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

I previously worked in a primary school and without fail, every year, the parents who opted out of the yr 6 weight check, had dc who were visibly overweight.

As I said, not in UK. Part of a child's basic checkup appt, I never said there should be a distinctive weight check in with a GP.Jesus.

They don't do yearly checkups for children in the UK (unfortunately)

It's also extremely important to know for medication dosing criteria.

Researchers have recently discovered that children have been under-dosed in antibiotic prescribing (which can increase antibiotic resistance etc) because it was done on age ranges, based on a minute study done in the 1940s.

This was obviously calculated using average weights at the time.

And part of the reason children have been under-dosed is because they are so much fatter than they were previously.

If we didn't collect this data, we wouldn't know...

So.. any sign of any policies to help children reach perceived healthy weight from the satay gathered here?
anyone?

Data rather…!

The letter that gets sent home says “to the parents/ carers of”. My friend had trouble hiding that from her daughter. The letter said her DD was overweight but she is actually well proportioned and athletic. It would have really affected her if she had seen it.

Who are all these year 6 children looking through the post?

Not in the UK but its been done elsewhere https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/finland-curbs-childhood-obesity-by-integrating-health-in-all-policies

Requires a bit too much joined up thinking for the UK government these days though, can't see them trying similar and getting anywhere with it. And of course all the parents that are in denial won't help, as they would probably just opt out of the yearly health examinations and parent education...

Apparently nothing, as the following year they will all be super skinny and everyone will have a jolly old laugh about when they used to be obese.

Bowing to your superior intellect.

Great job 🤟

So many children are obese and so many parents are obese too need help to realise it. I have a few very large kids in my class, and when you look at their lunchboxes it isn’t hard to see why. Something needs to be done, starting with educating parents perhaps. The children learn about healthy eating at school but poor things have very little control over the foods available to them at home.

Thanks @Natsku ,valid point. I'm from UK originally but obviously I'm out of touch :(

I think parents should put their fragile egos on the back burner and prioritise the health of their children. Obesity is far more of an issue for society than the miniscule percentage of which something like this could (but unlikely) to contribute to an eating disorder- they are complex and not a fan of people minimising this so as to try and justify their reluctance to hear the truth about their child's weight.

My DS had to be weighed when he was in hospital, I was mortified when they said he was overweight, I thought he looked fine and as he was really active and ate what I thought was a reasonable diet I honestly didn't think he would be. But he was, it was the kick to address it and no he wasn't aware or scarred for life. I'm so thankful instead of continuing on as was and setting him up for a life probably of weight and food issues he's now on a healthier path.

Let's be real people who refuse do so as they know they'll be told something they don't want to hear.

But currently it seems the weighing scheme is a bit of a dead end isn’t it.. nothing constructive and successful comes of it to address the issue (or rather, nothing apparent to parents).
Kids keep getting fatter, we keep weighing them ad nauseam.

Yes, useful data set etc. useful for medication doses as noted above. But the key missing piece seems to be facilitating healthier life styles systemically.

maybe I am missing something.

I worry about the future health of the boys in my class who are very large. They can barely exercise now, let alone when they’re older and their joints can no longer cope with the weight of their bodies. One or two of them can barely reach their own feet to put shoes and socks on. I agree parents need to just swallow their pride and put their kids first.

There are a few initiatives like ‘eat them to beat them’ and a pack that goes home with kids at the end of the summer term with reward stickers etc to encourage children to eat fruits and do exercises etc.

Any initiative or support is completely useless if parents won’t take it on board, though. The government is fighting a losing battle 🤷🏻‍♀️

LAs can apply for additional funding though and can be prioritised if they have a high rate of overweight children. We had a play park built on the estate funded from this, and swimming at the council run leisure centre was free all summer for children- stuff like that. There's also info available for parents but as a PP has said, that relies on parents taking responsibility which many don't. They either expect someone else to have the magic answer or just Bury their heads in the sand.

Presumably at least some parents become informed about their child's weight issues and act accordingly thanks to this even if others don't. And the data is always needed. It just would be better if more would be done but while it's so controversial to so many people I doubt anything more will get done. They need to make it more routine, do it every year and make opting out the odd thing to do, to discourage parents from opting their children out (I assume it's possible to opt out of school check ups in Finland but I suspect if you did, social services would be interested, so less likely to opt out). Then perhaps changes could occur.

That's really good stuff, similar to what was done in Finland. But yeah, needs parents to take responsibility.

When we had the reception age weigh-in, the only parents who opted their children out (and told us all how disgusted they were that the children were being weighed, so we knew!) we're the ones whose children were very visibly much larger than they should be.

Years later, now approaching the other end of primary school, the same children have continued to be noticeably very overweight.

This is not in an area of deprivation, where perhaps you may think that there is an issue with poverty or lack of education around health/nutrition. The pupil premium % at our school is tiny, the demographic is very much MC, well educated parents with financial security.

Some people just don't want to know. There are worse things in the world than being fat, certainly (and I've been obese, overweight and underweight myself!) but the health implications for these children who were enormous at five years old, continue to be so at nine and struggle to run a race/have a chance of keeping up with their peers on sports day because of their size will hit them in later life and they'll have their parents to thank for it. It's a shame.

This is what I was looking for, thank you for sharing. This is very positive. Perhaps some work to do on educating families on what outputs could look like.

I do understand that parents need to engage and not bury their head in the sand- of course, and that is exceptionally challenging.

There is also of course a difference between a parent opting their child out fully in the knowledge they have weight issues they are already addressing (I mean do we all really need someone else to weigh and measure to know where a child sits on the growth charts? Probably not) and parents opting out because they are the head in the sand type.

All a challenge indeed, but I do see why some parents do remove their child from the whole exercise- rightly or wrongly.

What do you think of that initiative?

My OH and me are utterly perplexed when we see that advert, why encourage children to see vegetables as an awful sinister concept, the ad makes no sense at all.

Bizarre

My DD was weighed in year 6- I got a letter saying she was underweight for her height and they would remeasure in 3 months. And she was still underweight for her height.

The nurse called and asked if I'd discussed her weight with her (NO- quick way to body worry/eating disorder IMO). They suggested we saw our GP to discuss helping her to gain weight. As we were already seeing a consultant paediatrician for something else, who was more than happy with her weight I declined further intervention.

I explained that she'd been 'underweight for her height' since birth. I had to describe her diet and what she ate. I also explained that every single member of my family are 'skinny' and have low BMI no matter what they eat. We are tall and slim.

(Sadly my metabolism has slowed down and I'm now half a stone more than I'd like- my BMI is fine)

So when they asked permission to weigh my younger DC, who is much more concerned about appearance - I said no.

Why not just say when they first phoned she is under the care of paeds who are aware of her weight, why the drama?