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....

There is no reason why a child should lay down fat stores in readyness for puberty. It is part of the "puppyy fat" myth.

Well at least you didnt call be a muppet

Take her to the GP in school time saying:

The school have extremely helpfully identified that DD is overweight. (with a BMI of 94). I would never have guessed myself as she appears to be an entirely normal and healthy weight to me.

I am so glad this valuable insight has been provided.
Could you please provide treatment to DD for her obesity and me for my delusional perceptions.

Cats+Pigeons :o

Regarding the cost effectiveness:

I would think one person would be able to measure about 800 children a day. (1 child every 30s)

At pay of £80/day, this works out at 10p/child. Yes 10p. Maybe 20p.

Basically it is phenomenally good value so long as it is done accurately.

My niece had the opposite problem. Numerous letters home from school saying she was underweight and anorexic. She ate very healthily. She particularly liked a large tin of baked beans and two slices of toast for her breakfast. Just came from a family of skinny types on her father's side.

My sister ignored all the letters "urging her to take said niece to Dr".

Niece is now an adult and very healthy - has balanced out a bit.

But the scary letters were relentless.

You know what's best for your child. Ignore it.

A year ago I would have said YANBU but now I am going to say YABU.

The difference is that a year ago I was living in the UK and my DS looked pretty trim compared to the kids around him. Not so here in Sydney, he has just joined the Nippers (junior life saving club) and TBH compared to them he looks a little tubby. These 7 year olds have visible ribs and muscular bodies from all the running on sand/surfing/swimming.

I am planning to keep an eye on him but I assume that he will grow into with joining them in their exercise.

I was under the impression that Australia had a bigger obesity problem than the UK.

my dd is on the 76th centile. I am aware that although this is healthy range she does have a high proportion of fat in comparison to some of the other children in her age group.

I am very aware of limiting sweets, forcing not just encouraging activity and portion controle. my dd will eat all day long if given half the chance. some times I have to say no and if she has had a grazing day, yes this normally coincides with a growth spirt I ensure she has a smaller portion than normal at meal times.

despite her tendancy to gain weight she is ver very sactive, but she does like sweets and drinks about a pint of milk daily and eats cheese like its going out of fashion she has a love of white bread and crisps, but I must be incontrole of the calory intake and exersise.

I was an over weight child and teenager. I was a slimmer adult for all of probably ten years now Im over weight again. this is because I did not have a very healthy attidude to food and exersise when I was a child. I was allowed to skip meals I didnt want to eat for bread and biscuits and was given sweets when ever I asked.

I will ensure my dd has a greater idea of what is healthy and how to take care of her own body.

I think you need to recognise what this letter is telling you.

Forgive me if I am wrong in this case, but in my experience; "solid" = "my poor precious darling is fat but I can't bare to face the fact and aren't they just yummie anyway"

Some parents DON'T realise their kids have a problem, some parents NEED to be told. Maybe you aren't one, maybe your dd is really just "solid", and will naturally lose that so called "puppy fat".

As far as the LA are concerned, you might be one of those parents who is not able to see clearly through those rose tinted mummyvision glasses. Some parents might need help. So actually I think YABVU.

I also think with puberty in mind this also more reason to be considering your dds body shame and general health. although it is true that girls gain extra fat in puberty, this fat becomes distrobuted around hips breasts, some times legs etc. It is often and excuse rather than a reason. with a healthy diet and exersise its more important now to ensure you dds weight is within a healthy range.

I think parents need to be aware of what centile children are on and monitore this so if a child suddenly leaps one or two centiles, then they need to consider thier responsibilty in maintainig a healthy weight.

Coming to this late and only having read first post BUT this exact thing happened to my ds. He's certainly not overweight. He's solid as a rock.

The note actually said he was obese I believe. He has a six pack.

Anyway, I know someone who works for the local paper and her editor loved the 'story' and wanted it on the front page. I declined because I didn't think DS would appreciate a front page pic of him and the words (not) FAT for all to see.

BUT what I did do was take him to the doctor for assessment. The doc laughed and said he's clearly not overweight at all. I asked him to write this is ds's notes because I don't want some fuckwit inaccurate assessment in his notes. I was able to tell the doc that the local paper was interested but I declined as I wanted to bring it up with him rather than rushing to press.

I think it does tyler but not on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, which is where I am now.

My comparison kids are SW London vs Manly. The kids I have seen in Manly are far far far fitter and healthier looking than the kids in SW London.

So in SW London, DS looked about right and quite skinny in comparison. In Manly he looks tubby and flabby in comparison.

So the previous posters points about perception are correct. If even using Mother Goggles the OP's DD is 'Sturdy' then she probably is at least a bit overweight.

I struggled with my weight throughout my teens and early 20s, I was fucking huge and started as a 'sturdy' kid. TBH I don't think there was much my mum could have done about it, she already fed us well and we had lots of exercise, but if there is anything the OP could look at changing then it might be a good idea.

We got our results last week ( for 4 yr old) and it mostly caused hilarity, my clearly chubby daughter of a chubby mother, other kids slim like dad, was 60th percentile - well no, she eats healthily and exercises, but is visibly bigger than her peers. Meanwhile close friend's very wiry, strong, slim daughter was just under obese, same age, same height and do gymnastics together so very easy to compare builds.

The point about pubescence and age is also vey important for year 6 as pointed out earlier, same numbers but a year older make your daughter fine. My dd1 was physically immature but tall in yr 6, so came back as underweight; 2 years, same height and puberty later and she is totally in proportion. There are vast physiological differences in children of this age, that cannot be fully accounted for by BMI charts.

A height of 4 ft 9 and weight 7st would give a BMI of about 22, which is healthy

I think it's a great idea, if your child isn't overweight then no problem, but some parents must be deluding themselves that their 'solid/puppyfat/covered' children are okay when clearly they're fat.

It's about time.

DS1 is on his way to be a little overweight, ribs are not showing, he's nearly nine. All others have never been skin and bone, but are healthy and can survive the odd virus and D&V. We've got rid of any snacks, except fruit, and got him exercising a lot more. My DH was a fat child, normal from 4-7 and then proper fat from 7-18....

I don't think anyone would describe ds1 as fat...he's currently modelling...but if we're not careful perhaps this won't be the case in a couple of years....which would be a complete failing for any parent.

When we were young (I am reverting to the cruelty of the playground for a moment) there was one fat kid in every class. Only one, and they were always very fat. I wasn't that kid. I was a lot heavier set and a totally different build to my brothers.

I wish my mum had done something about it when I was 10 instead of letting me get to 11 stones at 15, and age at which a girl is not exactly secure about her weight. My mother struggled with her weight issues all her teen and adult life and only at age 64 has she got them under control.

I am overweight now, but pregnant. I had started to tackle my weight, but got pregnant unexpectedly. When this baby is born I am getting medieval on my fat arse. And it is not going to take me until I'm 64 to crack it, that's for sure.

Better at 10 than 15. Or 20. Or 30.

I think YANBU

I work in a school and I do the transition from primary to secondary school -last year I worked with a little boy of 11 who suffered with anorexia and we think it all started when he saw this letter (in the bin whenre parents had thrown it and never knew he had seen it).

The letter said he was overweight but when you looked more closely he was overweight by 1lb - and had a big growth spurt straight after the weigh in - puberty etc.

I think the issue with these letters is that they are not checked by humans who can understand the emotional impact they can have - although not all case will obviously have the outcome I experienced I know that there were several children who had a real knock to their self-esteem because of this.

I can see it is upsetting to get a letter like this but as others have said, they do push some people in seeing that their child is fat as although some fall victim to the inaccuracy of the BMI, some are simply carrying too much weight. A friend of mine's DD piled on a lit of weight and was beginning to be bullied. The whole family were a bit overweight, not huge amounts but enough. The letter gave her Mum a bit of a wake up call so she set about getting her DD to exercise more and altered her diet a bit with the idea she'd stay the same weight and grow. She did lose a few pounds, grew and her body shape changed from the exercise. Bullying stopped, girl much happier and hopefully at the beginning of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to take her through her life.

Another friend spoke to me and was worried about her DD's weight and I am still cross with myself that I didn't come out with 'yes I think you do need to do something' instead of skirting round it discussing diet and exercise. But I felt as I need to lose lots of weight myself (it was 7 stone but have lost just over 3 now) that I couldn't. Which was rubbish of me really, I wish someone had opened my Mum's eyes to my puppy fat at that age and she'd have taught me healthy habits. Her DD will get the letter this year and I suspect it will be the thing that pushes her into doing something.

I am eternally grateful that my DC's have inherited DH's build. DD was very skinnny, 9th percentile I think. She has very slightly filled out at 12 but not much, her brother is much the same. This thread has made me realuse that though I've made huge improvements in my own activity levels, I haven't taken on board the fact that both of them are less physically active than they were a year ago ( things like having given up gym for DD and DS no longer swimmng) and to just look at their weight isn't all the picture, so will be looking at getting them to do more exercise.

This is the reason that I will not allow DD to be measured/weighed at school.

I have no reason to think she is overweight, she is active and eats healthily. I have no idea what she weighs (I've never had scales in the house), but I don't need to know.

If I don't need to know, then neither does the school or the government. It's no-ones business except mine and DDs.

Morloth, if your DS is attending beach/surf clubs you are going to notice the size of the children more due to the nature of the dress code for these activities, how would you identify this with his friends in south west London where these pursuits are non existent. Even if it is the case surely it always has been and will be, that kind of environment is far more facilitative of activities that keep people very slim than Northern European cities. My dad works in Ghana for 2 months at a time and London for a month begins this work pattern again. He always returns slim and leaves having put on a stone especially in the winter. He says that you just don't fancy the food in the heat but the stodge that most Northern European diets consist of is much needed in London most of the year!

Equally, I worked in Cornwall for a summer in my early 20's I was thin before I arrived but after living the sun, surfing lifestyle was skinny. My point is it was not necessary for me to be that skinny to be healthy as I was already thin on arrival but visually compared to my new friends I would have looked big. OP's daughter could easily fall in to this group.

YABU.
Many parents do nothing to address their childrens obesity and this is just one way of encouraging them to do so.
My dd was on the top of end of normal weight despite healthy diet and she is from a family of fattys (me included) so we have enrolled her in fun exercise activites now to help her see exercise as fun and part of daily life, something I have struggled with

Plus, you don't have to tell your dd what the letter said. Maybe start a family health kick together? Without the focus on weight which is always risky with prepubescent girls (and boys I imagine).

In Oz where weight is not a national scandal people exercise and stay slim almost just by living there.....it's the done thing. I can't even walk the dcs to school because even if I park the car far away I still have to get across Bristol for another drop off. Although I suppose I could at pick up, but then I have two pre school children with me....and a bloody lot to do before bedtime. We do have a trampoline which is a source of loads of exercise, but not enough spare cash for numerous cubs for the older dcs to get the exercise they need. Even after schhol clubs/lunch clubs aren't free any more and the school is too small to really run around.....

So being 'poor' really does mean more likely to be overweight doesn't it?