This is why I refuse to have my children weighed at school

[coldtits]

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7464888/Boy-of-five-labelled-obese-and-given-heart-disease-war ning.html

well I don't really know what the answer is if schools don't gave the faculties to teach cooking and sport beyond basic PE, and the curriculum is so crowded anyway that they realistically cannot manage to include them to a point that really will foster a healthy lifestyle in dc, it is all a bit grim because I am fairly sure a lot of families will not tackle this problem in a way that effectively helps their dc.

Also, Riven:

1. they need to riase money

There are other ways to raise money.

1. a fair few have sold their sports fields

You don't need your own sports field to encourage sports.

1. In what kitchens?

Perhaps I have missed something here. Do stae schools generally not have kitchens? We have a kitchen at our state school.

1. goodness, agree with knobs on.

Who? Is this a reference to another post here?

A cake from a cake sale never made anyone fat - it's the day to day stuff surely. Our school has a cake sale maybe once every 2-3 weeks. The cakes tend to be little fairy cakes, which is a nice treat for the kids after school.

The kids who don't have issues with weight don't suddenly become huge because they eat a small cake. The kids who do, presumably their parents can balance up the cake from the cake sale with a smaller snack/no pudding at home. It's a shame if something that is basically a nice thing and raises money (and is easy for parents to contribute to in terms of both making and buying cakes) has to be scrapped because a few people can't manage their children's diets.

I honestly don't believe a cake sale can be blamed AT ALL. Nor do I think that home made cakes are the worst evil in the world - given that as part of a healthy diet, kids need a certain amount of fat and sugar.

I do agree about puddings after every school dinner - fruit/yoghurt should be the pudding some days.

That kids is not fat.
He has a slight double chin because he's looking down at crap angle.
and I think this weighing thing is ridiculous. I'll definitely be opting out as I'll get a letter about ds1 saying he's obese.
He isn't...He's 10, 7 stone and 5ft 1 in height with size 7 feet.
He is a big, stocky and very sporty boy who is already paranoid about his size especially as his brother is a tiny svelte thing.

Must be my eyes, but he looks normal to me...not chubby or fat.
This obsession with how much kids weigh is crap. I see the skinniest kids munch through a whole packet of crisps then eat chocolate and they will obviously be "healthier" than the child that is a bit meatier who eats a healthy diet.
Slim doesn't always mean healthy!

Daisy those children may well be healthier even if they are eating junk all the time - just as we were in the seventies (findus crispy pancakes anyone?).

It doesnt matter that much what you're eating - its the balance between the calories that go in and the calories you are expending - you can live on the most healthy food in the world but if you're eating more than you're exercising then you will still get bigger - its about portion control as well as the food itself.

Slim may not mean fit but it is healthier and has been shown to actually make you live longer. Holding fat in certain areas of the body - especially round the middle is a health problem.

Its no good us all making excuses and putting our heads in the sand while our kids get bigger and bigger.

I recently had a findus crispy pancake in a restaurant recently, it was described on the menu as a burrito. I still ate it though and my childhood memories came flooding back. We ate crap as children its just that we didn't have 24 hour TV and played outside all day.

I agree with those who say that child does not look fat.

That's because you can't see - it is round their middle and their thighs that kids seem to get fat. As I have said before, just look in the swimming pool

But what we do know is what he weighs. He weighs a stone more than my DS2 who is almost 7, about an inch taller and about right I would say.

A stone, as someone else says here, is a lot when we are talking a total weight of 4 stone. He weighs a third as much again as DS2. If I weighed a third as much again as a slim friend of similar-ish height who was 9 stone, I would be 12 stone - definitely overwiehgt for my height.

Yes, maybe a letter home will make no difference - or maybe, just maybe it will. Certainly people hav eposted on MN before for whom it has been a wake-up call to action (and good for them).

darcy - what restaurant were you in where you were sat there expecting a burrito and a findus crispy pancake turned up? and what flavour was it?

I would have had to take a picture. And then blather on about the Trades Description Act. I possibly would have gone into Monty Python - A Burrito A BURRITO? etc

But then sometimes, for example, I am a twat.

interesting they have photographed him in tracksuit and not swimming trunks - so its impossible to tell - although he looks like he's got a bit of a tummy - judging by our time in centre parks swimming pool lots of overweight kids out there.

so he's a bit overwright (not obese) - can't believe the parents contacted the press over this - better to take him swimming and watch portion size.