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?

I remember being weighed when I was 10. That would be in 1971. It’s not a new thing and it’s done for public health reasons.

BMInis really only accurate if you have average build and muscle mass.
It's a fairly reasonable measure for most people because there is a big range for healthy.

For my height the healthy BMI weight range is 7 stone 13 to 10 stone 10. That's quite a big weight range and would easily cover a range of builds. I look like I'm carrying too much weight at the top end of that range and too thin at the bottom. One of my friends is curvy and looks fabulous at the top of that range, and would look too thin if she was my weight. We have different builds, both train and do sport.

It caused my son untold misery when he was 11. For some reason he was chubby despite being exactly the same in terms of diet and sport as his skinny siblings. The letter I received was poorly worded, patronising and aggressive. Not necessary.

He had a growth spurt when he was a teenager and at 20 his bmi is now 22.

The system is cruel and crude.

I'd be interested to see any evidence of its positive impact.

@JustDanceAddict

BMInis really only accurate if you have average build and muscle mass.

it is very rare to not have normal bulid and muscle mass. what sometimes isn't taken into account in children is height, just the age. you can have huge height variations especially between different ethnicities.

I understand the concerns but I feel that focusing upon maintaining a healthy weight is important so I think this is good move as it shows to children that this is important

I got weighed at school, I knew I was overweight, adult size 16 at age 10. But they weighed me in front of my classmates so it made the bullying worse etc. That was in primary 7. By the time I started 1st year a few months later I was underweight.

I'm now 36 so this was 25 years ago and I'm still obsessed with my weight. It's not good or healthy for kids to be weighed infront of others.

By all means weigh them in private and then don't tell them. Especially not at 11 years old.

Why are parents showing the children the letters? They come home in an envelope addressed to the parents. If parents show the letter and it causes problems then that’s down to the parents not the program.

Surely the question is how it's done not if. Clearly weighing the children and announcing the weight in front of a class full of kids would be awful. Measuring their height and weight and not telling the kids the result has to be fairly harmless.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/national-child-measurement-programme

Kids are weighed privately. Their height, weight and age are compared to percentile tables. If they are outside of the healthy range, parents will be notified by letter.

Nobody's shaming the kids, except maybe the occasional parent.

I have a slim child so I don’t care.
But I imagine those with overweight children will object. Given there is almost no reason for a child to be overweight, it will shine a light on those parents who are not enforcing healthy eating and regular exercise at home.

A lot of ignorance here of the reality of bullying, 'banter' and 'teasing' at primary schools. Weighing children in private makes no difference.

It would make no difference to me personally as I weigh my child at home and she has a dietitian for allergies who keeps track of her weight.

At a population level I think it's important. Children are supposed to look skinny, ribs visible, not like mini adults. People seem to be losing their reference point for what a healthy child looks like because so many children are overweight these days.

I wish I had been weighed in school and my parents made aware. We ate relatively healthy, home cooked meals most of the time but my mum's idea of portion size was way off, and we were practically forced to clear our plates. I was only a little bit overweight but an intervention then might have helped me have a more healthy adult weight. It's taken me years to change my mindset around food and eating.

@MrsJuliaGulia

I have a slim child so I don’t care. But I imagine those with overweight children will object. Given there is almost no reason for a child to be overweight, it will shine a light on those parents who are not enforcing healthy eating and regular exercise at home.

I had two slim children

and one little chubster

@RufustheBadgeringReindeer

Me too!

wirralwoods
Weighing or not weighing won't make a difference. It's not like the act of getting on the scales changes the child's height and weight.

If children are being mean or bullying, school and parents need to deal with it. That's separate to a health initiative.

Is it actually better to have no health initiative, let the parents of very overweight children say "ooh but she's just a bit chunky... well he's big boned just like me..." than to say to the parent actually your child is overweight/obese and here are some healthy choices you could try?

One of my friends was furious when she got a letter through saying her DC was overweight and saying it was body shaming, putting pressure on kids etc. The reality is DC was overweight. The letter didn't change this fact and the letter was addressed to the parents, not the child.

@LolaSmiles show me the evidence that weighing children at school has any effect. This is not snarky nerrrr nerrrrrr nerrrr question , I really would like to see it.

[quote wirralwoods]@RufustheBadgeringReindeer

Me too![/quote]
Its weird isn’t it, you imagine as you are feeding them the same and they are getting the same amount of exercise (ok dd got more but ds1 didn’t!) that they would be similar weights!

It's required, as some parents seem to be oblivious that their child is overweight.
It prevents parents being able to say "well nobody ever highlighted it" when it becomes a bigger issue, because some parents don't realise that they should actually be on top of this as the child's parent...
It's not as if their weights are shared with the other children/parents

I have opted out of having my children weighed since my very healthy gymnast daughter was said to be obese on their centile thing. She had a lot of muscle and was short so would not be the same as others of the same age.

@LolaSmiles show me the evidence that weighing children at school has any effect. This is not snarky nerrrr nerrrrrr nerrrr question , I really would like to see it
I'm not in public health so unsurprisingly aren't going to have access to peer reviewed studies.

I'm going to guess that the people looking at health initiatives and problems of childhood obesity might know more about ways to promote change than us randomers on mumsnet, many of whom have their their chips on their shoulders about parents being told their child is overweight.

It won't magically solve the problem overnight, but it gives those parents who are willing to listen the tools to review their lifestyles and their food choices.

@riotlady I don't think the weighing at school caused you to feel like this, but more your dad poking your 'fat tummy'.
Surely if he didn't do that, jumping on a scale at the age of 6 wouldn't have been so awful for you

@meditrina wrote
Point of detail - schools don't 'do' it. Schools are the venue for the NHS programme

The responsibility for actually weighing and measuring was handed over to local authorities in 2013. Public Health England provides guidance which says the LA must ensure that a registered medical practitioner, registered nurse, for example school nurse, or registered dietitian oversees the implementation of the programme.

This means that the process will vary from one Local Authority to another and one school to another. The school has to provide the space where the weighing is done, and this can be logistically difficult, leading to the situations described where the weighing is done in front of the whole class. The school is also urged to provide assemblies on the importance of the programme - raising the likelihood that children talk to each other about weight.

It's very clear from this thread that some children and their parents do find the measurement process very troubling, and other parents do not have any comprehension of their children's classmates' anxieties. Although it's only a minority (PHE says under 10%) of parents who don't think the scheme is helpful, it's obvious from this thread that it is the kids at greatest risk of obesity or eating disorders - the very people you would want it to be most helpful for.

It also appears that the data is dubious - I can't easily see how many parents opted their children out, and if it's all the heaviest kids, that is so problematic.

We've had the sugar tax in place for two years, and we've had lockdown. We could do with seeing what both of these have done, but if the biggest kids opt out, we can't tell.

Opting out parents, what would make you feel okay about taking part?

Agree - public health functions were handed over wholesale to councils then (because the biggest determinants are things like housing and education for which they already have responsibility)

The programme as a whole digital.nhs.uk/services/national-child-measurement-programme/ is still 'owned' by NHS in conjunction with PHE (parallels on other home nations) but the delivery is locally arranged. The process should not be significantly different, as there is overarching guideance

And yes, widespread opting out will skew the results, and mean the evidence on which interventions now and long term planning for services will be that bit poorer.

[quote Premier12]@riotlady I don't think the weighing at school caused you to feel like this, but more your dad poking your 'fat tummy'.
Surely if he didn't do that, jumping on a scale at the age of 6 wouldn't have been so awful for you [/quote]
Honestly I think lots of little things compound to make young girls very aware of their weight. There’s a good few examples on this thread of people who have had children with eating disorders who have otherwise been involved with CAMHS, stating that being weighed at school is a fairly common trigger point for children.

• that should say OR who have otherwise been involved with CAMHS