supposedly because adipose (fat) tissue releases hormones and other substances which affect control of metabolism, including stimulating the process of converting protein to glucose (in healthy people this should only happen in response to fasting), hence abnormally high blood sugar levels. I think the exact mechanisms are complex and not fully understood, but the data shows a definite link.

Not sure about eating lots of sugar, don't think it's a big risk factor for diabetes in itself, unless it leads to you becoming overweight. Though it's probably not a good idea for various reasons!