To withdraw DD from being weighed at school?

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DH thinks I am making a big fuss about nothing.

I refused consent for DD to be weighed at school as I don't think its neccesary. I didn't make a fuss, just ticked the box saying that I did not give consent.

gold I suppose I was thinking in terms of 4 year olds because my 4 year old will be weighed. But I don't think the children get to see their weight, even in Y6?

I couldn't get your link to work.

My dad in year 6 was weighed about three weeks ago. I didn't really give it much thought and it was such a non event she didn't even mention it had happened until I asked.

We got the results today in a sealed envelope. I read them, she didn't ask, that's the end of that !!
I seriously think some parents like to make a major deal out of NOTHING !!

Dd in year six not dad lol

By 'dirty little secret', I mean parents refusing to have their children weighed and measured.

I just don't get the drama and the angst from some people.

I ticked the no box and that was that. If you go to the hospital and you don't want to be weighed you just say no and that is that, nothing they can do.

its nothing to do with having a drama or being a rebel it is to do with having a choice to say no to something you may have looked into and decided it is not what you want to participate

It's a book called The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls on Amazon.

Weight (both gaining and losing) is such a natural part of life...something that will affect every single one of us at some point.

Not if you don't have scales in your house, your children are a healthy weight and you don't have a thing about your own weight. It's just never really been an issue or come up for any reason. why is that so hard to understand?

Someone close to me had all the kids turn on them when the letter came out and go on about how they would be the fattest (and that was the kindest comment). This person was undergoing counselling for a number of serious issues that had affected them for years. It didn't exactly help them when they were already having support for issues.
Hence I withdrew my child from being weighed (who is well within the recommended guidelines for weight, height , exercise levels and healthy eating).
Weight is a very emotive issue at all stages of life, and those who withdraw do so for many reasons, not just to 'avoid' issues.

Worralibity, people in our family have never gained/ lost weight, noone has ever even thought about dieting or weight loss, or if they were overweight.

I did not have the boys weighed at school as I think it is no business of the government how much they weigh, or what they eat ( we got that questionnaire).

So we boycott it.

Butt out nanny state!

But this isn't about image and looks. It is about health and providing adequate healthcare. A couple of nurses have already posted about this further upthread.

I think it's healthier to not weigh children and not make it an issue.

I don't see how it is drama and angst. It's just calmly deciding you do or don't want your child weighed.

I just don't get the drama and the angst from some people.

No drama or angst.

I told the school nurse she shouldn't be weighed and trust the school to handle it with common sense. What's so dramatic about that?

I thought about my decision carefully and made it for the right reasons. I don't get all the drama and angst about a child not participating or the assumption that parents who decline have weight issues or are harming their children

Why shouldn't parents have a choice?

The "drama and angst" could very to do with parents concerned at his it is conducted in school? My school reference was that the annual weigh-in was a perfect opportunity for the bullies to add fuel to tgeor fires - in my school that meant the students AND the PE teachers. I started starving myself in thr weeks before the annual event....

My school reference was that the annual weigh-in was a perfect opportunity for the bullies to add fuel to tgeor fires

At least the children are not told their weights.

When my DD1 was in Y8 all her science class had to weight themselves and convert the result from kg to Newtons. That caused an enormous amount of drama and angst plus some opportunistic bullying. Nice one science teacher!

I think it's healthier to not weigh children
SO SO SO short sighted
where are health services meant to get the data from?

your child is taken ill or injured and the hospital has to compare their size against their database to judge treatment.

Would you like that database to be small, incomplete and only those of laid back parents like me?
or would you like it to be complete and more accurate?
so that your child gets better care?

But aren't we still using the BMI, weight and height charts from 1995 for medical purposes, which means that all the children who have been weighed for the last 18 years have no influence on weight charts for medical treatments?

Worralibity, people in our family have never gained/ lost weight, noone has ever even thought about dieting or weight loss, or if they were overweight.

Of course they've gained and lost weight!

As we grow up and grow old our weight doesn't remain the same to the exact pound, does it?

It's a natural part of life, like gaining and losing hair/teeth.

It doesn't have to be an issue unless parents make it one by trying to pretend it doesn't happen.

Just talk about it, like you'd talk about anything else.

where are health services meant to get the data from?

I have been going the hospital for three years, every time I go they weigh me before my appointment, they don't bother whether I have my handbag or my shoes or boots on - so the weight isn't even correct so the figure will be wrong even if they do get people to be weighed - as i will not be the only person they have there with shoes and a bag pop on the scales. They don't though have my waist measurement or my height

Yanbu at all, it's your choice to opt out

The "drama and angst" could very to do with parents concerned at his it is conducted in school? My school reference was that the annual weigh-in was a perfect opportunity for the bullies to add fuel to tgeor fires - in my school that meant the students AND the PE teachers. I started starving myself in thr weeks before the annual event....

Why would they be concerned?

The letter and leaflets make it perfectly clear that no child (not even your own) and no teacher will ever know the child's weight.

The results are posted straight to the parents.

If my child needed to be weighed for a medical treatment she would be. If isn't necessary she won't be.

your child is taken ill or injured and the hospital has to compare their size against their database to judge treatment. Sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever. Doctors judge treament on a case by case basic, they don't whip out school weigh-ins before treating sick children.

Whre I live, you have to actively ask for your child notto be weighed and measured. No consent means you are quite happy for it go ahead.

I have seen several reception/y6 weights/heights taken.

They know they are being measured by height, but weighing them involved the child standing on a pad, someone on the other side of the room scribbling something, then the child being sent away. It's nothting like being weighed on bathroom scales, where the child actually seems numbers.

It's a lot less palava than the hearing/vision tests, which are just as normal as being weighed. Or having you hair checked for nits.

Just talk about it, like you'd talk about anything else.

When I said we've never had a conversation about weighing, I think you knew I didn't mean that the word weight had never passed my lips in the presence of my DD

I was just explaining that weight isn't an issue in our house, we don't monitor body weight with scales or talk about slimming or diets, etc. We just eat reasonably healthily and keep active which means we don't need body weight to be something we keep tabs on.

It isn't a taboo subject!

Goldmandra - I completely agree with you. We eat quite healthy and get lots of exercise. We don't own scales. We don't talk about dieting. We talk about how the body works and how to stay fit and healthy sometimes. There is no need to obsess about how much anyone weighs. Body weight is not an issue for either of us and I want to keep it that way.

Thank you happy!

I was beginning to wonder if we were the only ones with a no fuss attitude to body weight!