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.

What HoneyPablo said.

YABU - this country has a big problem with obesity which costs taxpayers millions. There is no harm in checking weight routinely ay set stages to see which children have the problem and which do not.

That said - I don't like the BMI as a way of assessing obesity as I think there are better and more accurate ways of assessing.

The school WILL be teaching your child to read and write and if you check the leaflet you'll probably find it's in partnership or even directly from the health department so nowt to do with the school apart from them providing access and a space for it to be done.

Did I say YABU -

YABU it's part of a national statistics collecting exercise. Childhood obesity is a problem nationally and the government needs accurate data in order to allocate funding and design policy in the most productve manner. It is also important to allow the government to compare the data against previous years to see if any of the recent iniatitives are working.
With the data at least they'll have a better chance of taking sensible actions (you would hope :))

also i did not say that 'butter is worse' i said that the 'combination of butter with the bread' changes the way the body deals with the butter

Yeah mumblingragdoll cos all parents of children deemed overweight get a social worker don't they

Gosh some people truly ARE ignorant.

"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) -"

Really? So if you eat toast without butter then 5 minutes later eat a teaspoon of butter your body will deal with that differently than if you eat a slice of buttered toast?

MY valid reason for not wanting my dc to be weighed at school is because the arbitary decision of if a dc is overweight or not is SOLELY based on their AGE not their height. So if you have a child that is on the 90th Centile for weight AND height, then by most standards, they are the AVERAGE WEIGHT FOR THEIR HEIGHT. However, on the school weighing programme - they only look at the fact that there is a 5yo that is on the 90th Centile for weight.

DS1 got a letter in Reception saying he was overweight, so I took him to the GP. Who measured him, plotted his height and weight on the chart in his red book - and promptly told me he was exactly the right weight for his height and to ignore the school letter.

So none of my (tall) dc have been weighed since then at school. When they take HEIGHT into account as a factor in the child's weight, then I will be happy to do so again.

How many 6ft people do you know that weigh 7.5 stone?? They'd be emaciated at that height if they weighed that little. Yet for my friend who is 4ft9, that is her target weight (trying to lose weight after having a baby). So why on earth do they not take height into account for children?

DS1 is 9.5yo, and is 4ft9. He's hardly going to weigh 4 stone at that height, is he??

I wouldn't opt out. Knowing our school they wouldvturn the exercise into a learning opportunity eg healthy foods, need for exercise, senses with the hearing and eye tests. Also, doing it at school means all the kids get seen - less chance for some parents to ignore the request (as opposed to making a conscious decision to opt out for personal reasons).

No, seeker, it does not draw attention.

The school does health checks with all the children and the weight part is simply omitted in DS's case. He still goes in for his unnecessary monitoring anyway.

I don't see it as a big deal. I think they should be weighed unless there is a good reason no to.

Our school did not measure them - but reception WAS a few years ago. Even the GP could not understand why DS1 hadn't been measured too. If they measure them now as well, then I would have no problem if they look at both figures together. I have checked on the NHS's children's BMI thingy, and all of them are in the green 'healthy' section with their BMI, so am not overly worried.

This is terrible. Do they really do this in schools nowadays. I was the chubby kid at school, had undiagnosed autism and issues with eating and food my whole life. I also had issues with bullies right from the day I started school, this would have been a godsend for them. :(

I can understand the hearing tests - but why an eye test? Genuinely at that one - thought you were meant to take your dc to the opticians before they start reception? I always have??

It's also research for geographical regions in order for the gov to make sure the right health provisions are in the right regions and for the correct populations.
For a simplistic example inner cities are likely to show higher percentages of obesity levels than rural areas and it helps them plan hospitals for the future.
There are some very useful statisticians working in dark burrows in the UK!

Just to point out (not that I wish that one anyone) but it is important to keep a record of children's weight in case they need to receive emergency medicine.
My son has a medical condition that has necessitated intensive care visits in the past and the medics have found it v useful when we were able to give them a relatively accurate weight to know what dosage to give.

I know it's not exactly a huge concern for most parents but I still think it's good to know.

I sometimes wonder if I'm the only person on the planet who is glad they have these routine health checks.

If I made a thing of weighing dd at home, it would very much be making a point about her size. Or if I got her to take her for a hearing check she would worry there was something wrong.

Whereas if it happens at school it is routine, and if she asks why it is being done I will explain truthfully that it is about statistical monitoring of the population and also to spot any possible problems for individual children.

Not that I think she is over or under weight, or more than normally vague but of course my child is going to seem normal to me - I don't have a whole selection of 9 y/os to compare what is usual.

Kladdkaka Why is it terrible? I really can't see why. Some kids are neglected and are underweight through not being fed enough...others are negleted by being fed shite....schools are part of society and they have a responsibility to look out for the kids....and to flag up problems if they occur.

I am not saying all kids who are over or underweight are neglected...but SOME are. And taking a look at the reasons why the kids aren't as they should be, can help them in the long run.

Kladdkaka they weigh them seperately and don't tell any of the kids the result.

Hunty not ALL parents have the sense to take their kids to the optician.

HuntyCat I can't believe you are complaining about kids being given an eye test. What a bizaar thing to complain about. What if the parents didn't take their child to an optician. They could spend their entire childhood with vision problems which would have been corrected if noticed. Eye tests can also pick up other health problems. Very strange to think that's a bad idea!

CustardCake That's very interesting.

Takver I sometimes wonder if I'm the only person on the planet who is glad they have these routine health checks. - No you're not.

Are you going to object when they want measure height as part of a maths class too, in case they're too tall?

I can't see how making your child feel different to their peers by refusing a simple weighing scheme will do anything positive for their self esteem