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?

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?

It is because it is assumed one has gone through puberty and one hasn't. It obviously isn't an exact science though as it is perfectly possible that the 10yo has and the 13yo hasn't. Year 6 is a particularly odd time to check girls' weight and send letters out for this reason.

I think the rib thing is misleading. Dd has always been completely average, slap bang in the middle but you could never see her ribs.

Willyoujustbequiet You can be overweight and in the middle of the BMI, it normally suggests poor health low bone density, low muscle mass, low glycogen reserves etc.

I do agree seeing ribs is not completely clear, I'd rather something like defined stomach muscles should be visible.

I think the rib thing is misleading

I agree, you can see the ribs of my youngest, but he's really far too chubby - he's got the belly of a beer drinker! (summer is coming, we're working on that, hopefully it won't be forever).

I got one of these letters about my child. I think it actually did help bring into focus the fact my child was overweight and would possibly continue to be unless I modified his diet, and I also became more conscious of ensuring he did more exercise. He is now quite skinny and well within the normal range for bmi. He was completely unaware of the letter.

I think it's stupid to dismiss the letters out of hand without examining if there are changes that can be made to help your child become a healthy weight.

I have never seen one of these "outraged my child has been called fat" posts on Facebook or in the daily mail where the child hasn't been fat. Most parents can't/won't see it though, hence all the posts here about muscles/bone density/how much swimming they do.

In my area if a child is classed as overweight the whole family are offered 12 weeks free swimming. I think it's a bit of a joke- for a start 12 weeks won't make much difference if they can't afford to continue going afterwards. Also I'd question how much exercise actually happens during a general swimming session, especially if the child can't actually swim- i'm sure many 4-5 year olds can't! My children can both swim but when we go as a family they generally play and splash, they don't swim widths/ lengths like they do in their lessons. (Still better than sitting at home on the sofa of course.) On top of this, the family are not supported with providing a healthy diet- exercise alone won't make much difference if the child is still eating massive portions of the wrong sorts of foods, snacking constantly etc.

It's great that they're doing something but I don't think that throwing a bit of free 'swimming' at families and hoping it magically changes their lifestyle is the answer.

I find this whole weighing thing a bit useless really. Children can be normal weight but have a terrible diet for e.g. Would prefer more resources put into things like providing healthier school meal / teaching kids how to cook etc.

My neighbour's child got the overweight letter. He is slim, active and absolute solid muscle. Whilst I don't doubt we as a nation are getting bigger it has made me doubt a lot of the statistics if that is a basis for the measure. Agree letters aren't going to do a lot. Seems like a tick box exercise.

When our y6s were weighed, parents could opt out if they wished. All of the parents of the overweight children opted out. Our report came back saying that 100% of our y6s were a healthy weight and height. A total waste of time and paper really!

The thing to remember is the Childhoood Measurement Programme is a Public Health data gathering programme. Used to gather long term statistical data across the population.

The letters are simply a relatively low cost "add on' service to parents. And also it is a bit ethically dubious not to alert parents if as part of routine screening the results were not clinically shared.

The measurement programme would still exist if all the letters were binned.

It's looking at long term trends and health impacts.

Govt can't win, can they?

"Kids are getting too fat, you should monitor that!"
"If kids are too fat, you should let parents know it!"
"If you have data on my kid, I should know what it is!"
"This info is rubbish, why did you bother!?"

The best bet would be for help support advice to be offered to targeted parents in person. Looking closely and reviewing the kids diets. Helping the adults implement lots of small changes. Once a month meet ups.

More expensive then a letter!

LLijk :)

There have been a spate of 'outraged' articles about this, as to be expected:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-39343771

m.plymouthherald.co.uk/plymouth-mum-campaigns-to-end-calling-young-children-overweight/story-30219537-detail/story.html

Including parents wanting 'apologies' and starting campaigns against the letters. As a pp said, the NHS can't win. Yes it's a blunt instrument but it's better than nothing.
DS got the letter saying he was overweight in Reception year. I did feel slightly annoyed however I took it on board and there's no way I would have gone on social media, to the press etc as I was aware it's trying to prevent long term health issues.
In DS's case he was only just slightly into the overweight category and being young in the year still had some of the toddlerness about him - the sticky out tummy, chubby hands etc - but I kept an eye on it and increased activity levels. As expected a little while after he did that 'stretching' thing where they suddenly get taller and leaner and look more like a child than a toddler. But I didn't feel incensed enough about the letter to start a campaign against it!!

Our kids school has recently started 'the daily mile' where they have to run (or walk if can't run) a mile around the playground every day, seems like it would be more effective than the food & nutrition leaflets which seem rather out of date.

Daily mile is a great way to introduce kids to excercise, but it'll only burn about 60-70 calories - same calories as in a digestive biscuit.

I think calories burnt by excersize is often over-estimated, particularly in children. It doesn't matter if you child runs about and plays football a lot, they can still be over-fed.

I started reading the Plymouth Herald article thinking that the mum had huge food issues";

"Jennifer found out last week that her five-year-old son had been classed as overweight. The mum-of-three says that she was left in tears after reading the NHS letter."

And sure enough later in the article;

"She said she had suffered with eating disorders in the past, so can understand how troublesome they can be"

She has food issues that she's passing on the her son.

However, he is 4 and wears 6-7 year old clothes

How dare they use BMI as opposed to your more scientifically proven child clothes sizes.

I think the problem is that people think their kids are active these days if they do sports clubs. They forget that children used to routinely walk to and from school, run around playing in the streets/woods from after school until dark only coming in for a healthy dinner and at weekends and the holidays they'd be out all day playing chase, football, riding bikes etc. Dong an hour or so of sports after school before you tuck into convenience food and sit on the Xbox just isn't the same.
And also a lot of kids are overweight these days so it changes peoples perception of normal. Your kid may look the same or even smaller than some of their friends. That doesn't mean it's healthy.

Exactly, therealpootroll.
The thing I remember doing the most as a kid was skipping (rope) something I don't see children doing nowadays. From what I remember, virtually all little girls (obviously those without disabilities) were expert skippers and could do it for ages. Skipping is a great activity that even some professional athletes incorporate into their training routines.
From 9-16 I went swimming with the school for an hour every week, we all learnt to swim properly and learnt lifesaving as well. Thats far more swimming than my children ever got at school.
Personally I would like to see the daily mile run extended to include other activities - skipping, jumping jacks,etc. And no excuses for sitting out eithet.

TheRealPooTroll Sat 25-Mar-17 11:20:30
"I think the problem is that people think their kids are active these days if they do sports clubs. They forget that children used to routinely walk to and from school, run around playing in the streets/woods from after school until dark only coming in for a healthy dinner and at weekends and the holidays they'd be out all day playing chase, football, riding bikes etc. Dong an hour or so of sports after school before you tuck into convenience food and sit on the Xbox just isn't the same."

This.

I was considered, and considered myself, an unusually sedentary and bookish child. But I walked a mile to and from school every day, I spent breaktime skipping or playing hopskotch with friends, after school I ran around, or skipped and played hopscotch until supper time, at weekends I was out roaming on foot or on my bike between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and teatime. On top of compulsory PE.

Yep I remember the big skipping ropes that would be going in the streets for hours every evening. With older siblings or the odd mum or dad doing shifts turning the rope.

Also making up dances, waterfights etc. If kids aren't playing outdoors these days (or are restricted to relatively small gardens) then diets need to be getting healthier but they're actually getting worse.

In the Plymouth Herald article the mum says the letters will 'set children up for an eating disorder'. But why would the child need to know about the letter? It goes to the parent.

They leave a long gap between the measuring and the letters in my area too. My theory is they wait a few months so parents can't say "oh he's due a growth spurt" when he was weighed 6 months ago. Also if the child is measured again or taken to the GP when the parent gets the letter and is still over weight it might give the parent a bigger clue that something is wrong.