To think the 'your child is in the overweight category' letters from the child measurement program are a waste of money?

[Readytomakechanges]

I've had a few friends receive these letters recently and the reaction is broadly the same:
"What a load of bollocks"
"He/she is always moving"
"There's not an ounce of fat on him/her"
I was prompted to start this thread as a friend has recently posted a pic of her DC's letter on Facebook. Cue many comments along the lines of the above statements.
My AIBU is, what's the point spending the money to print and post these letters when most (in my admittedly limited experience as perhaps those that do act on it are less outspoken) parents declare them nonsense anyway.
Would it be better to save the money and spend it on better physical education in schools or something?

I've seen so many of those 'school is telling me my perfectly healthy and active child is overweight, what nonsense' articles and message board/facebook posts.

I have not seen one yet where the child in question was not visibly overweight.

And yes, most parents are in denial and will remain so, but I remember a few threads like that just on MN, where the parents after some discussion actually accepted that yes, the letter might be right and they might need to make some changes. It's so much easier to do something small with a primary school DC who is just a little bit overweight than tackle obesity in a teenager.

My DD is of Black/Carribean descent, whose bone density has been proven to be greater than that of caucasians.

Is that true? That would go a long way to explaining why black people are so dominant in track sports.

I'd welcome a letter alongside actual support. I know what a healthy diet is, but struggle with portion sizes and am fearful about getting a diet wrong so it causes harm. There is lots of evidence about diets changing bodies so they need less calories than a person who has never dieted to stay slim. And whilst it often refuted, I really have seen lots of slim boys get chubby before puberty and then thin out again. Not fat as such, but a filling out. But a letter on its own would probably leave me thinking ..now what?

Dd had one of these. It arrived in March 2017, she was weighed in June 2016. She's had a growth spurt since then, weighs much the same. I don't see the point if they take 9 months to send them out

Suddenly you are on the BMI chart and 98 for both translates to Overweight - take immediate action.

If you follow the chart to 20 and assume that is adult weight/ height 98th for both is overweight. It isn't seriously so, but I am 98th for height at 20 and between 75th and 91st for weight according to the chart. I think it is expected that children gradually drop down the chart.

There so many overweight kids these days. After a recent MN thread I noticed that at least 25% of the children at the dc's swimming lessons were clearly overweight . It was quite shocking.

Nothing to do with bone density. Black people with origins in Jamaica/West Indies etc are more likely to carry visceral (organ) fat and because of higher muscle mass often won't look obese even at unhealthy weights. This means they are more prone to 'invisible' ie undiagnosed blood pressure/diabetes which is the killer. Asian people in general carry more fat and have less muscle mass and so their healthy bmi levels should be lower than for others - for many having a bmi of 24 is overweight.

how patronising. What if you are scientifically literate and know perfectly well that constant weighing is far from the best method to achieve life long health?

Weighing once a year helps with achieving life long health (because issues are identified quicker, and yearly check ups consist of more than just weighing and measuring) and most parents don't recognise when their children are overweight, whether they are scientifically literate or not.

I treasure my boy's 'obese' letter. He got really chubby before shooting up in puberty. I knew his body was preparing for a huge growth spurt.
He shot up aged 12-13 and has been thin ever since.
I kept it as a 'memento'.
Two of my kids (out of four) bulked up the year before a huge growth spurt.

If your diet and lifestyle are good, you will weigh somewhere in the healthy range

My oldest daughter is right in the middle of the healthy weight range, she has a diagnosed eating disorder.
My son is riiiight on the borderline of healthy/underweight and has severe food aversions due to his ASD and so his diet isn't great at all.
My youngest daughter is fit and active, trains at football, gymnastics and runnings 4/5 days a week and eats a decent healthy diet but ws overweight until she had a huge growth spurt a few months back.

I think thats a pretty generalised statement, that doesn't always hold true at all.

Something someone mentioned earlier, if anyone has the answer.

my friends daughter is 10, she is taller than my 13 year old, weighs around the same, my daughter is considered 'healthy', hers 'overweight'.

how does that work? i realise the percentiles will differ because of ages, but how can two children who are the same height and weight fall into different categories just because one is younger?

I look back at photo's of my DD1 in reception and she was chubby. I didn't see it at the time and a letter would definitely have worried me. She is 7 now and skinny as a rake, we didn't change her diet she just had a massive growth spurt. Her ribs stick out so I'm definitely not still in denial 😀 My BMI is nearly 30 and I am over weight. If it was in the normal range I wouldn't be. It might be a crude measure but let's face it, no one who has a BMI that is over 25 (or whatever) is super slim.

but how can two children who are the same height and weight fall into different categories just because one is younger?

Because of things like muscle, bone density, puberty related changes to fat etc.

I never understand these threads. 4yo DS was about 91st percentile so didn't get a warning letter... but he was definitely pudgy. I still have trouble believing anyone gets the overweight letter when child isn't overweight.

Both my DDs are tall (7 year old needs 9-10 trousers or they're too short), but do not come up as overweight on the NHS calculator.

So not all tall kids are branded overweight by it - perhaps the ones that are, might be overweight?

I agree we've lost sight of what is normal, in adults as well as kids.

I agree with you op. I've never known anyone respond by keeping an eye on food choices/portion size/activity levels. They always claim their children to be, at most, solid when they are clearly overweight. And say they do lots of activity when they do nowhere near what a child their age should be doing. Either that or they say it's because they're tall despite the fact their height has been measured and calculated for. Maybe the letters should just cut to the chase and say that the reason your 5yo is overweight is you. Because you are feeding too many calories and not ensuring they get enough exercise. Unless you want your child to end up unwell quit making excuses and do something about it!

The thing is if you over feed a child they do end up taller sooner. So a fat child may well thin out because the extra food does go somewhere it makes them grow. So a fat child may well have accelerated growth in the early years and if you look around at some of the taller children you'll observe that not all of them have tall parents. They just reach their adult height more quickly.

Growing faster isn't especially healthy particularly in girls because these taller bigger girls will hit puberty earlier. This increases their lifetime risks for things like breast cancer.

I do think its an impossible situation and needs tackling nationally with changes in culture etc. Not going to happen anytime soon though.

This isn't about the parents and their feelings. This is about the children. These parents are over or under feeding their children and need to stop! It is disgusting behaviour and these parents need to know the damage they are causing. Setting their kids up for a life of obesity or eating disorders - poor kids :(

Get your kids off their screens, feed them less junk food and get them moving about more. This is all you need to do and you won't be getting the fat letters home!

DC at the age to receive these letters, do they actually say things like switch to low fat yoghurt?? Surely the huge amount of sugar they put in low fat options means these are actually a worse choice than merely eating the full fat version in moderation? Just interested ...

Yes they do gamer.

My Dd was declared overweight but did ten hours of competitive swimming a week plus three hours of badminton and squash. We ignored the letter.

fake name

depts.washington.edu/bonebio/bonAbout/race.html

DS was measured in October, we got a letter in March. Why the long gap - surely if there is a problem with a child's weight, telling parents about it sooner is better?