To ask what you think of weighing children in school

[cadburyegg]

Discussion on our school groups about the possibility of weighing children restarting as it was halted in March 2020. Lots of parents think it’s shameful and unnecessary, some are of the opinion that it’s “just for statistics” and can also be useful to see what centile your child is at.

I’m on the fence tbh. What are your thoughts?

@WorraLiberty

This is excellent. DC's school is terrible about sports provision generally and I think it's a real problem. Perhaps if they saw data of this sort, they'd make more effort.

It's not always about effort but about funding too.

When obesity 'hot-spots' are identified, funding often becomes more accessible for that area.

Yes, I meant that this provision was at a borough-wide level, targeted at this age group.

It's vital for my son as one of the side effects of his medication is appetite suppression, he's dropped 2 centiles in weight in the last 2 months. Our GP isn't taking face to face appointments at the moment.

As long as the letter came back to me sealed I wouldn’t mind. If the children were able to see each other’s results and it became a thing, then no, o wouldn’t be happy.

Helpful for collecting information but pointless for parents of overweight kids as they always seem to be in denial.

It's imperative to advise parents that their child is overweight, many won't be pleased, one of the parents at DD's school posted on Facebook that their child had been fat shamed but no one else knew until she posted so her kid wasn't fat shamed by anyone but her.

With the percentage of obese children rising it's something that needs to be tackled when children are young as most overweight children become overweight adults and will be at risk of life long complications impacting their health and costing the country billions in healthcare.

Yes some adults won't change their children's lifestyle and diet but hopefully some will, sticking your head in the sand isn't an option.

@Zanzibar55

Parents of overweight children are often (but not always) overweight themselves. Being told that their child is overweight probably won't do very much. Some already know and are trying to do something about it, some know but don't care, some know but don't know what to do about it, and only a small proportion will be surprised and act on the information.

My child is probably very slightly overweight and yet me and DP are both slim. My son HATES exercise although his diet is fine. That’s the problem and when pushed to exercise, even at school, he becomes extremely distressed and even violent. So we have our hands full but it’s certainly not for want of trying to improve his health.

I think on a population level it is important but it needs to be addressed carefully at an individual level so as not to give long lasting issues to children. It should be confidential from peers and school and should be combined with education about personal health - macros, exercise, heart health etc.

I would give permission for my children to be weighed but I would want them to be asked on the day if they wanted to.

I don’t like it, and will not be allowing my primary school child to be weighed. We have an epidemic of eating disorders amongst girls in this country ( my Dd15 suffers from anorexia) and it is very common for weighing in Y6 to be the trigger for those who are genetically vulnerable to an ED.

Can I ask a question? When they weigh them to they also measure their height?

So many parents have their heads in the sand about their children’s weight, even when they are told they still blame everything rather than taking the chance to step back and question where little changes can be made.

So much of our adult eating habits come from youth that’s it’s so important that we do what is needed to get young people eating a balanced diet and exercising from a young age

I think it's great in the right context.

I'm not in the uk and here every child in school has a welfare check with a school nurse. that includes measuring height and weight, basic sight test and a chat about general and mental welbeing. parents get a short description of outcome and a referral to gp or optician to follow up concerns if issues were identified.

Painful and very necessary

No one likes admitting their child is obese
I certainly don’t

But without this no one will have a country wide understanding of how bad things are

I think the only parents who would be against this are the ones with overweight children....

I think its pretty important. I've certainly noticed a lot of overweight children about post lockdown. The children shouldn't be told the results and as part of a normal health check just told to 'hop on here for me' and that should be the end of it for them.

Y6 is a funny age to weigh though, a lot of the children will be starting puberty and carrying some extra weight because of that.

Parents weighing a child can bring its own baggage, and can feel more shameful to a sensitive, possibly overweight child than if it's done as part of the school day. I was glad of an opportunity to get DD's weight checked without any interest in her weight coming from us, if that makes sense.

Also I think it's an important screening for any very underweight children, who are mostly fine but might occasionally need checking for gut disorders etc. while they have some growing years left.

This is going to sound classic MN...I agree in principle,but not for my child

He is often severely underweight, and we don't need scales to tell us that. He has a very restricted diet (probable ARFID) and already has great anxiety about eating at school due to safe foods not being available every meal. He really does not need any additional pressure from school about eating. In fact, asking him to eat more (even of safe foods) results in him eating less, due to the added expectation.

Secondary school has been wonderful in one regard- he can now have a packed lunch, and now there's only safe foods in there he actually eats his lunch, actually eats all of it 9 days out of 10.

@Sweak

Can I ask a question? When they weigh them to they also measure their height?

I can't speak for how they do things now (although I can't imagine they don't!) but when I was at school it was height and weight taken at the same time.

And tbh, teachers can generally see which children are becoming overweight. Time in the school day for "morning mile" would be wonderful, but I know most schools can't manage that. Children doing sports (clubs etc) daily are in the main a healthy size.

They told me my DD was obese in reception and send a letter to my home giving me dietary advice. Never considered her to be obese at all, she’s now 9 and a completely normal weight. Nobody would ever have looked at her and thought of her as obese, she had only just turned 4 when they decided to slap that title on her. Wrong on lots of levels. Children constantly grow and change and I don’t think labelling them as obese is helpful.

Not a chance will I have my DD weighed at school. She is very sporty and quite muscular/powerful compared to other girls her age. Strong swimmer. Plays competitive sports 2-3 times a week and trains on another 3. Eats a well balanced diet with nothing forbidden.

But I suspect that a crude BMI will suggest that she is overweight. I am not going to sit back and have her compared to the tiny, lean gymnasts/ dancers in her class.

But this is a purely individual decision based on my own dd's circumstances. I can fully appreciate the need to national data. My ds was weighed at school and I was perfectly happy with this.

But with DD, I will not open up this body image can of worms. It will open soon enough. I will not let that happen at school. If I was concerned about her weight, I am perfectly capable of discussing this with our GP.

I think it should be done, but in conjunction with other health checks so that the emphasis for the children is on weight being one of many aspects of keeping healthy. And definitely done with an appropriate level of privacy, not just them all lined up waiting for a turn on the scales.

@haba

And tbh, teachers can generally see which children are becoming overweight. Time in the school day for "morning mile" would be wonderful, but I know most schools can't manage that. Children doing sports (clubs etc) daily are in the main a healthy size.

That would be a fantastic idea introducing a morning mile. Far more effective than randomly taking their weight and not taking their height into account is ridiculous.

@Marv1nGay3

I don’t like it, and will not be allowing my primary school child to be weighed. We have an epidemic of eating disorders amongst girls in this country ( my Dd15 suffers from anorexia) and it is very common for weighing in Y6 to be the trigger for those who are genetically vulnerable to an ED.

What also causes eating disorders is being an overweight child - teased/bullied/or just being generally fatter than their friends.

Far more of a trigger than being part of a whole year group measurement exercise.

Yes, they measure height.

And the results letters arrive by post addressed to parent/caregiver. The measurements should not be given out on the day.

This is info on the scheme (England) but it's the same across U.K. as it pre-dates devolution

digital.nhs.uk/services/national-child-measurement-programme/

Worth noting that this is not a school scheme, it is an NHS/public health scheme that happens to be hosted in schools for convenience