Weight loss weigh-in for Reception class

[sayjay]

Ds (Reception) was weighed and measured today as part of the School Health Programme.
He has come home wearing a sticker saying "I was Measured today!" with a clip art type picture underneath of feet on scales and "33% off" next to the scales.

The sticker looks as thought it has been made using clip art and printed on a computer.

AIBU or is this a ridiculous weight loss message for Receptioon children!!?

(I may be BU as I did not give my consent for him to be part of the school health programme, but they phoned DH this morning and he agreed over the phone. My annoyance is with him also )

I agree with you Worra. I look around DDs school and see lots of chubby/fat/flabby children. I would estimate, and this is only an estimate that of the 28 children in her class at least 18 are overweight. Four of those 18 significantly.
One girl wears size 12 adults clothing that is cut down for her and one boy is in mens clothes.
They are Y6. I am not judging - although it's hard not to when the same ones are eating donuts at break time, I just think it is not doing them any favours later on in life.

I think it means "Take this sticker to Greggs you will get 33% off"

Can I slightly hijack. My dd had her result through the other day. She is, as we knew, perfectly in proportion. Her bf who is tiny and actually looks like she could do with eating more (she eats fine, she's just whippet thin) has come back as 'borderline obese'. How does that happen then? She hasn't an extra ounce on her. Her twin brother who is a bit prone to a pot belly before a growth spurt and is a fairly solid, muscular little boy is slightly underweight. It seemed a very strange result. Or was the nurse doing it drunk?

What I don't agree with is weighing the Y6 children. It is the age children, especially girls are getting concerned about their weight.My own DD does lots of gymnastics and is quite muscular especially her abs where you can see a six pack and count her ribs.But she is starting to get a womanly rounded bottom and is forever worried about putting on weight.So do you let het take part in the weigh in, and reinforce the ida that it is a good idea for children to be weighed, withdraw her and let her think t's because she is the 'wrong' weight? I have ended up (with her agreement) letting her be included in the hope that once she sees she is well within the normal range she will stop worrying.

But obesity is far better than anorexia!

Yes I'd say let her take part in the weigh in.

If children are monitored in reception then it makes sense for them to be monitored again in yr 6...especially as by year six there are double the amount of overweight and obese children than there were in reception.

There was a time when a stigma was attached to nits, sex, single parent families and divorce.

All of those things affect children and people fought hard to have the stigma removed.

I firmly believe that if the stigma that's attached to weight issues was removed, that can only be a good thing for the kids...being weighed and measured will become the norm - just like sight and hearing tests.

I had never heard of anorexia or bullemia until the 80's, when there was a massive awareness campaign and it was openly spoken about. People were actually being educated about it and as a result, more help was available.

I feel the same about obesity. The more awareness and help people receive as a result the better.

It's a lot more likely to save lives than sweeping it under the carpet will.

The weigh in ranges are crazy though. Ds1 was a 1lb from being overweight. He has no tummy, not a bit of extra fat on him and you can see his ribs. He is very solid though and muscular because of gymnastics, but that isn't taken into account, it's just league tables so the government appears to be talking the obesity problem.

I don't think it makes a jot of difference to most of the parents of obese children. The parents who's children don't get out of the house to the park or sporting activities aren't going to suddenly change their habits because a letter tells them too, of it did have any effect we would surely be seeing results wouldn't we?

33% wont indicate weight loss...christ I very much doubt a reception kid would need to lose 33%

Personally I think its good for our kids to be aware of being healthy etc etc......sadly weight is a big issue in the UK at the moment and we need to do something to address it before it becomes even worse.

I talk to my DS about healty eating, benefits of excercise etc etc. I am a healthy weight now and live a very healthy life but it has been a struggle to get where I am and I really dont want him having to go through the same thing.

Awareness is best, I think our kids can cope with it!

This, in particular, from Worra: "Personally I think it's time to remove the 'stigma' and 'taboo' surrounding openly talking about weight and weight loss."

Weight is just a measurement that we choose to act on if it's needed. It's no more than that and certainly no measure of the worth of a person. It should be handled in a really matter-of-fact way rather than whispered and gossiped about. That's where we're going wrong... the concept of keeping and maintaining a healthy body weight has got to become normalised.

My family is taking part in a long term study in scotland. They send through a newsletter occasionally with the "interesting" bits in. Anyway...

"most mothers of children who were overweight or obese described their child as of 'normal' weight".

Was it meant to be a joke, like when you weigh fruit and veg and get 33% off? Given that rec often have role play shops this seems most likely to me!

Exactly Lying, as soon as the taking it personally - as though weight is a measure of the person themselves, is removed...it just becomes a matter of fact health issue that needs dealing with, and that's how it should be in my opinion.

It sounds to me like they've just trawled for a picture with 'weighing people' on and found this one which does sound slightly inappropriate.

This may seen like a silly question, but did you ask ds what he got the sticker for? are they a school that gives out stickers as a reward and that was what they had-most cant read in reception and we got some obscure ones back.

The sticker sounds like theyjust printed the first pic of scales they came across...my dd once came hom with a maths worksheet and one of the mages had a man measuring hs willy! It was tiny and the teacher probably only saw the yardstick!

I have a DD was identified by the doctor as overweight at 3, yes I was given dietary advice, but with no enquiries made about our current diet. The 'diet' we were given was worse than the one we eat and included drinking squash which I hate and won't have in the house milk or water here. I am very aware of portion control, we don't have crisps or sweets in the house. No reference that both DH and I are stocky build and though are BMIs are a little high are body fat percentage is low and through our activity our muscle levels are high. DD is the same build as us and undertakes a huge amount of exercise.

I do think that some parents get a little carried away with the notion of a big baby being a healthy baby and get into a habit of feeding children too much early on. People do respond in a positive way to a plump, healthy looking toddler.
A friend of mine is a little like this, her three ds's are six and under and they are all very big for their age but also clearly overweight, yet she was horrified to receive a note from the school suggesting her ds1 was obese last year. I have noticed that even her youngest (8m) is constantly being offered food and she seems to take considerable pride in how well he eats.
I definitely think the weigh ins serve a purpose in this respect, as it can be difficult to regard your own children objectively sometimes. The statistic up thread about the percentage of parents of obese children who considered their weight to be normal seems to bear this out.
Re the sticker, it sounds rather silly, but harmless imho

my dd once came hom with a maths worksheet and one of the mages had a man measuring hs willy! It was tiny and the teacher probably only saw the yardstick!

I haven't stopped laughing at that for ages!

I don't know if I'm laughing cos of the mistake or at the teacher not spotting the tiny willy

That story deserves a thread of its own, thehouseonthecorner!

Yes, last year's effort for sad plump child with angry mum came from a school where some ridiculous percentage, like 70, were overweight, so of course mother compares to peers and can't see the problem

I think people are right when they say we have lost sight of what's normal
this little girl looks definitely overweight to me.Parents are in denial

Hi, me again.

Blimey I am pretty incoherent at the best of times but realise my OP which was way past my bedtime last night was confusing, so I will try and clarify.

I have informed the School Nursing Service in writing that Ds is not to participate in the School Health Programme. He is on the autistic spectrum and has a fear of all things medical, in addition to PLENTY of medical monitoring. I didn't want the hard work me and his health professionals are doing in properly acclimatising him to medical care in appropriate way by people sensitive to his condition undone if he had a bad experience with a nurse in school. That is all. I agree in principle with the programme, but have good reasons for excluding him from it.

I think i've already mentioned that he is a bean pole and I am not upset because he's overweight and I am in denial. If anything he is underweight, so am I, so is my father and all my paternal relatives. Genetics, innit.

They telephoned DH as DS wasn't on their list. He agreed, so not much I can do there except kick him up the ass remind him gently of our discussions about this.

I felt that the sticker was thoughtless. Agreed they probably searched for "weighing scales" or similar and picked this image, without considering that it seems to say "woohoo well done you have lost 1/3 of your body weight". I thought it was inappropriate. Reception and year 6 were weighed. I think they all got the same sticker. I know it wasn't actually a weight loss weigh in, but felt the sticker implied weight loss was desirable or to be proud of ie implied the bearer of the sticker is overweight. I think the weighing and measuring should be treated very sensitively and done with absolutely no comment or reference to the child or their classmates. If there are concerns about the child they should be made to the parents.

And actual LOL at the man measuring his willy worksheet