Year 6 children weigh in and measurements

[Yoyo2021]

Hi all,

Just received a email about the nhs coming in to weigh my child’s year group and measure height etc.

It said this will be done in a private room.

I’ve opted out following the link.

I just think what’s the point my child isn’t under weight or over weight!

If I had cause for concern I would go to the doctors!

AIBU

My kids had this in reception and were both normal weight but most of the children weren't. I know because most of the parents were complaining the next day saying it was rubbish because they knew their children weren't overweight.
I refused in Y6. Pretty sure they were normal weight but they were both early developers (periods in Y5) and I was sure the measurements would say they were overweight.
Both in mid teens now and normal weight.
Absolutely no obligation to have it done if you don't want to.

It was interesting to note that it was mostly the parents of overweight children who refused this check at our school.

This paediatric survey has been running since the 1940s (under various names) and is one of the most valuable datasets there is for public health planning

It led to things like the introduction of school milk (and cod liver oil and orange juice) when the population-level data showed high rates on underweight (and likely malnourished DC).

I really hop that people do not opt out, because we really do need this kind of data.

You don't have to tell your DC the results. Only you can decide if not being measured when everyone else is having a turn (in private, obviously, but not having a turn might be noticed) is in itself sending a message

I think this is incorrect.

She was told because she'd heard others at school discussing it so she asked. I wasn't going to lie to her, but I also told her how flawed BMI is as a measure, and how muscles is more dense than fat - she's always been a bright scientifically minded girl, she's a med student now.

I didn't generalise and say that it 'contributes to EDs' for others. But it clearly stayed in her mind for her to bring it up with her therapist six years later, and she also commented about the number of girls that she was in treatment with who had the same experience in year 6 - so it must have come up in conversation

@meditrina i agree it’s useful in terms of health surveillance and data collecting. But it’s the reliance on old data and centiles that is the issue. DS was 5’8 in year 6 and weighed around 10 stone, way over the expected centile, but he was really tall too.

I work in a school and my anecdotal experience is that children gained weight during lockdown: DC who had not been overweight before became so.

It's very important for public health policy that the government knows what the situation is. And surely, you'd rather be alerted to a possible issue with your child's weight than just bury your head in the sand while the health issues are stored up for the future?

This

I have no problem with my child being weighed. In my experience the parents who make a fuss about this 9 times out of 10 are the ones with fat kids and they are in denial about it.

Of course no one has to but not facing facts doesn’t change them

If only you knew how hard people have had to work to prove how necessary and beneficial public health intervention is before they can fund a national programme

it’s makes me so sad that every new attempt to do something positive for people’s health is opposed reactively by so many.

Over the last 100 years evidence based medicine has given us so much from vaccines, medications, surgeries and curing small pox to healthy start vouchers and 0-5 funding to address societal needs

The mining of medical data is strictly controlled as it should be. It is also changing the future of medicine as you can use big data to understand genetic diseases in a way that wouldn’t be possible if we were using paper and pen technology. In our family there is a rare condition and they are signed up to the rare conditions databases to share more than usual amounts of information as this will benefit those who come after

Public health campaigns aren’t your enemy, chronic underfunding is and they are up against that too.

That's why they use BMI centiles scaled for children.

How do you think the charts get updated without good population data? The British data set is one of the best in the world.

It's how they gather data on national levels of weight though. If you had concerns about your child development, you may google it and it will bring back stats for you to look at. So you don't want to contribute to that, but would be happy to use online data?

If being obese or underweight is so critical (which it can be, I fully understand) then simply gathering that data isn’t sufficient.. some parents will really need help making meaningful changes. Especially those in less privileged positions financially and educationally. The credibility all falls down if that is not in place along side the measurement scheme in my eyes, so unsurprising people opt out.

Ah yes, X percentage of 11 year olds are overweight/underweight.. let’s do.. nothing? to help change that. Not all families know what to do or have means to to so. (State) Schools are facing less and less and provision for Physical education and lower and lower food budgets.

Thats the same from birth though isn’t it- underweight infant? (as per the charts) Lots of weighing and weighing again and sucking teeth - but no meaningful feeding support… so on it goes. poor kids.

They've been doing it for donkeys years and if the numbers of overweight children is going up, it's not doing a blind bit of good anyway is it.

Why did you even show it to her? Why didn't you protect your daughter? Need to know basis??

EXACTLY.

Because parents respond believing their child is certainly not overweight. Just muscular, tall, more mature, carrying puppy fat.

Is there no chance that is could be that there is no provision to help reach a weight perceived as healthy? Even in some of the cases if not all?

My neighbour says her son is 'rugby player build'. He's not, he's fat. 8 year olds who play rugby are usually skinny! My SIL says her 14 year old DS (seriously obese) has 'puppy fat'. There's just no point when people are this much in denial.

The data - whether, as in the past, showing underweight or, now, showing overweight - is neutral in this.

Whether the NHS, DoH or any other branch of government uses the data to the good, or chooses not to do, does not affect the value of a data set going back 70 years.

If the data set is eroded, then all chance of good policy decisions vanishes. Currently (and hopefully for the short term) we have a woeful bunch of scientifically illiterate ministers. That won't (I hope) always be the case

@meditrina no you’re confused by how they measure. Under 18s are based in centiles, so how their weight differs from others at the same age. There isn’t an allowance for height just age. At one stage he was a little overweight, but I didn’t know how much as his age range’s height was way below his.
He’s still outside his range if I put in his correct date of birth, but we’ll within it, if I make him 2 years older.

Personally I think it's a massive waste of money. Most people with chubby kids know their kid is chubby without having to get a letter about it. Equally, most parents with skinny kids know their kid is skinny and don't need to be told. It's usually fairly obvious who the sky nny kids in the class are, and who is carrying a bit extra. I'm sure the parents have eyes and can see for themselves. I think the NHS would have better things to spend their money on than this ridiculous mass weigh-in. Bonkers IMO.

(my son was '50th centile' so average. Completely unenlightening and I can tell by looking at him there's no probs. My other son is quite thin (though eats more than his 'average' brother and does less exercise!!). He's not year 6 yet, but I won't need a letter to tell me his BMI is a little below average, as it's obvious. I can see. Totally don't get the point in these letters and this mass weigh-in)

Many recent studies have found that parents can’t tell if their own child is overweight.
eg
https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/view/child-overweight-parents-dont-see-what-you-do

For those saying I am incorrect, It must be fairly new that they include height. It was only a couple of years ago that my friend had a lot of trouble as her almost 6ft at age 11 child was classed as obese, despite being like a bean pole. She fought to get the "diagnosis" (can't think of a better word) removed from his records. Maybe some health authorities are a little behind the times.