to not want my child weighed

[moogster1a]

My ds has received a leaflet about the weighing of reception age kids in order to ascertain just how many Greggs sausage rolls are eaten in the neighbourhood. ( healthy child programme)
I didn't object too much to this although I think it's a huge waste of money and time as fat kids' parents will get a letter telling them their kid is fat and I fail to see where they will go from there. but, thats by the by.
the consent form states " If you do not return a completed consent form your child's vision and hearing will not be checked but we will still weigh and measure your child".
Does this mean there is no opt out?
Do all schools do this? It's getting me more and more annoyed that we are living in such a nany state. I would rather schools cocentrated on teaching my child how to read ad write rather than attempting to do the full pareting job icludig deciding how fat he can be. ( by the way, he's a skiny runt so I'm ot objecting because I think we'll be haued in frot of the lard police and told to empty our cupboards of everything but rye bread).
in fact, I lied earlier, I do object in principle to the whole scheme. What a waste of money.

Just tell the school or write it on the form. We opted out with DD, she sees a paediatrician for other things and she will tell us if our DD is fat or not.

Meh, it's not really worth getting your knickers in a twist about

There should be an opt out. Your child, so it's up to you, not someone else to decide what is best. I think weighting kids in school makes them focus too much on weight and may actually be unhelpful.

It's a nation wide scheme and is for the government to plan. If skinny kids are not weighed it will make the nation seem heavier than it really is

YANBU - all the mums of the children who get 'fat' letters will be in denial anyway and we'll see them in here in a few months bewailing that their DC are perfectly normal, sporty and healthy :o

We didn't have an option to opt out. I got a letter informing me that my kid is clincially underweight. See Dr immediately for underlying medical issues....

He is his father's build who was stick legs at school until his teens.

My kid was rather delighted though to find his mother spent the Summer hols feeding him extra large slices of cake and bigger servings of pud. Made no difference - he put no weight on at all. Dr says the next option is to tie his legs together and plonk him in front of a computer game console all day.

don't know if I am against these checks but the leaflet they sent with our letter about him being clinically underweight and then sending us a letter about healthy eating and exercise was a patronising loada claptrap which was no help at all for an underweight kid.

don't see the reason why you would not let your child be weighed - and their vision and hearing really should be checked - they are not weighing just for fat kids but as an over view of the children in the country

So if he's not weighed, that helps skew the statisics that we're a nation of fatties, and I can feel smug about the fact he appears to have ribs and ankles ( as opposed to his little brother who HAS been reared on a diet of sausage rolls and gabbots farm chicken). Mmmmm, gabbots farm.

DD is not school age yet but I don't want her weighed either. But, this isn't a new thing. Have you never seen footage of children being lined up and measured, weighed etc in the 40's and 50's? This has been going on for donkey's years, so nothing to do with nanny state. The problem, and my problem with it, is that we place so much more importance on weight and self-image these days that it's become a much bigger deal than it used to be on a personal level.

Oh get Sonething serious to worry about

I'm not objecting to the hearing and eye tests. It's the patronising healthy eating bollocks I object to.
These are the same sort of people who decide that toast is banned at my sure start centre as it's bad for you in some undetermined way which the staff can't explain to me.

the staff can't explain why toast is bad for you cos they probably don't know that:-
toast - dry (is hard work to eat) and from a shop bought white loaf has very little nutritional value
toast, buttered, is worse as the vitamins and minerals combined work in such a way that the body does not just use what it needs from the butter and express the reminder but retains all the lot and lays the excess down as bad fats - and you have still eaten the crappy white sliced bread
you really do need something else to concern yourself about

Er, ireallyagreewithyou, this is serious!

OP, YANBU. I will not allow DS to be weighed at school and I also will not allow DD when her time comes. My reason is that there is a history of eating disorders in DP's side of the family (sadly, DP himself suffered quite badly for a while during his childhood/teens). I do not want and will not have my DCs thinking weight is something that needs to be monitored that early in their lives.

DS eats a balanced diet, he is a normal and healthy weight and that's enough for me.

buttered, is worse as the vitamins and minerals combined work in such a way that the body does not just use what it needs from the butter and express the reminder but retains all the lot and lays the excess down as bad fats - and you have still eaten the crappy white sliced bread
where on earth have you got this rubbish from? Are you saying that vitamins and minerals in butter somehow magically combine into whole new chemical compounds which the body cannot process at all? In which case ( and that isn't the case!) it would just pass out of the body. Or do you think butter just sits in your stomach for your lifetime?!

In fact, Molly, you seem to be saying vitamins and minerals transform into fat!!

And your child being one of only ones not being weighed is not going to draw attention to weight monitoring in any way?

Do you people have no concept of the idea of "public health"? I don't smoke- never have- but I don't think anti smoking campaigns are a waste of money.

My dd's were weighed at school, they thought nothing of it. Had they not been weighed when their friends had they would have been asking why.

The problem isn't that there is too much emphasis on weight and image (well, that is a big problem, but that isn't the actual issue here) its that far too many kids are in fact fat, overweight, obese, whatever you want to call it. 30% of all children in the UK are overweight apparently.
If you don't want them weighed, opt out, it makes no difference to the actual facts of the matter.

OP, YABU.
Child obesity is a huge problem and is going to get worse.
I don't see any valid reasons why you would not want your child weighed.
I also disagree about the nanny state comment. The government have moral obligations to ensure the nation's health. It us taxpayers that will have to pay in the end.

molly thats some of the biggest rubbish I've ever read on here, and that is saying something. What have you been reading? Whatever it is, replace it with a science textbook.

"you people"

I tend not to give permission for medical things other than medical treatment or emergencies. I would opt out.

And if dd was the only one not being weighed she would be happy to say ' because my mum said no '

Isn't it so kids who are under or over weight can be placed on the radar of SS?

I mean...its a way of watching out for the DC isn't it?

what i am saying is that the way various minerals and vitamins work through our digestive systems differs as to their combinations and this affects the way that they are used and disposed of by our bodies ( my brother is both a qualified dietician and a medical doctor and works in research within this field) -

""you people" "

Sorry, is that offensive in some way? I didn't mean it to be!