Fat shaming children in this way is horrific, it also leads to skinny shaming which my dd had to deal with as a result of this crap!
In addition it's pointless! Because the families that do care about dc weight are already keeping an eye on things and the ones that don't care will ignore it all anyway
When I was a governor we looked at the school level data which showed a really shocking % of our Year 6s were overweight
Frankly on a school wide level that should have been visually obvious anyway
Dds 3rd primary school (due to house moves) were much more subtle/laid back about this stuff BUT they included in the education healthy eating, why exercise important, how bodies are different etc, they also had a good healthy but also appealing menu for school dinners, and they had PE lessons that were less competitively based (none of this the same kids getting picked last every week crap) and more fun, lots of dance based and martial arts based stuff or silly things like ball games where each child was assigned a letter and words were spelled out according to who the ball was thrown to - a much healthier and less blame based approach.
Overall from visual observation they had pupils with a healthier range of weights, and healthier attitudes generally.
It is important for health planners, to help predict and arrange future NHS services.
Then it should be done within the nhs.
Teachers good as they are, aren't hcps and don't have specialist training in this area
Telling me my child was overweight and then listing all the health issues, doesn't really help me when I'm already doing everything I can about it while getting the balance between food/exercise/mental health right and spending sleepless nights worrying as it is.
Which proves my earlier point
Anyone thinking it's "shameful" is aware of their poor choice and the impact on their kids, but refuse to be told! They should be ashamed not to put kids first.
I absolutely put my child first!!
That's my point.
She was already shy and awkward at least partly because she was one of the tallest but also the slimmest in her class.
We learned in the summer holidays before high school this happened to be due to her having a genetic disability the symptoms of which were ignored and dismissed before this point. Dd and I were both regularly admonished for her "not eating enough" which simply wasn't true (one of the issues with the condition is a higher than average metabolism) I was even treated/spoken to as if I were starving my child at various points! Endless food diaries kept - and the veracity of them doubted!
I also have no doubt that some - not the majority necessarily but some - of the overweight kids may also have underlying medical issues that are contributing to this.
By oversimplifying the collection of data, by non hcps, with no experience or knowledge of possible contributing factors there's a risk of children and parents being blamed for the child's weight - under or over - and underlying causes being missed!
It was sheer luck we got the dx!
Her condition also makes her more susceptible to high cholesterol and blood clots so the "advice" we had from some - inc hcps - to help her to gain weight supposedly - which included increasing her intake of less healthy very fatty, high cholesterol foods. If I'd followed that advice against my instincts dd could have been made very ill or worse.
Personally having experienced horrific "traditional" PE lessons I think it's LONG since overdue that these were abandoned. I was short and skinny, being skinny it was assumed I'd be good at sport - I was not! I had asthma and poor hand eye co-ordination (which improved slightly when it became apparent in other ways I needed specs) I was actually the "weedy" kid good at academics but shit at PE - BUT I was a good dancer I took ballet, tap and modern and did well at them, I also took martial arts classes and was good at them, and I swam a lot and did so competitively for a time.
Again I attended different schools due to house moves (dad army) the PE teachers at 2 of the schools were of the old school bully type which sadly still abound I believe - perfect kind of teacher to cause mh and Ed issues! For that alone they should be banned from teaching! The PE teacher I had at one school though was great, praised everyone, found something each pupil was good at physically and gave them the opportunity to display this, and the school was better too in terms of again they allowed more freedom and flexibility in PE lessons as in they weren't all sports based. We did aerobics and silly obstacle courses and games where there wasn't a "winner" too - they were way ahead of the game! (Pardon the pun)
That 30+ years later children are STILL being subjected to competitive PE lessons, bullying teachers and the horror of constantly being picked last is ludicrous.
School meals don't appear to have improved much either. When I was at school the dinners were either sloppy bland "traditional"
Type much mocked in playground songs type food or chips with everything! Why they can't be similar to the healthier meal options they're likely to receive at home I don't know.
There's a lot to unpick regarding childhood obesity and I just don't think focusing on the child themselves without consideration for the massive influences on them is particularly helpful.
But that's what your GP is for?
Good luck making that appointment! The vast majority of gps will treat you as having wasted their time!
As a nation it's already known there are obesity issues - identifying the obesity isn't the issue - tackling the causes is. It shouldn't need to only get resources when a particular area or school is identified as having an obesity problem, the resources should be there in the first place.
I'm 48 when I was at school primary age we did some form of exercise daily, in high school 3 times a week and playtimes we were very much encouraged to be active too. That's long since gone. The parents back in the 80's that decried the selling off of playing fields were framed as making a fuss about nothing. I spent many a happy time actively playing on playing fields both in and outside of school hours, criminal that they were/are sold off.
The causes of obesity at all ages are manifold and complex.
Food environment, economics, access to healthy food and exercise options, mh support...
It's not as simple as "eat less do more" as anyone who's tried - successfully or not - to lose weight knows.
I'm overweight now and trying to lose but it's really bloody hard to shift my sense of myself as a fat person having been slim often bordering on or actually underweight most of my life. Add in mh issues and when I'm ill
I barely eat so the people who care for me and are around me are relieved when I'm eating, plus when I'm bad I seriously lack motivation and at times ability to cook and it becomes a lot more complex.
So I try and tam their diet with fat and calories where I can.
More protein is better and you have to watch that it's healthy fats too. There's a phenomenon known as "skinny outside fat inside" mostly among men who exercise a lot even excessively. They think because they are slim they can eat as unhealthily as they like but it's just as dangerous for a skinny person to have high cholesterol as a fat person. My ex (v sporty) used to get annoyed that my pulse, bp and cholesterol levels were always healthier than his even when I gained weight. He may be slim and sporty but he eats crap at times! Whereas at this point in my life I ate healthily, I naturally don't like greasy/fatty foods like fast food but he loves a mcds.